Sal Stewart Crushed a 102.3 MPH Fastball. No Reds Player Has Ever Done That.

If you needed proof that Sal Stewart’s rookie season is real, here it is. He hit a fastball clocked at 102.3 miles per hour for a home run Thursday night. That’s the hardest pitch any Cincinnati Reds player has ever turned into a long ball since MLB started tracking pitch velocity in 2008.

The victim was Jacob Misiorowski, the Milwaukee Brewers’ flame-throwing right-hander. Misiorowski is having a monster year — a 1.47 ERA, 156 strikeouts, and a reputation for making hitters look helpless. But on this night, Stewart got to him. The rookie stepped into a 102.3 mph heater and sent it out.

Misiorowski still struck out 10 batters over his start. He gave up five runs and five hits, but only one of those runs was earned. Still, the home run to Stewart is the kind of thing that sticks in a scouting report for a while.

These two guys are both young. Stewart is a rookie. Misiorowski is in his second big league season. They play in the same division, the NL Central. So this little battle — Stewart vs. the flamethrower — might become a regular thing for years.

What This Means for the Rookie of the Year Race

Stewart is at .257 with an .813 OPS and 17 home runs now. He’s one of the front-runners for National League Rookie of the Year. But numbers only tell part of the story. The way he handled that kind of velocity — 102.3 is basically the edge of what human beings can throw — says something about his timing and his nerve.

Most rookies don’t catch up to that. He did.

Misiorowski, meanwhile, is still sitting on a 1.47 ERA. That’s elite. He didn’t have his best stuff Thursday and the Brewers still have a comfortable lead in the NL Central. But Stewart’s home run is the kind of moment that reminds everyone the kid from Cincinnati is for real.

One Swing, Two Futures

The Reds lead the Brewers in this particular game as of this writing. But Milwaukee is running away with the division. That’s fine. What matters here is the individual moment — a rookie turning on the fastest pitch he’ll probably ever see and driving it out.

Sal Stewart just put his name in the Reds record book. And he did it against one of the best young arms in the game. That’s not nothing.