Sal Stewart has spent the 2026 season making the same point over and over again: when the Reds need a hit, he’s usually the guy who delivers it. That kind of production is why the Rookie of the Year conversation in the National League is starting to tilt his way, even with JJ Wetherholt still in the picture.
At the start, plenty of people treated this like a three-man race with Stewart, Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop Konnor Griffin, and Wetherholt. Griffin is out of the mix for now after landing on the injured list at the end of June, and that has left Stewart and Wetherholt battling it out for the last two months.
Stewart’s case is built on offense that keeps showing up in the biggest spots. He has been Cincinnati’s best hitter since Opening Day, dipped a little between May and June, and then caught fire once July arrived. He leads all of Major League Baseball in RBI, has already crossed the 100-RBI mark, and looks like a lock to be a Silver Slugger finalist.
Wetherholt’s supporters point to the parts of the game that don’t always jump off the stat sheet. Cardinals fans have praised his baserunning and his defense at second base.
But the bat hasn’t separated him from the pack. For the season, he is hitting .245/.347/.377 with 17 home runs, 48 RBI, and a 107 wRC+.
That offensive line is solid, but not the kind of production that screams Rookie of the Year. It’s comparable to what Spencer Steer was giving the Reds before his season ended.
Steer hit .238/.319/.421 with 16 home runs, 40 RBI and a 102 wRC+ before suffering a season-ending wrist injury. Wetherholt does bring a better on-base percentage, but Steer’s extra slugging makes the overall profiles feel pretty similar.
Defense absolutely matters, and nobody is pretending otherwise. Still, the bigger problem for Wetherholt is that his value is being built around run prevention while Stewart is doing the thing that tends to get noticed first: driving in runs.
The numbers with runners in scoring position tell the story. Stewart is hitting .321/.385/.627 in those spots with 12 home runs, 81 RBI, and a 159 wRC+.
That kind of production is hard to ignore, especially when the award debate is supposed to be about the best rookie impact. As MLB Network put it on August 27, 2026: "This should not be a close race. You're talking about 28 [HR] and 100 [RBI] right now."
Silver Slugger recognition could still be complicated for Stewart, though. Wetherholt won’t be in that mix at second base, where Brandon Lowe (Pirates), Ozzie Albies (Atlanta Braves), and Brice Turang (Milwaukee Brewers) are the expected finalists. Stewart faces a tougher path at first base with Matt Olson (Braves) in the way, and Alec Burleson also in the conversation.
There’s still another route for Stewart, though. He could also qualify as a utility player, and that group may be his clearest path to the award. His biggest competition there could come from Brewers slugger Jake Bauers.
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