Each club’s hottest hitting prospect to end the 2024 season

The old adage goes that it’s not how you start, but how you finish. The 30 hitters below certainly have taken that to heart.

Looking at the last 30 days, here are the prospects who are finishing the year with a bang. There are nine Top 100 prospects, but the list consists of players up and down Top 30 lists across baseball.

Blue Jays: Alan Roden, OF (No. 13)
Roden first joined Triple-A Buffalo in mid-June and entered August with just a .234 average and .684 OPS through his first 30 games with the Bisons. He’s been a menace in the box ever since with a .386/.460/.670 line and as many extra-base hits (13) as he has strikeouts over 100 plate appearances in the last 30 days. Toronto has struggled to develop a homegrown outfielder in recent years, but Roden is playing his way into MLB consideration by next spring.

Orioles: Samuel Basallo C/1B (No. 2/MLB No. 10)
The 20-year-old Basallo had a sluggish July, hitting .226/.333/.355 with Double-A Bowie. But he got back to doing Basallo-like things in August, with a .337/.393/.531 line and earned a bump up to Triple-A near the end of the month. An 0-for-13 start to his September has tempered his overall numbers over the last 30 days, but he’s still way ahead of the curve by reaching the highest level of the Minors at such a young age.

Rays: Aidan Smith, OF (No. 10)
Acquired from the Mariners in the Randy Arozarena trade, Smith has caught fire since debuting with Single-A Charleston back on Aug. 9. The 20-year-old outfielder has gone 17-for-55 (.309) with 12 walks and 13 steals over 16 games with the RiverDogs. He’s pushed his season OPS up to .874 and his SB total to 41 at the Single-A level in his first full season, illustrating why Tampa Bay targeted him in a move for one of its best-ever postseason performers.

Red Sox: Kristian Campbell, 2B/OF/SS (No. 5/MLB No. 76)
Boston keeps trying to throw challenges at last year’s 132nd overall pick, and he continues to impress. Since debuting with Triple-A Worcester – his third level of the season – on Aug. 20, Campbell has hit .298/.421/.532 with three homers, three steals and a 150 wRC+ in his first 12 games. Put that together with his hot closing run at Double-A Portland, and Campbell owns a 182 wRC+, best among full-season qualifiers.

Yankees: Rafael Flores, C/1B (No. 30)
A nondrafted free agent in July 2022, Flores has shown promising raw power during his early years in the Yankees system, and that pop has certainly played in games of late with six homers and a .598 slugging percentage over the last 30 days (91 plate appearances) for Double-A Somerset. Flores has gone deep 19 times this season between High-A and Double-A, a significant jump from his homer total of eight in 2023.

Guardians: George Valera, OF (No. 21)
Once a Top 100 prospect, Valera has seen his stock plummet in Triple-A Columbus in the last two years – hamate and hamstring issues did him no favors in 2023 – but this latest run could push him back into the picture for Cleveland. Valera owns a .291/.374/.595 line with seven homers and three doubles over the last 30 days (91 plate appearances) with the Clippers. His 31.9 percent K rate is still high over that stretch, but getting that prodigious power to play is huge for Valera’s overall profile.

Royals: Spencer Nivens, OF (No. 30)
Only one player in affiliated baseball hit 13 homers in the month of August. Not Aaron Judge. Not Shohei Ohtani. It was Nivens, playing for High-A Quad Cities. The 2023 fifth-rounder succeeds more from his efficiency at pulling the ball in the air than he does for his true power from the left side, but you can’t argue with the results. After owning a slugging percentage as low as .212 on July 4, Nivens is now slugging .455 through 95 games in the Midwest League.

Tigers: Thayron Liranzo, C/1B (No. 6)
Detroit was happy to acquire Liranzo from the Dodgers in the Jack Flaherty Deadline deal, and the 21-year-old has continued to make a strong first impression in his new organization. The switch-hitting backstop is hitting .333/.465/.594 with four homers, six doubles and more walks (17) than strikeouts (14) over his last 30 days for High-A West Michigan. He’s overtaken Dillon Dingler and Josue Briceño as the top catching prospect in the Detroit system.

Twins: Walker Jenkins, OF (No. 1/MLB No. 3)
Though he missed nearly two months with a hamstring injury at the start of the year, the No. 5 overall pick in the 2023 Draft still made it to High-A in his first full season. He hasn’t had too much difficulty adjusting to the new level, posting a very impressive .297/.360/.535 line over his last 30 days with 16 extra-base hits and just a 15.3 percent strikeout rate while also swiping five bags.

