The National League Rookie of the Year race now has its final three names, and Cincinnati Reds infielder Sal Stewart is right in the middle of it. Stewart, St.
Louis Cardinals infielder JJ Wetherholt, and New York Mets outfielder Carson Benge were announced as the finalists for the 2026 award, which will be handed out on Monday, November 9th. The announcement will be shown at 7:00pm ET on MLB Network.
Stewart’s case starts with the bat, and it starts fast. After a strong debut in the final month of the 2025 season, when he hit .255/.293/.545, he earned an opening day roster spot in 2026 and wasted little time making noise. Through April, he was hitting .281/.373/.570 with nine home runs, 29 RBI, and seven stolen bases in seven attempts.
The middle of the season brought a dip. Over the next two months, Stewart hit under .250 in both May and June, though he still added seven home runs and 30 RBI.
Then he got rolling again in July, enough to earn a National League All-Star nod. In the 54 games he played in July and August, he hit .280/.329/.521 with 15 home runs and 46 RBI.
By the end of August, Stewart was sitting atop the National League RBI leaderboard. He couldn’t hang onto it through the finish line, though. In his final 24 games, he hit just .247/.287/.280 with one extra-base hit and six RBI, and that late fade dropped him to second in the league with 112 RBI behind Alec Burleson’s 116.
Even with that finish, Stewart’s full season was massive. He appeared in all 162 games for the Reds and started every one of them except July 26th in St.
Louis, when he came off the bench and delivered an RBI single as a pinch hitter in the 10th inning. Over 700 plate appearances, he hit .263/.330/.457 with 25 doubles, 32 home runs, 112 RBI, 15 stolen bases, and 87 runs scored.
Among National League rookies, Stewart was the clear RBI leader, with TJ Rumfield a distant second at 73. He also led rookies with 32 home runs, while Carson Benge’s 20 left him well behind. Stewart’s 25 doubles trailed only Rumfield’s 30, and his 87 runs scored were second only to Wetherholt’s 89.
Defense is where the conversation gets more complicated. Of the three finalists, Stewart was viewed as the clear third option with the glove.
Wetherholt made his mark as a second baseman who also spent time at shortstop, while Benge played mostly right field and saw limited time in left and center. Benge also led the league with 10 assists and two double plays from the outfield.
That sets up the real question for voters: how much weight do they put on the old-school numbers, especially home runs and RBI, versus defense? Stewart’s edge in both categories was huge - almost comical, really - but his overall value took a hit because of his defense and his position. No matter which version of WAR you look at, he sits a distant third among the finalists, with his offense dragged down by baserunning and defensive value while the other two got a boost from both.
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