Elly De La Cruz and Sal Stewart Are Finalists for Major Hardware

Hardware in store? Elly De La Cruz, Sal Stewart finalists for honors.

The Cincinnati Reds have two players among the finalists for the 2026 Silver Slugger Awards, announced this week by Louisville Slugger.

Elly De La Cruz is a finalist at shortstop in the National League.

Sal Stewart is a finalist at the utility position.

The Silver Slugger is awarded annually to the best hitter at each position in each league.

Winners are determined by a vote of league managers and coaches.

The award was first introduced in 1980.

De La Cruz joins CJ Abrams and Otto Lopez on the NL shortstop finalist list.

Stewart is up against Fernando Tatis Jr. and Jake Bauers for the utility award.

A win for De La Cruz would make him the first Reds shortstop to take the honor since Felipe Lopez in 2005.

Hall of Fame shortstop Barry Larkin won the Silver Slugger a record nine times for Cincinnati.

A win for Stewart would make him the first Reds rookie ever to win a Silver Slugger.

A rookie has won a Silver Slugger in each of the last four seasons across MLB.

Stewart has a chance to extend that streak to five.

The last Red to win a Silver Slugger was outfielder Nick Castellanos in 2021.

Brandon Drury also won the award in 2022, but he was traded to the Padres before completing the season with Cincinnati.

De La Cruz’s 2026 season was the best and most consistent of his young career.

He set career highs in home runs (30), walks, batting average (.283), on-base percentage (.365), slugging percentage (.515) and OPS (.880).

He also set a career low in strikeouts and errors.

He became the Reds’ fourth 30-30 player, joining the 30-home-run, 30-stolen-base club.

All of this came despite spending nearly a month on the injured list with a hamstring injury in May.

In September, he played at an MVP level.

He slashed .348/.437/.719 with nine home runs, six doubles, six stolen bases and 19 RBI.

He won the National League Player of the Month award for September.

Stewart had one of the best rookie seasons in MLB history.

He started the season with a bang: nine home runs, 29 RBI and seven stolen bases in April.

He won Rookie of the Month in April.

He became the first Reds player to win Rookie of the Month twice in a single season by winning it again in August.

He was named to the All-Star team.

On the season, he finished with a .263 batting average, a .787 OPS, 32 home runs and 112 RBI.

He became just the second rookie in MLB history to have a 30-home-run, 15-stolen-base season.

The only other rookie to do it was Jose Canseco.

He is just the fourth rookie in MLB history to hit 30 or more home runs and record 110 or more RBI at age 22 or younger.

He became just the eighth rookie ever to play in all 162 games in a season.

He started 161 of those games.

The Reds drafted Stewart in the 2022 MLB draft with a compensation pick.

That pick came after Nick Castellanos declined his qualifying offer in the 2021 offseason and signed with the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Silver Slugger winners will be announced later this offseason.

If both De La Cruz and Stewart win, it would mark the first time since 1989 that two Reds players took home the award in the same season.

De La Cruz, 24, is entering his fourth MLB season in 2027.

He is not yet signed to a long-term contract.

That has made him one of the most discussed trade chips this offseason.

FanGraphs recently named De La Cruz and Baltimore Orioles shortstop Gunnar Henderson the two most interesting trade candidates on the market.

The free agent shortstop class this winter is thin.

Mauricio Dubon and J.P. Crawford are the best options available.