Sal Stewart leads MLB with 106 RBIs and 31 HR as NL Rookie of the Year frontrunner

What happened

Sal Stewart is leading all MLB hitters with 106 RBIs this season, and per FanGraphs, the 22-year-old Cincinnati Reds corner infielder has emerged as a frontrunner for NL Rookie of the Year honors. He has also bashed 31 home runs and posted a 121 wRC+, numbers that have placed him at the center of the Reds lineup and, increasingly, at the center of a historical conversation about what rookies can do with a bat.

Why it matters

The RBI total is where the history lives. Per the Reds' own press notes, as cited by FanGraphs, only Ted Williams — who drove in 144 runs in 1939 — and Walt Dropo have led the majors in RBIs as rookies since 1920. Stewart is currently in that company. That is not a sentence that arrives with much hedging attached.

The wRC+ of 121 means Stewart has been more productive as an offensive player than the league average, after adjusting for park and era. A 121 wRC+ from a 22-year-old corner infielder in his first extended look at the big leagues is the kind of number that tends to generate award hardware. Whether it generates a trophy this particular autumn remains to be seen, but the case, per FanGraphs, is a serious one.

The numbers

Stewart's season line: 31 home runs, 106 RBIs, 121 wRC+. Those are the three figures FanGraphs leads with, and they are worth sitting with for a moment. The home run total and the RBI total are counting stats that reward durability as much as talent — you have to stay in the lineup, stay healthy, and keep hitting in situations that matter. The wRC+ is the rate stat that confirms the counting stats are not a product of opportunity alone. All three pointing in the same direction at once is how a 22-year-old ends up in a sentence with Ted Williams.

Where the club stands

The Reds enter Sunday at 68-74 (.479), sitting fifth in the NL Central, 19.5 games back in the division. Their Wild Card position is eighth, 6.5 games relative to the cut line. The postseason math is not favorable. What the Reds do have, heading into a stretch that includes a Sunday home game against the Milwaukee Brewers followed by a two-game set at the Los Angeles Dodgers, is a lineup piece who is making history whether or not the standings cooperate.

The club arrives at this moment on a one-game winning streak, having beaten the Brewers on Saturday despite a long rain delay, with three home runs carrying the day. Sunday's probable matchup at Great American Ball Park has Brady Singer going for Cincinnati against Kyle Harrison. The trip to Los Angeles follows, with Chase Burns lined up for Monday and Nick Lodolo for Tuesday.

What we don't know yet

FanGraphs caught up with Stewart prior to a recent game at Wrigley Field, and the conversation — such as it was — revealed a hitter who is more comfortable demonstrating his craft than describing it. Stewart was, per FanGraphs, entertainingly demonstrative with teammates in the clubhouse before the interview, and considerably less expansive once the questions started. Asked how he has grown as a hitter since entering professional baseball in 2022 out of a Miami high school, he offered that he is "kind of always tinkering and trying to find what's best," and that he has largely kept the same swing he came in with. The sentence trails off in FanGraphs' account, which feels appropriate — Stewart appears to be a man who would rather show you than tell you.

What that means practically is that the mechanical underpinnings of one of the more productive rookie seasons in recent memory remain somewhat opaque, at least from Stewart's own account. Whether there are adjustments he has made at the plate that he simply does not discuss, or whether the answer really is that a 22-year-old arrived with a swing that works and has mostly left it alone, is not something FanGraphs' reporting resolves.

What to watch

The Reds' schedule turns demanding quickly. A trip to Dodger Stadium, with TBD starters penciled in for Los Angeles on both Monday and Tuesday, is not the softest possible backdrop for a rookie chasing history. Stewart's RBI total is the number to track — 106 is already in historically rare territory for a first-year player, and every game from here through the end of the regular season is an opportunity to add to it.

The broader Reds roster context is also worth noting. The club has been active in recent days: Brandon Williamson was reinstated from the 60-day injured list after a shoulder injury kept him out since April, and Graham Ashcraft was expected to return to the bullpen Sunday after more than three months away with a right forearm UCL sprain. Carlos Jorge was set to be selected from Triple-A Louisville for his MLB debut, and the club also signed outfielder Dominic Fletcher to a minor league deal and assigned him to Triple-A Louisville. Veteran infielder Orlando Arcia was signed to a minor league deal and assigned to Louisville as well, adding depth for the final weeks of the season.

All of that activity is the September roster shuffle doing what it does — expanding options, adding arms, hedging against attrition. It is the annual ritual of a club trying to finish strong even when the standings have made the finish line largely ceremonial. Stewart, meanwhile, is the reason the Reds' offensive story this season is not ceremonial at all. He leads the majors in RBIs. He has 31 home runs. He has a 121 wRC+. And per FanGraphs, he would rather not talk about it.

That, too, is a kind of answer.