The calendar flipped from August to September this week, and that’s how Major League Baseball chooses to pick its own arbitrary endpoints. And during the month of August Cincinnati Reds rookie Sal Stewart once again chose to knock the absolute snot out of the ball.
The NL Rookie of the Month from the months of April/March kept right on plowing away towards an eventual NL Rookie of the Year Award by hitting .304/.349/.530 with 8 homers and 21 of his MLB-best 105 RBI, and for that the league doted upon
him the NL Rookie of the Month Award for August, too.
In doing so, he becomes the first Reds rookie in the history of these monthly awards to win two in the same rookie season, and that’s pretty high praise. While congrats to Sal are in order, it’s worth emphasizing what a strong September finish for him (and a take-home of the RoY award) would do for the Reds as a whole.
The latest CBA wrote in the Prospect Promotion Incentive (PPI) to encourage teams to promote their best and brightest prospects as early as they are ready in lieu of creatively manipulating their service time to keep them around for longer. The theory is, of course, that the more the good ones play, the more they stack stats and, therefore, have a better shot at earning votes to win the RoY. Sal’s eligible after his short cameo at the end of 2025, and if he takes home the NL RoY at the end of 2026 the Reds will be awarded a draft pick at the end of the 1st round in next June’s MLB Draft – and the over $3.5 million slot value that will come with it into their overall bonus pool.
Considering the Reds had a Competitive Balance Round B pick this year, they’ll almost assuredly end up with a Comp Round A pick in 2027 – which also comes after the 1st round – meaning the Reds would have (with a Stewart victory in the voting) three of the top ~35 picks in next summer’s draft.
In other news, there are rumors swirling that the Cincinnati Reds are going to call up CF prospect Carlos Jorge prior to the weekend series against the Milwaukee Brewers. So says former Cubs spanish language broadcaster Mike Rodriguez, with whom I am not directly familiar (but who follows and is followed by numerous baseball-related accounts I trust).
Jorge was notably absent from the Louisville Bats lineup today. After a somewhat slow start to his AAA career after being promoted at the end of June, Jorge has caught fire over his last 13 games (56 PA) to the tune of .360/.429/.500 wih 5 steals. His defense and speed are his calling cards, and the idea of him and Dane Myers forming a CF platoon for now and beyond is actually really enticing.
We’ll certainly see tomorrow. A 40-man roster transaction would have to take place along with an active roster move, but with Michael Toglia and Spencer Steer not yet on the 60-day IL, respectively, that’s something that can be remedied rather quickly.
