Sal Stewart has been named the 2026 NL Jackie Robinson Rookie of the Year. The Reds first baseman looked like the clear favorite to win over the other two finalists, the Mets' Carson Benge and the Cardinals' JJ Wetherholt, for the award. He ended up doing so by a considerable margin, getting 20 of 30 first-place votes and had 170 points overall. Benge was a distant second with 107 points, while Wetherholt finished with 99.
Stewart becomes the ninth player in Cincinnati franchise history to win the award, joining the likes of Pete Rose and Johnny Bench. Jonathan India was the last Reds rookie to win back in 2021. The Reds also became the fifth franchise to have at least nine Rookie of the Year winners, joining the Dodgers, Yankees, Braves, and A's, per MLB.com.
In his first full big league season, Stewart played all 162 games and hit .263 with 32 home runs and 112 RBIs. In doing so, he joined Hall of Famer Frank Robinson as the only Reds to hit 30-plus home runs as a rookie. He also set the franchise rookie record in RBIs and became just the 14th rookie in Major League history with 30 home runs and 100 RBIs.
While Stewart's traditional statistics were spectacular and historic, the advanced statistics told a different story. He had a mere 2.0 WAR per FanGraphs, a distant third behind Wetherholt (4.6) and Benge (4.3). This is in part due to Stewart's less-than-stellar defense and baserunning compared to the other two.
However, the majority of the voters decided that Stewart's impact with his bat outweighed those other factors, so he takes home the award.