Cincinnati Reds infielder Sal Stewart has been named one of the three finalists for the 2026 National League Jackie Robinson Rookie of the Year Award. That's not just obvious conjecture, either – it's on the books, as Major League Baseball revealed on Monday afternoon that Sal, New York Mets outfielder Carson Benge, and St. Louis Cardinals shortstop JJ Wetherholt will each finish in the Top 3 of voting turned in by the Baseball Writers Association of America this year.
The writing had been on the wall for months that these three would likely end up the finalists, though each managed to make their way to this point in very different fashion.
Sal, of course, burst out of the gate with a fury in April, taking home NL Rookie of the Month honors after a torrid first month of the season. He hit a swoon mid-year, though, before once again rocketing to the same honor for the month of August to become the obvious frontrunner for the end of year award. He topped 30 homers and 100 RBI, thresholds that have made rookies virtual locks for winning in each season in which that has happened, though his September slump and defensive positional adjustment as a primary 1B has him lagging behind his peers in terms of WAR.
Wetherholt surged due to the latter, his defense at shortstop legitimately Gold Glove worthy. His offense doesn't stack up as well next to Sal, but as a premium defender he's already cemented a solid baseline value that may sway enough voters who lean on analytics his way. However, he finished the season in a slump (.619 OPS across his final 62 games) and even missed a pair of weeks due to injury in September.
If I were to be honest and remove my homer lense, I think it'd be hard for me not to suggest that it's Benge that deserves the honor. His 118 OPS+ this season actually tops Sal's 117 mark, and he did it while posting a 20/20 season that saw him hit .282 with a .346 OBP and solid positional defense all across the outfield. The former 1st round pick is, quite literally, precisely the kind of outfielder the Reds have been searching for over and over again for decades now, and the Mets stumbled right into him.
It's a pretty classic stage for argument, really. The slugging 1B with piles of traditional counting stats. The defensive whiz whose value came from many places other than his bat. The all-around building block who does everything pretty well. And don't forget that the team who's rookie wins the honor gets draft pick compensation at the end of the 1st round of the 2027 MLB Draft (and the bonus pool money that comes with it)!
We'll find out which one takes home the award next Monday, November 9th.
