Tigers' McGonigle and Reds' Stewart win 2026 MLB Rookie of the Year awards

Major League Baseball named its 2026 Rookies of the Year on Monday night, with the Baseball Writers' Association of America selecting Detroit Tigers shortstop Kevin McGonigle in the American League and Cincinnati Reds first baseman Sal Stewart in the National League. The results were revealed in a broadcast on MLB Network and MLB+, capping a BBWAA awards week that continues Wednesday with the Cy Young Award.

McGonigle, 22, received 28 of 30 first-place votes for 204 points, finishing well ahead of Cleveland Guardians pitcher Parker Messick (122 points) and Boston Red Sox pitcher Payton Tolle (54 points). Stewart, also 22, took 20 first-place votes and 170 points, outpolling New York Mets outfielder Carson Benge (107 points) and St. Louis Cardinals infielder JJ Wetherholt (99 points). Mets right-hander Nolan McLean, who appeared on 29 of the 30 ballots, finished fourth in the NL voting. The honor, formally known since 1987 as the Jackie Robinson Award in tribute to the BBWAA's first winner in 1947, is decided by two writers from each major league city, one assigned to each league's race.

Numbers that invited Hall of Fame comparisons

Both winners produced rookie seasons that statisticians flagged as historically unusual almost in real time.

• McGonigle: .278/.376/.430, 18 home runs, 72 RBIs, 97 runs, 168 hits, 28 doubles and 95 walks in 707 plate appearances — he led the American League in plate appearances and in Baseball-Reference's version of WAR (7.1) among all position players, rookie or veteran.
• Stewart: .263/.330/.457, 32 home runs, 112 RBIs, 164 hits, 87 runs and 63 walks across all 162 games, 285 total bases, and an All-Star selection.

According to MLB.com's own recap of McGonigle's award-winning season, he became just the fourth rookie since 1947 to reach 95 walks and 95 runs in a season, joining Aaron Judge, Jim Gilliam and Joe Morgan, and the first rookie since Ted Williams in 1939 to combine at least 97 runs, 28 doubles, 18 home runs, 72 RBIs and 95 walks. Stewart, detailed in MLB.com's account of his season, is the only Reds rookie to post a 30-homer, 100-RBI season — the 14th rookie in major league history to do it — and his 164 hits are the most by a Reds rookie since Pete Rose's 170 in 1963.

Different roads to the same stage

McGonigle, drafted 37th overall out of the Philadelphia area in 2023, made Detroit's Opening Day roster out of spring training and stepped into an everyday role in part because veteran infielder Javier Báez missed roughly three months with a right ankle sprain. Weeks into his rookie season, the Tigers moved to secure his long-term future, signing him to an eight-year, $150 million contract extension running through 2034 — a deal covering his final arbitration-eligible seasons and his first three years of what would have been free agency.

Stewart, selected 32nd overall by Cincinnati in 2022 out of Westminster Christian School in Florida, debuted on September 1, 2025, and appeared in the Reds' National League Wild Card Series loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers that fall. He won an everyday job in 2026 and played in all 162 games even as the Reds finished last in the NL Central with 75 wins, making his individual production one of the few bright spots in a losing season.

A franchise milestone in Detroit and Cincinnati

McGonigle is the first Tigers position player to win Rookie of the Year since Hall of Famer Lou Whitaker in 1978, and the first Tigers winner of any kind since pitcher Michael Fulmer in 2016. Tigers manager A.J. Hinch called him "phenomenal in every way," while president of baseball operations Scott Harris noted that "he led the American League in plate appearances and led the American League in WAR." The win is especially notable for a Detroit organization that has produced relatively few rookie standouts in recent decades; McGonigle is only the third Tiger to take the award since it began in 1947.

Stewart's win makes him the ninth Rookie of the Year in Reds history, joining Jonathan India (2021), Scott Williamson (1999), Chris Sabo (1988), Pat Zachry (1976), Johnny Bench (1968), Tommy Helms (1966), Pete Rose (1963) and Frank Robinson (1956). Because both players spent the full season on their teams' Opening Day rosters and went on to win the award, Detroit and Cincinnati will each receive a supplemental first-round pick in the 2027 draft under MLB's Prospect Promotion Incentive program, a tangible payoff for both front offices.

"My career is just getting started. I promise you, this is just a stepping stone," Stewart said after the announcement.

McGonigle struck a similar note about the path that got him there: "What makes me most proud is all the work I put in just to get to this point where I'm at today," he said. "It's really surreal."

What's next

BBWAA awards week continues Wednesday with the Cy Young Award, where American League finalists include Toronto's Dylan Cease, New York's Cam Schlittler and Guardians Rookie of the Year runner-up Parker Messick, while Milwaukee's Jacob Misiorowski heads the National League field. MVP announcements follow later in the week. For McGonigle, the extension already signed means his near-term future in Detroit is settled; for Stewart, arbitration eligibility and a Reds front office eager to build around a last-place roster's biggest success story will shape the winter ahead. Both franchises will enter the offseason with a rare asset: a position player still three to six years from free agency who has already proven himself at the major league level, a foundation each club's front office is expected to build its roster construction around heading into 2027.