NL Players of the Month: August 2026

Sometimes, August feels like the overlooked middle child of the baseball calendar. Stuck in between the pre-trade deadline frenzy and the final sprint, August isn’t as exciting as July or September. The storylines of the season have already been established over the first four months of the schedule, but nothing will wrap up until the fall.

Yet, the six NL players I’m going to spotlight today are begging you not to overlook what happened last month. Pete Crow-Armstrong went from MVP favorite to MVP on lock. Bryce Harper led the Phillies to the strongest month of their season. Alex Bregman reminded us why he’s one of the best third basemen in the game.

On the pitching side, Jesús Luzardo made it clear he’s just as much of an ace as any of his teammates, and one of those teammates, Cristopher Sánchez, bounced all the way back from an uncharacteristic July. Meanwhile, Cade Cavalli kept pace with both of those All-Stars, as he continued his long-awaited breakout campaign.

These are Just Baseball’s National League Players of the Month for August.

NL Player of the Month: Pete Crow-Armstrong

August Stats: 28 G, 134 PA, 14 HR, 28 RBI, 6 SB, .280/.366/.703, 185 wRC+, 2.5 fWAR

Pete Crow-Armstrong is running away with the NL MVP. The Cubs’ center fielder was the most valuable offensive and defensive player in the Senior Circuit last month, at least according to the numbers at FanGraphs.

Crow-Armstrong led the NL in home runs, runs scored, and OPS in August. Bryce Harper had the edge in wRC+ (more on Harper in a moment), but PCA’s baserunning gave him the edge over Harper in offensive runs above average. The Gold Glover also led the league in defensive runs above average for the fifth consecutive month.

Add it all together, and Crow-Armstrong’s 2.5 fWAR easily led the majors for a third month in a row. On the season, he now boasts an NL-leading 159 wRC+ and 23 Outs Above Average, along with an MLB-leading 9.3 fWAR. It’s not hyperbole to say we’re watching one of the greatest all-around seasons of the 21st century.

Honorable Mentions

Bryce Harper

August Stats: 28 G, 127 PA, 5 HR, 14 RBI, 1 SB, .333/.496/.573, 194 wRC+, 1.5 fWAR

Getting Bryce Harper out was the toughest challenge in baseball last month. The Phillies’ superstar registered an OBP just shy of .500, thanks to a .333 batting average and an MLB-leading 31 walks. His 194 wRC+ was tops in the National League, and he backed it up with a .421 xwOBA, trailing only Fernando Tatis Jr. in that category.

For much of the season, poor defensive metrics at first base masked the fact that Harper was having another excellent year at the plate. Yet, moving back to right field post-trade deadline seemed to ignite a spark under him. The Phillies won 21 games in August – three more than any other team – and no one was more critical to their success in the month than their new (old) right fielder.

Alex Bregman

August Stats: 28 G, 129 PA, 12 HR, 30 RBI, 1 SB, .296/.364/.661, 177 wRC+, 1.8 fWAR

In the first half of the 2026 season, Alex Bregman was struggling to live up to the five-year, $175 million contract he signed with the Cubs over the winter. Since the All-Star break, however, he has been one of the best hitters in baseball.

It started with an .885 OPS and a 146 wRC+ over the last two weeks of July. Then, Bregman was somehow even better in August. The righty batter hit .296 with 12 home runs, leading the NL in RBI and Win Probability Added. He capped things off with the second three-homer game of his career – which also happened to be his second three-homer game of the month.

Bregman now owns a 119 wRC+ and 4.2 fWAR on the season, and he has a pretty good case to be called the top third baseman in the National League.

NL Pitcher of the Month: Jesús Luzardo

August Stats: 5 GS, 34.1 IP, 1.31 ERA, 46 K, 9 BB, 2 HR, 1.5 fWAR

Jesús Luzardo started five games in August. The Phillies won all five. And how could they not? In Luzardo’s worst start of the month, he still pitched into the sixth inning, struck out nine, and only gave up two earned runs.

The southpaw finished August with an MLB-leading 1.31 ERA and 1.5 fWAR. He struck out just under 35% of his opponents and held them to a .169 batting average. You could make a pretty good argument this was the best five-start run of Luzardo’s major league career.

Luzardo has been phenomenal since he joined the Phillies in 2025, but inflated ERA figures and the imposing shadows of Zach Wheeler and Cristopher Sánchez have made it easy to overlook his success. That might not be the case for much longer. The Phillies have three aces, and Luzardo is one of them.

Honorable Mentions

Cristopher Sánchez

August Stats: 6 GS, 36.2 IP, 1.72 ERA, 45 K, 11 BB, 2 HR, 1.3 fWAR

Speaking of Phillies aces…

One bad start in July (3.1 IP, 12 H, 9 R) may have destroyed Cristopher Sánchez’s chances of catching Jacob Misiorowski in the Cy Young race, but there’s no question he remains one of the most reliable and dominant pitchers in the National League.

Like his teammate Luzardo, Sánchez pitched to a sub-2.00 ERA in August, and the Phillies won five of his six starts. The lefty himself added three more wins to his record, bringing his MLB-leading total up to 16. He also crossed the 200-strikeout mark in his last outing of the month.

The fact that this wasn’t even the best month of Sánchez’s season – he was our NL Pitcher of the Month for May – goes to show just how incredible a year he is having. The Cy Young may be out of his grasp, but a second straight runner-up finish is well within reach.

Cade Cavalli

August Stats: 6 GS, 36.0 IP, 1.75 ERA, 47 K, 10 BB, 7 HR, 0.6 fWAR

Nationals fans were waiting to see this version of Cade Cavalli for what must have seemed like an eternity. A first-round pick in 2020, the righty was a top-100 prospect before his debut in 2022, but it took him three years to get back on a major league mound.

It feels like Cavalli has been looking better and better with each subsequent start since his return last August. From July 12 to August 24 this year, he made nine quality starts in a row – and that streak only ended over the weekend when a comebacker off his leg forced him to make an early exit. He had thrown four innings of no-hit ball with eight strikeouts to that point in the game.

Despite that disappointing end to his month, Cavalli has every reason to celebrate. He led the NL with 47 strikeouts in August, and the Nationals came out on top in five of his six appearances. More importantly, he has avoided a serious injury. The 28-year-old has one month left to play to put the finishing touches on a truly triumphant season.