The dog days of summer have been known to wilt many a young player over the years. But in the case of the 30 hitting prospects listed below, they’re as hot as the temps have been.

These are the hottest hitters over the past month for each organization, a list that’s highlighted by 12 members of our Top 100 Prospects list. And there are three brand new professionals making the list, courtesy of the 2026 Draft as well.

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Blue Jays: Sean Keys, 1B/3B (No. 6)
The 2024 fourth-rounder is playing like someone who really wants to return to the bigs before the year is out. Keys is hitting .351/.463/.675 with six homers and 13 walks through 20 games with Triple-A Buffalo in August. That’s a significant turnaround considering he went 4-for-30 (.133) with 10 strikeouts and no extra-base hits in his first nine games back with the Bisons after being optioned on July 23. While Keys’ power has been his biggest driver in 2026 with 27 Minor League homers total on the season, he’s also cut his whiff rate to 22.7 percent in August, the lowest mark he’s had in a month in Triple-A yet.

Orioles: Enddy Azocar, OF (No. 9)
Azocar was white-hot (.552/.581/1.024) in the days just ahead of him being traded from the Red Sox to the Orioles in the Adley Rutschman trade. He’s cooled off by comparison, but has still managed to slash .356/.400/.616 with High-A Frederick since the deal. That’s an OPS of 1.185 over the last 30 days with 19 extra-base hits, helping him sit in a tie for third among all Minor League hitters with 62 XBH for the season.

Rays: Caden Bodine, C (No. 3/MLB No. 51)
Bodine’s rocket rise through the Tampa Bay system continued Tuesday with his promotion to Triple-A Durham for his fourth level of the year, and no one could argue it wasn’t well-deserved. The Coastal Carolina product, who was acquired from the Orioles in last offseason’s Shane Baz deal, hit .330/.403/.462 with four homers, two doubles and an 8/14 K/BB ratio over his final 25 games with Double-A Montgomery. His 6.0 percent strikeout rate on the season is lowest among all full-season qualifiers, while his .343 average ranks second in that group of 756.

Red Sox: Franklin Primera, C/1B (No. 4)
Primera has posted an OPS above 1.000 in three of his four months this season, and before August, the last time he did was June (1.355) when he was promoted from the Florida Complex League to Single-A Salem at the end of the month. The 19-year-old backstop has certainly caught up to the quality of the Carolina League with a .403/.560/.661 line, three homers and 7/15 K/BB ratio over 18 games with the RidgeYaks. His 1.45 BB/K ratio on the season ranks sixth among all MiLB qualifiers.

Yankees: Yostin Pena, OF (Not ranked among Top 30)
At 18 years old, Pena was a bit on the older side for the Dominican Summer League, where he opened the season, but on July 28, he skipped the FCL to get a promotion to Single-A Tampa and hasn’t looked back since. The 6-foot-4 right-handed slugger has hit .358/.389/.597 with four homers in his first 15 games with the Tarpons. (Three of those four dingers have come in the last week alone.) His big-time power (113.6 mph max exit velocity, 108.2 90th-percentile EV in the FSL) is his most intriguing asset, though a high chase rate brings some cause for concern as he sees more full-season pitching.

Guardians: Ralphy Velazquez, 1B/OF (No. 2/MLB No. 32)
Velazquez clubbed 16 homers for Triple-A Columbus over a 20-game stretch from July 28 to Aug. 22. He struck out only 15 times in the same span. The only Major Leaguers to homer that many times over a similar sample size are Albert Belle, Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire and Kyle Schwarber – a real who’s who of all-time sluggers. No other Minor Leaguer hit more than 11 dingers over the same stretch. The 21-year-old is up to a career high 27 homers on the season between Double-A and Triple-A, and with Cleveland in the thick of the AL Central and Wild Card races, his name will come up a ton in promotion discussions over the final weeks of 2026.

