The red-hot rookie isn't focused on hardware after another noteworthy performance.
Sal Stewart didn’t dodge the Rookie of the Year conversation Wednesday night, but he also didn’t exactly lean into it. It was more of a quick acknowledgment than anything else — the kind of answer that makes it clear where his priorities sit, even if the question keeps following him around.
After the Cincinnati Reds’ 5-4 win over the Cardinals, Stewart was asked whether sharing a series with other rookies in the award mix added anything extra to the moment. His response landed somewhere between appreciation and dismissal of the idea that it should carry much weight beyond the game itself.
“Obviously it’ll mean a lot to win it because I’m a competitor,” Stewart said postgame, via Cboxmedia. “But it doesn’t define who I am.”
He didn’t linger there, and that felt intentional. The way Stewart has gone about his season suggests he’s more comfortable letting the at-bats speak for themselves than sorting through what they might mean in October awards conversations.
That separation showed up again in the sixth inning, when the Reds were still stuck in a 2-0 game and had barely gotten anything going offensively. With two runners on, Stewart stepped in against Matthew Liberatore and didn’t miss a 1-2 fastball, sending it 422 feet into center field for a three-run homer that flipped the game and gave Cincinnati its first lead of the night.
It’s the kind of swing that has started to feel less like a surprise and more like a pattern. Stewart now sits second among rookies with 27 home runs and sits atop the Major League RBI leaderboard with 94, production that has steadily pushed him into the center of Cincinnati’s lineup whether the offense is rolling or searching for answers.
Terry Francona has seen enough of it to understand the timing isn’t accidental.
“He’s a really good hitter,” Francona said postgame, via Cboxmedia. “But I know he relishes those opportunities.”
That’s been the quiet thread running through Stewart’s season — not just the production, but the way he seems to settle in when the moment tightens. The numbers have made him one of the most visible rookies in baseball, but his own framing of it rarely drifts toward personal milestones.
After his home run Wednesday, Stewart said there was some frustration behind the swing.
“We haven’t been playing the way we’re capable of, starting with myself,” Stewart told reporters postgame, via MLB.com's Mark Sheldon. “I could have been better and setting the tone more.”
For a team that had lost eight of its previous 12 games and scored one run or fewer in five of those losses, it would've been easy to fold under the pressure. But Stewart grew into the moment once again to save the Reds.
And the dugout's reaction showed how much the moment meant. Sheldon noted that as Stewart rounded the bases, Dane Myers yelled, “Rookie of the Year!”
Stewart's own comments afterward were considerably less interested in the label.
He was much more willing to talk about the work that has gone into becoming a better player, particularly defensively. Stewart said he has never considered himself a finished product and credited Mike Napoli, Freddie Benavides and the rest of the coaching staff for helping him make plays he might not have made at the beginning of last season.
Stewart is clearly aware of where he stands in the Rookie of the Year race. He also knows there are plenty of other talented young players chasing the same award.
For now, though, his focus seems to be on becoming the player he believes he can be. If that eventually puts him in a position to win an award, he'll gladly take it.
