ARLINGTON, Texas – The ties that bind Adley Rutschman and Steven Kwan only seem to grow more significant.
At first, it was the serendipity of adjacent stalls in the Oregon State baseball locker room. The connection of Kwan’s best friend at Oregon State having attended Rutschman’s high school. An affinity for the grind and an appreciation for ironic humor.
“I guess it was destiny,” says Kwan, “we were going to become close.”
That destiny led them this week to Globe Life Field, where Tuesday night, Kwan will lead off for a lineup that’s just about as good a squad one could find on this globe – the American League All-Stars.
Rutschman will be the starting catcher and bat eighth, capping off a Murderers’ Row that includes Yankees sluggers Aaron Judge and Juan Soto.
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Come Friday, Kwan and Rutschman will return to their day jobs, as crucial contributors to the Cleveland Guardians and Baltimore Orioles, who lead their respective divisions and may collide come October. For this week, though, it’s about being teammates again, about playing a joyous game with a true ride-or-die and basking in their significant accomplishments in a punishing sport.
“He’s a hard worker, does things the right way, the nicest dude,” Rutschman says of Kwan. “Those are the kind of people you want around. Fast friends and, you know, ever since…You go through different stages of your career and life. He’s got one of those personalities where he’s a good listener and he gives good advice and understands that guys need different things at different times. He does a really good job reading people and giving what’s needed.”
Right now, things couldn’t be going much better for the duo. We were on a wavelength’
Kwan, 26, was a year ahead of Rutschman, five months his junior, at Oregon State. He first encountered the hulking catcher when Rutschman arrived to play for the Corvallis Knights, a wood-bat summer team, shortly after graduating high school. Kwan’s pal on the Beavers, catcher Zak Taylor, attended the same suburban Portland high school as Rutschman.
Kwan also vibed with the new kid.
“I guess we didn’t take things too seriously. Maybe we just weren’t able to at the time,” Kwan remembers. “We were serious about becoming good baseball players and at the same time having a good time – playing games, talking about random things that would happen.
“I feel like we were on a wavelength, very similar.”