The Cincinnati Reds have had an amazing season so far. As of right now, they sit atop the National League Central with a record of 16-9. Their pitching staff has been amazing, even without their ace, Hunter Green. Although the Reds have rode their pitching staff to this sparkling record, their offense has had two standouts that have carried their performance to this point. The obvious answer to one of those standouts is Superstar Elly De La Cruz, who has 8 home runs and 6 stolen bases and can go 40/40 this season. The other standout is none other than their #1 prospect Sal Stewart. Stewart, is slashing .297/.389/.615 with an OPS over 1.000. This is an amazing start to a career for a player that had some questions heading into his first full rookie season.Â
Stewart’s profile provided some swing and miss as the main concern. In a limited sample in the majors, he had a strikeout rate over 25% and below 6% walk rate. His chase % was not anything to boast about either. Stewart has picked up all of those marks in 2026. He ranks in the 73rd percentile with K% now and 88th percentile in BB rate. These marks have helped him get off to the good start he has gotten off to so far.Â
What has carried over year-to-year from the minors to the majors for Stewart is the hard contact he is making. He ranks in the 98th percentile for Barrel %. He is barreling balls at a 22.5% clip this is up there with any player in the league not named Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani. Now, these numbers may not be sustainable for the young Stewart, but overall he has a chance to be solid. We will have to contribute for the Reds for a long time. This is an insane Hot streak to start the year, which is probably not sustainable, but these underlying metrics allow for a lot of the profile to continue throughout the season for Stewart. The one number I want to look at the closest is the walk rate throughout the year. If he continues that I think his numbers will be very stable.
Stewart is leading the National League in RBI this season with 24. This is something that I would like to look at. The Reds offense besides De La Cruz and Stewart has been rather dormant. Eugenio Suarez has not lived up to his 50 Home Run season and many players are not getting on base like they would normally like to. I am not sure that it will get too much better either. I feel as though his RBI numbers will come down as the season moves forward, even if he continues 80% of the production he has given so far.
One aspect of Stewart’s game that has been surprising and rounds his game out well would be the 6 stolen bases he has so far. Six stolen bases is not a ton, but it allows him to be on pace for 30 for the season. His sprint speed only ranks in the 33rd percentile, but overall he has been stealing bases on a semi-regular basis.
Sal Stewart has been one of the pleasant surprises of the baseball season to this point. He is probably operating at an unsustainable pace, but one thing to note is that he is playing consistently. His numbers haven’t come in a couple blow up games or a hot five game stretch. He has been putting consistent numbers up over his first 108 plate appearances of the season. This stretch is not a small enough sample size to scoff at, rather an exciting note that we can look at as a collective and believe in this long-term. I expect Stewart to come down to earth a bit, but if he can continue the lower strikeout rate and continue walking at a high clip Stewart can be a real player moving forward.
