At 65-72 afterbeating the Cubs on Sunday Night Baseball Aug. 30, the Cincinnati Reds have 25 games to try to even their record at .500 or perhaps rise above average.
While the Reds are in the middle of the pack in terms of average age (No. 15 at 28.5 years), they have set an MLB record with three young players, according to OptaSTATS.
The Reds have three players under 25 who have posted significant numbers in 2026. The Reds have a player under 25 who has reached 30 homers and 100 runs batted in (Sal Stewart), a player under 25 with 20 homers and 20 steals (Elly De La Cruz) and a pitcher under 25 with 15 wins (Chase Burns).
Milestone seasons for Cincinnati Reds Sal Stewart, Elly De La Cruz, Chase Burns
Stewart, a National League Rookie of the Year favorite, is at 31 homers with 105 RBI at age 22. He's already surpassed the Reds rookie RBI mark previously held by Jim Greengrass (100 in 1953). He's seven home runs away from tying Hall of Famer Frank Robinson's rookie home run record of 38 set in 1956.
Elly De La Cruz, at age 24, has 21 homers, 60 RBI and 24 steals for the Reds. It's the third straight year he's had a 20/20 season. In 2024, he had 25 homers and 67 steals and last year he had 22 bombs and 37 steals. The last Reds to have three straight 20/20 seasons were Eric Davis and Brandon Phillips. His next milestone could be 30/30, which has only been done by Davis in 1987 (37 homers, 50 steals) and Hall of Famer Barry Larkin in 1996 (30 homers, 36 steals).
Reds pitcher Chase Burns is a 23-year-old with a 15-3 record, 2.79 ERA and 171 strikeouts in 145.1 innings. That's the best for a Reds rookie (Burns qualifies despite 43.1 innings last year) since Tom Browning, "Mr. Perfect", went 20-9 in 1985 for manager Pete Rose. Browning was 25 at the time.
Burns at 15-3, passes Wayne Simpson's 14-3 set in 1970 when he was 21. Simpson began the season 13-1 and made the National League All-Star Game. A torn rotator cuff ended his season and he never won that many games again.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati Reds young players make MLB history