Royals: Jaider Suárez, SS (No. 18)
Angeibel Gomez has gotten a lot of deserved praise for his introduction to pro ball in the Dominican Summer League this year, but don’t overlook Suárez who signed for $1,647,500 in January and has similarly posted impressive numbers, especially at the end of the regular season. The right-handed-hitting shortstop went 12-for-24 (.500) with five extra-base hits, seven steals, seven walks and (get this) only one strikeout over the final eight regular-season games with DSL Royals Fortuna. He didn’t quite find the same success in DSL Cup play (fanning four times in his final four postseason games), but even so, he finished 2026 with a .379/.508/.564 line and 29/35 K/BB ratio over 43 contests.

Tigers: Bryce Rainer, SS (No. 3/MLB No. 48)
Rainer’s swing-and-miss issues continue to temper what could be a truly exciting profile, but there’s no doubting that this has been his best slugging month yet in his age-20 season. The left-handed-hitting shortstop went deep six times over seven games for High-A West Michigan from Aug. 14-22, and he’s hitting .282/.358/.634 with seven homers total in 17 games this month. If he can close some of the holes in his swing in his 20s, he has massive upside on both sides of the ball to become Detroit’s future at the six.

Twins: Walker Jenkins, OF (No. 1/MLB No. 15)
Whenever he’s on the field and healthy, he produces, but he’s yet to play in over 100 games in a season. This year has been no different, with a shoulder sprain sidelining him for more than a month. He’s been making up for it since, hitting .368/.466/.678 with seven homers over the last month. That stretch includes a pair of two-homer games last week, adding to him knocking on the big league door even more loudly. Could that door be opened with the latest Byron Buxton injury?

White Sox: Caleb Bonemer, 3B/SS (No.2 /MLB No. 30**)**
It’s been a big week for Bonemer news with Scott Merkin reporting that the Chicago prospect will start folding in center field to his defensive work before heading to the Arizona Fall League in a few weeks. His bat continues to be the most enticing part of the profile anyways, as he proved Tuesday by going 3-for-3 with a homer, two doubles and two walks for Double-A Birmingham. Since July 29, he is hitting .275/.412/.714 with 10 homers in his last 24 games in the Southern League, and his 34 dingers on the season between High-A and Double-A are tied for fourth-most in the Minors.

Angels: Jake Munroe, 3B (No. 20)
The Angels’ fourth-round pick out of Louisville in 2025, Munroe has used his excellent feel to hit his way to Double-A in his first full season. He’s swinging it particularly well of late, with a .944 OPS over the last month with Rocket City. He’s continued a season-long trend of limiting strikeouts (16.6 percent for the year) and drawing walks (12.6 pct), leading to him leading all Angels Minor Leaguers with a 140 wRC+ in 2026.

Astros: Logan Hughes, OF (No. 3)
The 17th pick in this year’s Draft has the longest active hitting streak in the Carolina League at 13 games, which is notable since he’s only played 13 games for Single-A Fayetteville. The Texas Tech product has opened his career with a .352/.462/.648 line, two homers and eight walks in that span, leading to a 191 wRC+ over the small sample. With Hughes’ defense drawing questions, he’ll need to hit to hold high value in the Houston system, and he’s checking that box early.

A’s: Drew Burress, OF (No. 2/MLB No. 41)
Thought to be one of the members of the 2026 Draft class who could move quickly through the Minors, especially since the A’s don’t hesitate to push college bats rapidly up the ladder, Burress has put his best foot forward during his summer debut. The Georgia Tech outfielder has swung and missed a bunch (25.9 percent K rate), but offset that with a 19.8 percent BB rate while smashing six homers and slashing .306/.469/.694 with Single-A Stockton over 17 games since signing.

Mariners: Boston Smith, C/OF (No. 13)
Smith hasn’t let being traded slow him down this past month. Actually, he’s been traded twice, going from the Nationals to the Rays at the end of Spring Training, then from the Rays to the Mariners in the Luis Castillo deal at the Deadline. He’s hit eight homers in 18 games since the trade, a continuation of strong performances when he was still in Tampa’s organization, leading to a .309/.434/.704 line over the last 30 days. He’s one of a dozen Minor League hitters with 30 or more homers for the season.

Rangers: Dylan Dreiling, OF (No. 13)
This is the second time Dreiling has made our hot hitters list – he was the Rangers’ entry in April as well – and for good reason. The left-handed hitting outfielder slashed .395/.454/.709 with 13 extra-base hits (seven homers) over the past month. He has a .915 OPS for the season now, good for fourth in the Double-A Texas League, and he’s also tied for fourth with 45 extra-base hits.

