Guardians’ Steven Kwan Addresses Pay Disparity With Nurse Wife: ‘She’ll Make in a Year What We Make in a Week’

Cleveland Guardians star Steven Kwan credits his wife, Samantha, with being a stabilizing force in his baseball career — all while calling out the discrepancy in their paychecks. 

In an essay written by Steven, 28, for The Athletic on Friday, September 26, the three-time Gold Glove winner said his wife has been “a huge help” in reminding him what really matters in life. 

“The thing I love most about her is she really doesn’t care about baseball,” Steven wrote. “I’ll be upset about going 0-for-5 or that we lost and she’ll lighten the mood and provide some perspective. She just got her Master’s in nursing. She’s saving lives. She’ll make in a year what we make in a week. That’s ridiculous. That’s not how it should be.”

In January, Steven signed a one-year, $4.175 million contract with the Guardians. 

Steven and Samantha got married in a courthouse wedding in February. 

“Having her continually pointing me north and keeping me grounded, that’s been the most important thing,” Steven said of his wife. “You see a lot of people spiral really fast if you don’t have somebody keeping you accountable.”

Steven shared photos from their lowkey wedding via Instagram in February. “To a lifetime, you and I ♾️,” he wrote. 

The couple announced their engagement in November 2024. 

“It was always you Sammy!” Steven shared via Instagram. “So excited to continue this journey with you wherever life takes us. Love you eternally and whatever is beyond!”

Despite being a two-time All-Star, Steven candidly admitted that he sometimes struggles with his own accolades. 

“There’s a level of that impostor syndrome that’s key to my success — never letting myself get complacent, never letting myself think I belong,” he wrote in the essay. “It’s probably not healthy, but I think it helps in the grand scheme. It motivates me to keep up with my routines — the meditating, the breathing exercises, the journaling, the reading. All the stuff that becomes more and more difficult to stay disciplined with the deeper you get into the 162-game grind.”

Even after receiving his second All-Star nod this season, Steven explained he was far from resting on his laurels. 

“You look on paper and you might think, ‘Oh, he had another career year,’” Kwan wrote. “But that’s not how it is at all. My hitting is far from where I wanted it. I was dealing with that wrist injury, but there’s no context there when you just look at the numbers. And in a lot of ways, we are defined by our numbers, so it’s a constant struggle. The only solution is to play better. It’s why this game saps so much from everybody.”

He added, “This is a terrible way to think, but I never want to be a rookie’s first strikeout. I never want to be the last out of the game.”

Steven is under the Guardians’ club control through the 2027 season, and while his baseball future remains uncertain, he recently expressed interest in sticking around in Cleveland long-term.

“I love it here, and I love everything about this place,” Steven told the Akron Beacon Journal in July. “[If] they gave me the opportunity, I would love to.”