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You want it to be one way. But it’s the other way.
Wednesday night in Cincinnati, Sal Stewart hit a pair of three-run home runs against the Giants in the first two innings. Both went the other way.
Red hot starts: Sal Stewart now has 12 home runs in 36 career games as a Red, and seven so far in 2026. The Reds have seen a power bat start off a career with a bang before: in 2019 Aristides Aquino hit 15 home runs in his first 122 plate appearances, setting the MLB record for fastest to 15 home runs. And then Aquino ended his career with 41 total home runs. The case for Stewart being different is in the direction the ball's going.
Oppo pop-o: Six of Stewart's seven home runs this season have gone to right field or right-center. You can pull a baseball by accident. You cannot go to the opposite field by accident. It means you're seeing the pitch deep, letting it travel, and trusting your hands to do the work without selling out for power. Oppo-focused hitters can survive a cold week unlike pull-heavy guys. Miguel Cabrera built a hall-of-fame career from opposite field power. Seeing it in a 22-year-old is something.
Sal and Elly: The Reds are tied for first in the NL Central on Stewart and Elly De La Cruz doing essentially all of the hitting. That's been the whole show. Matt McLain hasn't found it yet. Tyler Stevenson has given Cincinnati nothing from behind the plate. Ke'Bryan Hayes is a great glove and not a lot else right now. Eugenio Suárez has been mid (as the kids say). The Reds are almost at the bottom of the league in runs scored and they’re in first place. The math shouldn't work. It's working. Rece Hinds was just called up to give Stewart and De La Cruz a third piece. Hinds raked all spring and continued to do so after starting the season in Triple-A. A third bat would be nice to keep the pressure off Sal and Elly.
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