White Sox: Bryan Ramos, 3B (No. 12)
Chicago called up Ramos on Wednesday for the second time in two weeks, and hopefully this time, he sticks longer than the one-day promotion he received on Aug. 26. His 15-game hitting streak – during which he’s owned a .339 average and .943 OPS – is the longest active run in Triple-A. No one else at the level has a hitting streak going longer than 10 games at the moment.

Angels: Randy De Jesus, OF (No. 24)
It’s not unexpected for a 19-year-old in full-season ball for the first time to have some ups and downs and De Jesus had just a .699 OPS in July. But he’s shown he had a bit more in the tank by posting a .366/.444/.549 line over his last 30 days, walking at an 11.1 percent clip while keeping his K rate under 20 percent.

Astros: Brice Matthews, SS/3B (No. 3)
Matthews missed a little more than two weeks in the middle of August with back muscle spasms, but the 2023 first-rounder has looked fresh at the plate ever since his return on Aug. 20. Matthews has hit three homers over nine games since then, and five of his nine hits have gone for extra bases, leading to a .700 slugging percentage. He owns a .941 OPS with 15 homers in 64 games across three levels in his first full season.

A’s: Will Simpson, 1B (No. 29)
It’s always a good sign when a prospect gets moved up a level and is more productive. It’s only been seven games in Double-A for Simpson, the A’s 15th-round pick in 2023, but he’s hit .444/.500/.630 since the move to Midland. He was hitting well before the promotion, too, leading to a .341/.388/.545 line with four homers and 23 RBIs over his last 103 plate appearances.

Mariners: Lazaro Montes, OF (No. 3/MLB No. 47)
Still only 19, Montes had earned a bump from Single-A Modesto to High-A Everett in late June after posting a .938 OPS at the lower level. It took him a while to find his footing in the Northwest League with a .382 OPS in July, but he’s gone off since: .348/.460/.667 over his last 30 days with six homers in 87 plate appearances.

Rangers: Justin Foscue, INF (No. 7)
Foscue’s overall numbers over the past month may not jump off the page, though they are a respectable .279/.380/.500, but it should be noted that his stronger performance in Triple-A (.925 OPS) during that span led to another callup to the big leagues. (He’s gone 0-for-5 since his recall.) He hit five of his nine homers for the year over the last 30 days to raise his OPS for the year with Round Rock to .897.

Braves: Drake Baldwin, C (No. 5)
Baldwin is putting an exclamation point on his second full season, one that saw him get moved from Double-A to Triple-A after 52 games. He’s enjoyed hitting with Gwinnett since, especially over the last month, posting a .325/.436/.475 line with more walks (17) than strikeouts (11). He’s now posted an OPS of .896 with 10 homers and a 47/40 BB/K ratio in 59 Triple-A games.

Marlins: Connor Norby, 2B/OF (No. 3)
Norby’s .314/.379/.524 slash line over the last month would be impressive on its own. But it stands out even more because he’s spent the majority of that time in the big leagues with the Marlins after coming over from the Orioles in the Trevor Rogers deal. He’s hit .321/.377/.607 with Miami over 61 plate appearances, a .984 OPS improving on his .811 mark over 55 Triple-A plate appearances in the last 30 days.

Mets: A.J. Ewing, OF/2B (No. 29)
Taken with the compensation pick for losing Jacob deGrom via free agency, Ewing has developed slowly, starting his first full season in the Florida Complex League before being bumped up to full-season St. Lucie. He started off extremely slowly, hitting just .199 in June and July combined, but started to figure some things out over the last month. The left-handed hitter should feel good about heading into the offseason with some wind at his sails, hitting .313/.430/.494 over his last 100 plate appearances.

Nationals: Yohandy Morales, 1B/3B (No. 9)
The 2023 second-rounder has been limited by a left thumb injury this season but returned to his regular spot in the Double-A Harrisburg lineup on Aug. 9. Since then, he owns a .310/.418/.460 line with three homers and four doubles over 24 games. The former Miami star is currently riding an eight-game hitting streak in which he’s gone 15-for-33 (.455), bumping his Double-A season average from .234 to .267.

Phillies: Aidan Miller, SS (No. 1/MLB No. 28)
Things have been happening quickly for Miller, the Phillies’ first-rounder in 2023. He was moved from Single-A to High-A after just 39 games with Clearwater, then started slowly with Jersey Shore (.195/.317/.317 over 32 games through July). Then things started to click for the infielder and a 5-for-5 game to start September capped off a .356/.420/.644 run over the past month that catapulted him up to Double-A, where he’s gone 2-for-8 over his first two games.

