Sal Stewart headshot

Sal Stewart

Cincinnati Reds · 1B · through 2026-09-01

Award case

Why he matters right now

Sal Stewart leads the majors in RBI

Through 140 games he is first in RBI — the kind of line that decides awards.

This has been his headline for 13 straight days.

The case in 30 seconds

  • 105 No. 1 in RBI on MLB's own leaderboards — 105 RBI MLB season leaderboard (the league's own top-10 board of qualified players, not this site's roster)
  • on the 2026 rookie leaderboard (31 HR) snapshot rookie_leaders board

The honest caveat

It is still a partial season — 607 plate appearances so far. A rate moves fastest against the strongest arms a schedule has left, and the schedule ahead is not the schedule behind.

What to watch next

20 more to reach 125 RBI.

Every claim above, with its source (3)
  1. No. 1 in RBI on MLB's own leaderboards — 105 RBI MLB season leaderboard (the league's own top-10 board of qualified players, not this site's roster)
  2. No. 1 in RBI on MLB's leaderboard MLB season leaderboard (the league's own top-10 board of qualified players, not this site's roster)
  3. on the 2026 rookie leaderboard (31 HR) snapshot rookie_leaders board

Other cases this page considered and did not lead with: Sal Stewart is doing this in his first big-league season.

The evidence

Tracked on Live Chases

The score is an editorial score, not a measurement on a common scale. The rank above is this player's position on his own category's board — the ordering the site stands behind. See all tracked chases →

What changed last night

0-for-4 W 4-3 vs San Diego Padres · 2026-09-01 carries a .266 average into today

Situational splits

SplitABAVGHRRBIOPS
vs RHP 410 .259 2382 .796
vs LHP 128 .289 823 .901
Home 265 .257 1448 .818
Away 273 .275 1757 .824
Day 217 .244 1441 .813
Night 321 .280 1764 .827

2026 season, MLB Stats API. A split with no plate appearances is omitted rather than shown as zeroes.

140G
538AB
143H
.266AVG
31HR
105RBI
12SB
252B
03B
.821OPS

Chasing .400

.266Current AVG
121Consecutive hits needed to reach .400
113-for-100Needed over next 100 AB
1.213Rest-of-season AVG to finish .400 (108-for-89)

Status: IMPOSSIBLE

Milestone tracker

ChaseTargetCurrentPaceNeeded from hereStatus
.350 AVG .350 .266 .266 .865 ROS EXTREME
.380 AVG .380 .266 .266 1.079 ROS IMPOSSIBLE
.400 AVG .400 .266 .266 1.213 ROS IMPOSSIBLE
.406 AVG .406 .266 .266 1.258 ROS IMPOSSIBLE
.466 AVG .466 .266 .266 1.685 ROS IMPOSSIBLE
50 HR 50 31 36 19 in 23 g · 1 per 4.7 AB EXTREME
60 HR 60 31 36 29 in 23 g · 1 per 3.1 AB EXTREME
62 HR 62 31 36 31 in 23 g · 1 per 2.9 AB EXTREME
70 HR 70 31 36 39 in 23 g · 1 per 2.3 AB EXTREME
73 HR 73 31 36 42 in 23 g · 1 per 2.1 AB EXTREME
200 Hits 200 143 167 57 in 23 g EXTREME
225 Hits 225 143 167 82 in 23 g EXTREME
250 Hits 250 143 167 107 in 23 g EXTREME
262 Hits 262 143 167 119 in 23 g EXTREME
50 SB 50 12 14 38 in 23 g EXTREME
80 SB 80 12 14 68 in 23 g EXTREME
100 SB 100 12 14 88 in 23 g EXTREME
130 SB 130 12 14 118 in 23 g EXTREME
50 2B 50 25 29 25 in 23 g EXTREME
60 2B 60 25 29 35 in 23 g EXTREME
67 2B 67 25 29 42 in 23 g EXTREME
20 3B 20 0 0 20 in 23 g EXTREME
25 3B 25 0 0 25 in 23 g EXTREME
36 3B 36 0 0 36 in 23 g EXTREME
125 RBI 125 105 122 20 in 23 g NEAR PACE
150 RBI 150 105 122 45 in 23 g EXTREME
175 RBI 175 105 122 70 in 23 g EXTREME
191 RBI 191 105 122 86 in 23 g EXTREME

How likely is the finish?

1%finishes with 40+ home runs
0%finishes with 50+ home runs
0%finishes with 60+ home runs

His rate of 51.070 home runs per 1,000 plate appearances is read as 47.190 after regressing toward the league's 30.360 — a leaderboard selects for players who have outperformed, so an unregressed rate projected forward overstates every one of them. That puts the expected finish at 34.9, against a straight team-game pace of 36. Exact beta-binomial over 100 remaining plate appearances, averaged across playing-time scenarios. Calibrated against Retrosheet finishes: within 7 points of observed frequency in every band, and within 2 in three of five. It is a model, not a measurement.

Home run pace vs the benchmark seasons

36730162 gJudge 62Bonds 7331
Cumulative home runs by team game against straight 62 (Judge 2022) and 73 (Bonds 2001) paces. The homepage checkpoint card uses the exact game-by-game Retrosheet curves; these reference lines are straight-line paces.
4.2%of comparable chases reached 40 HR
0.0%of comparable chases reached 50 HR
0.0%of comparable chases reached 60 HR

Empirical: seasons within ±2 HR of his total at the same team-game checkpoint (n=576); median finish 34. Retrosheet.

Recent game log

Derived nightly from the snapshot ledger — each row is the difference between consecutive days; multi-day rows are labeled.

DateOppResultABHHRRBIRSBBBKAVG
2026-09-01 San Diego Padres W 4-3 40 0 00 00 0 .266
2026-08-31 San Diego Padres L 0-5 83 0 01 00 0 .268
2026-08-30 Chicago Cubs W 7-5 52 1 11 00 1 .266
2026-08-29 Chicago Cubs L 5-17 42 1 21 00 1 .265
2026-08-28 Chicago Cubs W 10-8 42 1 22 01 1 .263
2026-08-26 San Francisco Giants W 10-9 30 0 11 01 1 .261
2026-08-25 San Francisco Giants L 1-3 41 1 11 00 0 .263
2026-08-24 San Francisco Giants L 0-5 41 0 00 00 1 .263
2026-08-23 Arizona Diamondbacks L 3-5 52 0 11 00 2 .263
2026-08-22 Arizona Diamondbacks W 11-5 63 0 12 00 1 .262

Lahman + Retrosheet context

How this season fits history

Historical twinJoe Carter · 1992

88% season-shape match

HR checkpoint-28 vs Barry Bonds

Through 139 team games; 59 in 2001

Chase history

.236.322.40704-0309-01
Batting average, day by day
28466304-0309-01
Projected HR, day by day