'He's a beast.' Can Reds' Sal Stewart win NL Rookie of the Year?
Sal Stewart, the betting favorite for the NL Rookie of the Year award, hit a pair of 3-run homers in the Reds' win over San Francisco on April 15.
Coincidentally on Jackie Robinson Day across Major League Baseball, Cincinnati Reds ' rookie Sal Stewart continued a rookie season surge that has him on the fast track to winning the award named after the player who broke the game's color barrier 79 years ago. The Reds waited 22 years for one of their rookies to win the Jackie Robinson Award, also known as the Rookie of the Year. Jonathan India broke through in 2021 , now Stewart is the betting favorite five years later.
Stewart has shined in a struggling Cincinnati lineup through the first month of the season. He helped his National League ROY campaign in a big way on Wednesday, April 15, slugging a pair of three-run homers in the Reds' 8-3 win over the San Francisco Giants at Great American Ball Park. According to the Reds, Stewart's six RBI are tied for the second-most by a Reds rookie in a single game since rookie rules were established in 1958.
"Don't throw it over the plate to him," fellow rookie Rhett Lowder. "He's a beast. " Elly De La Cruz added: "I like everything (about Stewart's game).
He's a really good hitter. " De La Cruz, who hit a 442-foot homer of his own Wednesday, is the youngest player in Reds' history to post a multi-homer game in 2024 at 22 years, 88 days old. Stewart is just 41 days older.