Braves: Connor Essenburg, OF (No. 11)
Essenburg got super hot at the end of July with Single-A Augusta, hitting .579/.667/1.474 over his last 27 plate appearances to earn a bump up to High-A Rome. He’s still adjusting to the new level, but his overall numbers for the past month still jump off the page, as the 19-year-old outfielder has a combined 1.053 OPS with 11 extra-base hits and more walks than strikeouts in that time span. This stretch has allowed him to vault into the organizational lead with 144 wRC+ for the season.

Marlins: Brandon Compton, OF (No. 13)
The Marlins’ second-round pick in 2025, Compton scuffled in April and May with High-A Beloit, but started figuring things out in June and kept on raking with a promotion to Double-A at the end of that month. He hasn’t stopped since, including a .357/.442/.816 line over the last 30 days, a stretch that’s included 10 homers and 13 doubles. His 32 home runs for the season put him in a tie for seventh among all Minor Leaguers and he tops Marlins farmhands with his 164 wRC+.

Mets: Aidan Smith, OF (No. 16)
Smith faced major hit-tool questions when he came over from the Rays system in the Freddy Peralta Deadline deal after hitting .215/.283/.410 with a 32.0 K% over 49 games with High-A Bowling Green. To be clear, those issues do still exist. But he’s also taken his walks and produced much more thump with Brooklyn following his move to the Mets. Through 16 games with New York’s High-A affiliate, Smith is hitting .333/.446/.617 with five homers and a 174 wRC+. He has a solid power-speed combination and provides defensive value up the middle, so if he can keep the hit tool at even just a 40 on the 20-80 scale, that’d be a nice get for the Mets.

Nationals: Seaver King, SS (No. 4/MLB No. 71)
Known as a hit-over-power shortstop, King has flipped a power switch in August shortly after recovering from an oblique injury. From Aug. 8-20 with Triple-A Rochester, he went deep eight times over an 11-game span, hitting .489/.547/1.043 across 53 plate appearances in that time. His 1.228 OPS in August ranks third-best in the International League this month behind Velazquez’s 1.424 and Jenkins’ 1.256. He made his first Minor League start at third base on Aug. 19, but if the Nationals are serious about moving CJ Abrams to second base before the year is out, King could be the one to slot in at shortstop in an MLB debut soon.

Phillies: Francisco Renteria, OF (No. 3/MLB No. 81)
We know we need to take DSL stats with a grain of salt, but it’s hard not to get excited about Renteria and what he’s done in his pro debut after signing with the Phillies for $4 million in January. This past month has been more of the same, with a .377/.482/.797 line, more walks than strikeouts, 15 extra-base hits (six homers) and 10 steals. That includes going 4-for-11 with a homer and three steals over three playoff games. An 1.152 OPS with 11 homers and 24 steals over 53 games is a very good way to make a first impression.

Brewers: Brailyn Antunez (No. 29)
Antunez was a solid performer in the Arizona Complex League to begin his age-18 season but struck out 31.3 percent of the time, heightening concerns about his hit tool as he moved stateside. Not only is he making more contact since his arrival at Single-A Wilson on July 26, but he’s also performing better across the board as a hitter with a .391/.495/.696 line and seven homers in 24 games in the Carolina League. That’s a 206 wRC+ across 112 plate appearances, aided by improved contact rates and an increase in line drives from his right-handed bat.

Cardinals: Rainiel Rodriguez, C/1B (No. 1/MLB No. 18)
Rodriguez homered twice for the second straight game Tuesday night, and even that just felt like more of the same from the right-handed-hitting backstop. Since July 26, he’s hitting .462/.495/.934 with 10 homers, 13 doubles and only nine strikeouts over 22 games (101 plate appearances). That’s right, he has more than double the amount of extra-base hits as K’s in this recent run. His 19 homers total with Springfield are the most in a single season by a Double-A catcher aged 19 or younger since 2006, beating out Samuel Basallo’s 16 in second place, and his 149 wRC+ ranks only second behind Mike Trout’s 162 in 2011 at the same level and age group.

