After winning National League Rookie of the Month honors in April, Stewart endured a 2-for-28 slide in early May, which included an 0-for-19 stretch.
But Francona didn’t see a typical rookie at the plate. Stewart wasn’t tinkering with his swing or changing his approach.
“The really good hitters I've been around, when they're 0-for, they know they're going to hit,” Francona said. “Sal knows he's a good hitter; he's been a good hitter everywhere. He uses the whole field, and when you use the whole field, you get rewarded for it. Tony Gwynn, you couldn't defend him. Sal, when he hits the ball to right field, he can hit the ball out of the ballpark. When you do that, normally, you're doing a lot of things right.”
Stewart, who hit nine home runs in his first 27 games this season, also went through a power outage, hitting only one homer in his next 20 contests. The player who looked like a foundational piece of Cincinnati’s lineup was nowhere to be found, but Stewart knew there was light at the end of what was becoming a very dark tunnel.
“I'm confident, because I work really hard,” Stewart said. “When you work hard, you have to be confident in yourself. When you study for hours for a test, you go into that test knowing that you're prepared for everything. It might not go well, but you're prepared. Same thing with sports; if I work really hard, I'll be prepared. It might not go well, but as long as I'm prepared, I feel good.”
Stewart began to show signs of life at the plate with a five-game hitting streak from May 7-12, hitting .333 with a .935 OPS. He fell back into another slide, going hitless in his next 19 plate appearances over four games, but that confidence never wavered.
“When you bring anybody who's 21 or 22 up to the big leagues, they have to figure it out for a little while,” Krall said. “You have to make the adjustments; you’re facing guys that are in the prime of their career that have been in the league for six or eight years, and they’re going to figure out how to pitch you. Being able to have that confidence – and not lose that confidence – in yourself and your ability to play is really big.”
