Photo: Doug Gray
We are still about five weeks out from pitchers and catchers reporting to Arizona and Florida for spring training, but now that we are in 2026 we’re going to start getting more “2026 MLB season prediction” articles. The crew over at MLB Pipeline published one about prospects, including picks for the 2026 Rookie of the Year for both the American and National Leagues.
Between Jonathan Mayo and Jim Callis there were three names mentioned in the discussion about the National League Rookie of the Year and all three of them came from the NL Central division. Callis picked St. Louis Cardinals prospect J.J. Wetherholt as his pick for NL Rookie of the Year in 2026. Mayo had two guys in mind, mentioning Pittsburgh Pirates infielder Konnor Griffin, but he wound up going with Sal Stewart as his selection.
The Cincinnati Reds have had their fair share of Rookie of the Year winners since it was established in 1947 as an award for all of baseball before going to NL/AL in 1949. The franchise has had eight of them over the year, but only three in the last 50 years. Jonathan India is the most recent winner for the Reds as he picked up the award back in 2021 when he hit .269 with 21 home runs and scored 98 runs.
1956: Frank Robinson1963: Pete Rose1966: Tommy Helms1968: Johnny Bench1976: Pat Zachry (shared with Butch Metzger of the Padres)1988: Chris Sabo1999: Scott Williamson2021: Jonathan India
Mayo’s choice of Stewart makes sense. Heading into spring training he’s one of likely a handful of rookies that appear to have a job nearly locked in. While Major League Baseball has added reasons for teams to play fewer service time games with players, some teams are still going to keep players down early in the season to get that extra year later in their career. With Stewart getting called up in September the Reds would really have to keep him in the minor leagues for quite a while to get that additional year, and for a team who claims to be trying to compete for the playoffs that would be a tough sell if they didn’t have one of their top prospects up who crushed the ball in the minor leagues in 2025 and hit five home runs in a month during the late part of the season with the Reds.
There are plenty of guys who have won the award who didn’t spend an entire season in the big leagues. But it certainly helps when a player does because while we are a little bit beyond just looking at the counting stats in today’s era of analysis, counting stats still matter because the more you play the more impact you can potentially make. That could certainly come into play for Stewart who should have ample opportunity to play nearly every single day as long as he produces when given the chance.
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