Cubs: Kane Kepley, OF (No. 5)
The Cubs’ second-rounder a year ago has hit his way from High-A to Double-A in his first full season, a promotion that happened during this past 30-day stretch. He hasn’t missed a beat, with a 1.076 combined OPS during the time period. It includes 10 extra-base hits (five homers), more walks than strikeouts (25-15) and going a perfect 14-for-14 in stolen base attempts. His 61 steals (in 66 attempts) puts him in a tie for third among all Minor League speedsters.

Pirates: Tony Blanco Jr., 1B (No. 27)
There might not be anyone in the Minors with more raw power than the 6-foot-7 Blanco, but he’s had trouble staying healthy enough to get in a rhythm to get to it consistently. His 75 games played this year are by far a career high, and he missed time with a hamstring issue. Regular playing time has allowed him to find the seats and he hit 10 homers last month (12.2 pct HR rate) to finish with a 1.256 OPS. He finished last week with back-to-back two-homer games to give him 23 for the year. That’s good for fourth in the South Atlantic league despite having played only 71 games with Greensboro to date.

Reds: Justin Lebron, SS (No. 3)
Lebron arguably had the best set of overall raw tools in the 2026 Draft class, but his struggles in his junior season with Alabama, particularly in the SEC, led to him lasting until the Reds picked at No. 18 overall. It’s a super small sample size – 12 games and 50 at-bats – but his .320/.370/.700 line in that span could provide a nice foundation to build from. The K’s are a bit high (25.9 pct), but he’s collected nine extra-base hits (five homers) with High-A Dayton.

D-backs: Carlos Virahonda (No. 5)
Virahonda was already known as an above-average defender behind the plate with a plus arm coming into the year, and his offensive surge has fueled his rise into the Top 5 of the Arizona rankings. Now with High-A Hillsboro, the 20-year-old backstop has reached base in 18 straight games with a .385/.500/.600 line, three homers and an even 10/10 K/BB ratio over that span. His 18 homers on the season are a significant bump up from his previous career high of four set last season.

Dodgers: Josue De Paula, OF (No. 1/MLB No. 6)
The Dodgers’ top prospect, and the only top 10 overall guy to make the list this time around, De Paula has had a terrific season with Double-A Tulsa. He’s second in the Texas League with his .996 OPS and currently has 25 homers and 29 steals. This past month certainly hasn’t hurt, as the 21-year-old outfielder has posted a .322/.426/.678 line with nine homers in 108 plate appearances.

Giants: Josuar Gonzalez, SS/2B (No. 1/MLB No. 17)
The 18-year-old infielder began this year in the Arizona Complex League, but quickly earned a jump to full-season ball in late July. He shows no signs of slowing down, slashing .360/.463/.584 over the last month with Single-A San Jose, a stretch that includes 11 extra-base hits and seven steals. He’s played 52 total games to date this season, with an OPS over 1.000 and a 151 wRC+.

Padres: Ethan Salas, C (No. 1/MLB No. 23)
Though he’s gone a little cold the last three games, Salas showed he didn’t need much time to catch up to the Triple-A-quality pitching after his El Paso debut on July 29. He’s hit .303/.382/.526 with three homers, 11 walks and nine strikeouts in 20 games with the Chihuahuas, and his 114 wRC+ is slightly higher than the 111 mark he put up over 72 games with Double-A San Antonio to begin his age-20 season. His best skill at the Minors’ top level has been making contact in the zone, backed by good swing decisions, and that, along with his defense, could help him push for an MLB debut before the season is up.

Rockies: Zac Veen, OF (No. 11)
Are the Rockies finally getting the player they hoped they were acquiring when they took Veen No. 9 overall in the 2020 Draft? That might be TBD as he’s still figuring out Major League pitching, but this season – and this past month in particular – in Triple-A has been very encouraging. Veen slashed .436/.515/1.055 with eight homers in his last 64 Minor League plate appearances before getting called back up to the big leagues, and he has homered twice in 10 games there. For the season with Albuquerque, Veen leads the Pacific Coast League in OPS (1.037), XBH (65) and total bases (249).