The Cincinnati Reds may be headed for a finish below .500, but Sal Stewart has spent the season giving them something much brighter to talk about.
With just a few games left in 2026, Mark Sheldon of MLB.com singled out Stewart as the Reds’ player to watch down the stretch, and the reason is simple: he’s trying to put the last stamp on a rookie year that should end with the NL Rookie of the Year award.
“Stewart will be trying to put the finishing touches on a season that should net him the NL Rookie of the Year Award,” Sheldon wrote. “The 22-year-old is the 14th rookie since 1920 to post a 30-homer, 100-RBI season, and each of the last nine that did it since the award started in 1947 have won it, the most recent being Pete Alonso for the Mets in 2019.
Stewart is currently second in MLB overall in RBIs with 110. If he can overtake Burleson, he would be the third rookie to finish a season leading in that category since RBIs became an official statistic in 1913, joining Ted Williams (1939) and Walt Dropo (1950).”
That kind of production has been the story of Stewart’s season from the start. Through 156 games, he’s hit 32 home runs and driven in 110 runs while posting an OPS above .800. He’s been the top rookie in the National League all year, and the final stretch gives him one more chance to pad those RBI totals before the books close on the award race.
What stands out most is how polished he has looked doing it. Stewart has played like a veteran at 22, working counts, putting the bat on the ball, and forcing pitchers to deal with real power every time he steps in. For a Reds team looking for signs of what comes next, that’s the kind of breakout season that matters.
Cincinnati has already had a few standout individual years. Elly De La Cruz is on track for top-three MVP votes, and Chase Burns is expected to get National League Cy Young votes after a tremendous season. Even so, Stewart’s rookie campaign has been one of the clearest positives in the Reds’ year, and it points to a player who should only keep getting better.
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