Overview
- Stewart broke the Cincinnati rookie RBI mark with his 101st RBI during the Reds’ 10-8 win at Wrigley Field on Friday, Aug. 28, and then hit his 30th homer the next day.
- His fifth-inning home run on Aug. 28 produced the record RBI that topped Jim Greengrass’s 1953 total, and his Aug. 29 blast traveled about 431 feet with a 105.9 mph exit velocity.
- Those hits directly shaped the series opener at Chicago, where Stewart added a go-ahead RBI single in the sixth and his power helped Cincinnati score late runs to win.
- Stewart now sits atop MLB RBI totals for the season and joined the 30-homer/100-RBI rookie club, a group whose members have often won Rookie of the Year honors, and bookmakers list him as the favorite.
- The Reds have adjusted usage and rest plans to preserve his bat down the stretch, and his surge raises what to watch next: whether he sustains production, wins NL Rookie of the Year, and how the club builds around him in the off-season.