Brewers: Eric Bitonti, 3B/SS (No. 13)
It’s all about power for the 2023 third-rounder. Over his last 30 days, Bitonti has gone 19-for-81 (.235) for Single-A Carolina, but 11 of those 19 hits have gone for extra bases (six homers, five doubles), resulting in a .519 slugging percentage and .863 OPS. Since the 18-year-old infielder arrived in the Carolina League on July 30, he leads all Single-A hitters with eight homers.

Cardinals: Thomas Saggese, INF (No. 4)
Expected to push his way into Major League consideration this summer, Saggese struggled to break through in the first three months of the season with Triple-A Memphis. He caught fire in July (.990 OPS) and has turned things on again of late with a .269/.346/.527 line with seven homers over his last 30 days. Most recently, he went 4-for-4 with a homer, a double and a walk at Iowa last Sunday.

Cubs: Cam Smith, 3B (No. 8)
The Cubs’ first-round pick this past July has just 77 professional at-bats to date on his résumé, but he’s made a very good first impression. He’s hit .351/.453/.714 over 23 total games across both levels of A ball since signing, with seven homers in 95 plate appearances. A move to High-A hasn’t fazed him, as he’s hit .414/.526/.621 in his first eight games with South Bend.

Pirates: Nick Yorke, 2B/OF (No. 6)
Acquired from the Red Sox in the Quinn Priester deal, Yorke came over in the hopes he would provide a bat at the upper levels that could help soon. He’s done nothing but build confidence in that with Triple-A Indianapolis, hitting .365/.419/.521 with 12 doubles over 105 plate appearances in the last 30 days. The Pirates will have a decision to make at season’s end (assuming he doesn’t get called up this month) about whether to add Yorke to the 40-man roster or risk losing him in the Rule 5 Draft.

Reds: Cam Collier, 3B (No. 5/MLB No. 100)
He was on the Top 100, then fell off of it at the re-rank, then has hit his way back on. The 2022 first-round pick is still only 19 and has been raking over the last month with High-A Dayton. The Futures Game MVP has posted a 1.002 OPS over that time span and a big reason has been his approach; he’s ratcheted his walk rate up to 21.3 percent while his K rate has gone down (22.2 BB and 21.3 K), compared to 12.7 and 25.3 percent for the season.

D-backs: Gino Groover, 3B (No. 9)
A broken left wrist in April got the 2023 second-rounder off to a rough start in his first full season. He returned to the High-A Hillsboro lineup on July 19 and pushed his way to Double-A Amarillo a little more than a month later after exhibiting the bat that made him an interesting Draft prospect last year. Groover owns a .301/.392/.578 line with more extra-base hits (11) than strikeouts (nine) over the last 30 days (97 plate appearances), and he is 5-for-9 to begin his Texas League career.

Dodgers: Dalton Rushing, C/OF (No. 1/MLB No. 38)
Rushing is putting the finishing touches on an outstanding 2024 season, performing even better with a move up to Triple-A. He currently has a .906 OPS with 22 homers across two levels thanks to what he’s done over the last 30 days: a .954 OPS (.294/.425/.529) over 106 plate appearances with Oklahoma City while showing he can man left field just fine.

Giants: Bryce Eldridge, 1B (No. 1/MLB No. 52)
The former two-way standout and 2023 first-round pick began the year in Single-A San Jose and is finishing it with Double-A Richmond. The 19-year-old slugging first baseman hit .392/.485/.848 with nine homers over 97 plate appearances over the last month to earn the bump up to Double-A. He has a combined .910 OPS with 22 homers for the year.

Padres: Ethan Salas, C (No. 1/MLB No. 19)
Salas’ accelerated timeline in 2023 may have set up some impossible expectations for this season, and while it’s felt like a step back for the talented 18-year-old catcher, there have been positive signs of late with High-A Fort Wayne. Since Aug. 1, Salas is tied for the most doubles in High-A with 12, and his 105 wRC+ puts him as an above-average hitter for the league and level in that span. Mix in his plus defense, and this gives San Diego fans reasons for hope in their top prospect.

Rockies: Robert Calaz, OF (No. 9)
Calaz is making his first time playing in the United States very memorable, even if an injury has cut things short. He won Arizona Complex League MVP honors, leading the circuit with his 1.113 OPS to go with 10 homers and 12 steals in 49 games. He moved up to full-season ball and had a .324/.386/.568 line over the last 30 days before hitting the injured list on Aug. 28.