Sal Stewart's historic Reds milestone should cement Rookie of the Year case

It's time for St. Louis Cardinals fans to give up their hopes and dreams of JJ Wetherholt lifting the 2026 National League Rookie of the Year trophy high above his head in November. That honor will go to Cincinnati Reds slugger Sal Stewart.

During Wednesday's series finale against the San Francisco Giants, Stewart recorded his 100th RBI on the season with a sacrifice fly during the seventh inning. He became the first Reds rookie since Jim Greengrass in 1953 to achieve such a feat, and there's still more than a month left until the 2026 season comes to a close.

Reds rookie Sal Stewart only adds to his NL ROY case with 100 RBI

Stewart's 100th run batted makes him the eighth player this century to hit that mark, and he joins some pretty elite company. Albert Pujols (2001), Hideki Matsui (2003), Ryan Zimmerman (2006), Jose Abreu (2014), Aaron Judge (2017), and Pete Alonso (2019) all crossed the century-mark in RBI during their rookie seasons. Five of those seven players won Rookie of the Year, with Matsui and Zimmerman being the only exceptions.

A deeper look at the AL Rookie of the Year race in 2003 and the 2006 chase for the NL Rookie of the Year Award, reveal a much closer competition between the first and second-place finishers.

Matsui barely lost to Kansas City Royals standout Ángel Berroa who bested the New York Yankees rookie by one home run in 2003. Zimmerman's upset at the hand of Hanley Ramirez had a lot to do with the Miami Marlins' shortstop's 51 stolen bases that season.

Wetherholt has had an outstanding year for the Cardinals, but his offensive statistics just don't stack up against what Stewart's done this season. Stewart has raised his batting average over the last two months to .263 while Wetherholt's has dipped to .245. Stewart's slugging percentage is almost 100 points higher than his rookie counterpart, and the Reds slugger has more than double the number of RBI and 11 more homers. Frankly folks, the race really isn't that close.

Joey DeBerardino of WDTN in Dayton shared a social media post earlier this week showing that only three rookies in the history of Major League Baseball have been the first player to reach the 100 RBI milestone in a season. Stewart is one, the other two are Jose Canseco (1986) and Ted Williams (1939). That's some pretty good company to keep.

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