Reds icon Joey Votto delivers timely defense that should boost Sal Stewart's ROY case

Even before the season began, it felt as if the MLB world was sleeping on Sal Stewart's National League Rookie of the Year case. An MLB Pipeline survey of club executives from early January pegged the budding Cincinnati Reds' star with just a 4.7% chance of taking home the award. Meanwhile, the overwhelming favorite was St. Louis Cardinals second baseman, JJ Wetherholt, coming in with 30.2% of the vote.

Stewart had already earned the respect of his coaches and teammates due to his brief time with the big league club last season and his spring training performance, but he started 2026 by loudly announcing to the baseball universe that he should not be overlooked for the award.

As the season has raged on, it's become clear that the common assumption that the NL Rookie of the Year race would run through the NL Central was correct, with Stewart and Wetherholt emerging as the unquestioned prime contenders.

To many, Wetherholt is still the favorite, but Stewart has come charging from behind to pull into a virtual tie with the Cardinals infielder as far as public sentiment is concerned.

Wetherholt is having a fantastic season, but it's a little curious as to why he still holds a slight edge. Stewart is slashing .259/.333/.474 with 27 homers, 12 steals, and 96 RBI. Wetherholt checks in with a .243/.348/.373 line, 16 homers, 13 steals, and 46 RBI.

Pretty easy to make the case that Stewart is the far superior hitter. But fans and pundits will often cite WAR as the differentiator. FanGraphs' version of WAR gives Stewart a 2.1 mark versus a 4.4 mark for Wetherholt.

The entire difference in fWAR between the two phenoms comes down to positional value and defensive performance. However, Reds legend Joey Votto has made some great points as to why first base doesn't get the love it deserves for its defensive importance.

Joey Votto's first base defense argument supports Reds star Sal Stewart's claim to the NL Rookie of the Year award

Votto makes several valid points throughout his tweet storm, and we'll highlight a few of the key ones here as it relates to the Stewart versus Wetherholt debate. The crux of the matter comes down to a specialized version of outs above average called receiving outs above average, which tracks how good a first baseman is at receiving throws from the other infielders to convert outs.

The point is a solid one. We've accepted that catcher defense is unlike that of any other position on the field due to the specialized nature of what a backstop does, but to a lesser extent, the same argument can be made for first basemen. While they don't get the volume of ground balls that shortstops and other positions do, first basemen are involved in the vast majority of plays on the infield as the receiver.

So, similar to pitch framing, this is a valuable skill that flies under the radar. It's not just scoops and corralling bad throws either. There are things like extension off the bag, tagging base runners when pulled off the bag, and adjusting to high throws that matter.

The more skilled that a first baseman is at these actions, the greater his impact is on the defense. That can be easy to see in the moment when a first baseman makes a great scoop or something of the sort, but there's also a hidden benefit to the rest of the infield when they have confidence in the man running the cold corner to be a good receiver.

What Votto points out is that the first baseman's receiving skills help the rest of the infield have confidence that he'll be able to bail them out on tough throws. That, in turn, helps them maintain their focus while making diving or leaping plays, which will require an off-balance throw. On the flip side, if they don't have confidence in their receivers, they're more likely to split their concentration and muff the play before even attempting the throw.

With all of that in mind, it's worth considering that the gap between second base's positional value and first base's positional value might not be as great as one might think. It's also worth considering if some of Wetherholt's defensive excellence actually belongs to Cardinals first baseman Alec Burleson, who leads the majors in receiving outs above average with seven.

As for Stewart, he actually has some work to do as a receiver, coming in with a mark of -3 in this metric. However, the point still stands that first base isn't exactly a position that anyone can play, as is commonly assumed, and the positional value argument doesn't hold as much weight as some would have you believe.

At the end of the day, the value of Stewart's offensive contributions should be enough to overcome the defense and positional value argument. With that, it should be clear that the Reds' cornerstone should emerge as the NL Rookie of the Year winner.

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