The 2026 Jackie Robinson Rookie of the Year Awards went to two players who made their cases in very different ways Monday night.
In the American League, Detroit Tigers infielder Kevin McGonigle took home the honor after a season that left little room for doubt. In the National League, Cincinnati Reds slugger Sal Stewart won a much tighter race, edging out two strong challengers in Carson Benge and JJ Wetherholt.
McGonigle collected 28 of the 30 first-place votes in the AL, with Parker Messick getting the other two. That vote total makes the race look lopsided, but the season itself was more interesting than the final tally suggests.
Messick turned in an excellent year of his own and even drew AL Cy Young votes, finishing with a sub-2.60 ERA over 186.1 innings. That would normally be enough to grab Rookie of the Year in plenty of seasons.
McGonigle just delivered something bigger.
The 22-year-old’s production was impossible to ignore. He finished with a league-leading 7.1 bWAR in the American League, hit .278 with 18 home runs and 12 stolen bases, and appeared in 156 of 162 games as a rookie. He also brought value on defense at premium positions and posted the second-lowest chase percentage in MLB, a wild number for a first-year player.
After winning, McGonigle said: “It feels great… I don’t really know how to put it into words. I’m just super grateful for this season, and I went out and worked my butt off to play for this team and help this team win as much as I could… I just want to thank the coaches and my teammates, my family and my friend, and the community of Delaware County for all their support throughout this journey. It’s hard to put into words, and I am just super grateful and humble, and thankful for this.”
He is the first Tigers player to win Rookie of the Year since Michael Fulmer in 2016, and the first Tigers position player to do it since Lou Whitaker in 1978.
McGonigle’s early-season extension, an eight-year, $150 million deal, already looks like a huge win for Detroit. Now comes the harder part: following up a rookie season that was historic in every sense.
The NL race was far more compressed. Stewart earned 20 first-place votes, while Benge got seven and Wetherholt received three.
Wetherholt had grabbed the early lead before injuries slowed him down. Stewart then surged with his bat.
By the end of the year, Benge finished strong enough to make the vote even tighter.
On the numbers, Stewart did not separate himself the way McGonigle did. Wetherholt finished with a 4.5 bWAR and Benge with 4.3, while Stewart came in at 2.0.
But Stewart’s raw production and his ability to stay on the field carried the day. He hit 32 home runs and drove in 112 runs in his first full season, and he did it while playing every game.
That durability mattered, especially in a Reds lineup that needed offense wherever it could find it. Stewart’s presence clearly meant a lot to Cincinnati, and his consistency may have been the deciding factor in a race where the advanced numbers pointed elsewhere.
Stewart said after winning: “I’m confident in who I am and confident in the work I put in and the people around me… I love to envision things. I felt like I could go out there, and I knew what I was capable of… my job was to just go out there, stay healthy and be me.”
He later added: “Being available to your teammates every single day… my teammates appreciate that. And I want them to know that I’m always there for them.”
Stewart is the first Reds player to win Rookie of the Year since Jonathan India in 2021. He now moves into his sophomore season with some questions to answer after a shaky finish, but the rookie year itself made the case: the bat played, and the body held up.
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