Reds have another rising star hiding in plain sight (and it's not Sal Stewart)

Cincinnati Reds infielder Sal Stewart is the unquestioned favorite at the moment to win this year's NL Rookie of the Year Award. He's hitting .289/.388/.639 with hit eight home runs and 21 RBI through 23 games. But Stewart's teammate, Rhett Lowder, may soon be nipping at his heels.

Lowder made his MLB debut in 2024, but thanks to a season-ending injury that kept him on the 60-day IL throughout the 2025 season, he hadn't eclipsed 50 innings pitched heading into Opening Day, thereby keeping his rookie status intact for the 2026 campaign.

Lowder won't generate the type of headlines that Stewart has thus far, but he's been every bit as impressive this season. Through five starts, he's covered 29 innings and owns a 3.10 ERA and 3.27 FIP. Other than vaunted fireballer Chase Burns, Lowder's been the most valuable member of the Cincinnati starting rotation, and it's clear that he should be part of the Reds' nucleus moving forward.

Reds pitcher Rhett Lowder looks like a future star

Lowder isn't generating a ton of whiffs, which is why his strikeout rate sits well below-average at just 16%. He's also having trouble limiting hard contact (38.9% hard-hit rate) and keeping the ball on the ground (40.3% ground ball rate). For some pitchers, that'd be a recipe for disaster. But thanks to a devastating sinker-changeup combination, Lowder ranks in the 88th percentile in run value this year according to Baseball Savant.

Lowder uses the sinker as his primary fastball while holding opposing batters to a .179 batting average against. His changeup features elite fade and coaxes hitters into swinging and missing more than 33% of the time. When a pitcher can tunnel two offerings with as much movement as Lowder's sinker and changeup generate, he's bound to experience sustainable success.

If the goal is to compete for the NL Rookie of the Year Award, Lowder will have to do more than just sustain what he's been doing. Stewart has outshined him (and every rookie for that matter). Other top rookies like Nolan McLean and Andrew Painter have both delivered some impressive outings this year as well, and don't have to restore their national stock after a lost season.

Nevertheless, it's hard to complain about what the Reds have gotten from their former first-rounder this year. Considering how uneven he looked this spring, it's quite impressive that he's been this reliable nearly a month into the regular season.

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