MLB Players of the Month: July 2024

For the past few months, the Just Baseball staff has handed out medals to the players of the month, highlighting the best hitters and the best pitchers in each league. There’s been some outstanding names that have made the cut, but the month of July’s rankings are going to look a bit different from previous ones.

Now, we’ve officially made it through the month of July and what a month it was. The trade deadline has come and gone, with a record-breaking 32 completed trades coming together on July 30 alone. It was a hectic month, but also one that was carried by names that are far from the usual suspects.

Aaron Judge and Gunnar Henderson are no longer featured as players of the month, while we’ve got two members of the Oakland A’s and one from each of the Rockies and Marlins. There were some shocking performances out of players on rebuilding teams and they deserve some credit.

Let’s jump in to the players of the month from both the AL and NL and highlight the game’s best showings. Here we go.

All stats and rankings reflect games through July 31, 2024.

AL Hitters of the Month

Gold Medal Hitter of the Month: Bobby Witt Jr., KCR

July stats: 100 PA, 7 HR, 26 R, 22 RBI, .489/.520/.833, 2 SB, 2.7 fWAR

It is baffling that Witt nearly hit .500 over the course of a full month. The shortstop phenom hit .489 while the second-highest batting average in baseball belonged to the next guy on the list, who was nearly .100 points lower. Unreal stuff.

Witt, 24, led the American League in average, OBP, SLG, OPS, wRC+ and fWAR throughout the month of July. There’s no doubting this one, he was absolutely the best player in not only the AL, but all of the majors.

Silver Medal Hitter of the Month: Brent Rooker, OAK

July stats: 102 PA, 11 HR, 24 R, 30 RBI, .391/.461/.828, 5 SB, 2.0 fWAR

It’s quite a surprise that Rooker, one of Oakland’s top trade chips, was not moved at the deadline. His July performance really drives home that point, as he’s never swung a hotter bat than the one he did last month.

Witt easily led the way in nearly all offensive categories, but Rooker was either second or third in every single one of them. If it weren’t for the former putting together one of the best months we’ve ever seen, the latter would’ve taken home the gold.

Bronze Medal Hitter of the Month: Lawrence Butler, OAK

July stats: 98 PA, 10 HR, 23 R, 27 RBI, .363/.408/.802, 4 SB, 2.0 fWAR

While Rooker wound up second in most categories, Butler was right behind him in third. The two teammates on the cellar-dwelling A’s stole the show not only on their team but in the AL as a whole.

Butler is still just 24 and he’s shattering all doubts of a sophomore slump this year. He’s sporting an .803 OPS and 128 OPS+ through 76 games and has done more than enough to emerge as one of the lone bright spots on this A’s team.

Gold Medal Pitcher of the Month: Taj Bradley, TBR

July stats: 3-1 (5 GS), 1.45 ERA, 31.0 IP, 31 K, 8 BB, 0.9 fWAR

Bradley was utterly dominant in the month of July, easily leading the AL in ERA while having the fifth-lowest HR/9 and sixth-highest strand percentage. He represents yet another “W” by the Tampa Bay Rays’ development team, as he’s improved across the board from his 5.59 ERA-showing in 23 games last year.

Silver Medal Pitcher of the Month: George Kirby, SEA

July stats: 1-2 (6 GS), 2.21 ERA, 36.2 IP, 35 K, 6 BB, 1.5 fWAR

Kirby remains one of the more criminally underrated pitchers in all of baseball. The right-hander led the AL in FIP in July (1.83) and had the highest fWAR of any pitcher. He fell victim to a lack of run support throughout his six outings, but the fact that he didn’t allow a single home run all month says a lot about his individual performance.

He just missed the podium in last month’s rankings, but he wasn’t going to be denied this time around.

Bronze Medal Pitcher of the Month: Framber Valdez, HOU

July stats: 4-0 (5 GS), 2.90 ERA, 31.0 IP, 40 K, 9 BB, 1.0 fWAR

Last month it was Hunter Brown, this month it’s his teammate Valdez. The lone southpaw to make the cut, the 30-year-old struck out 11.61 batters per nine while also finishing in the top-seven in HR/9 and third in FIP. He’s a durable ace who remains a rock-solid presence atop this Astros rotation; easy podium.

NL Hitters of the Month

Gold Medal Hitter of the Month: Brenton Doyle, COL

July stats: 99 PA, 11 HR, 15 R, 27 RBI, .333/.394/.800, 2 SB, 1.8 fWAR

Nobody saw Doyle’s outstanding month of July coming. The second-year outfielder has taken massive strides to improve his game after a disappointing rookie campaign in 2023. His 11 home runs led the NL last month, as did his 27 RBI, 208 wRC+ and 1.8 fWAR.

Doyle’s inclusion on this podium is a major upset, but it’s a feel-good story from a Rockies team that doesn’t have many this year. An ever-improving bat to go along with some of the best defensive chops in all of baseball makes him a real threat moving forward.

Silver Medal Hitter of the Month: Eugenio Suarez, ARI

July stats: 103 PA, 10 HR, 21 R, 27 RBI, .333/.398/.733, 0 SB, 1.7 fWAR

Suarez was right behind Doyle in most offensive categories last month, finishing second to him in home runs, tied for the lead in RBI and second in both wRC+ and fWAR. It has not been a good year for Suarez in what’s his first for the Snakes, but he’s been turning things around in a big way as of late. His epic month of July has gone a long way to improving his overall stat line on the year.

Bronze Medal Hitter of the Month: Xavier Edwards, MIA

July stats: 103 PA, 1 HR, 14 R, 12 RBI, .395/.461/.500, 9 SB, 1.3 fWAR

How about we toss another incredible story in here?

Edwards, 24, was at one point a top prospect in the Rays system, but his shine has faded over the years. Now, he’s leading the NL in batting average in the month of July (by .038 points!), stealing bases, hitting for the cycle and giving the last-place Marlins yet another promising young player to lean on moving forward.

Edwards is a switch-hitting slap hitter who isn’t going to hit many home runs (his home run to finish the cycle was the first of his 57-game big league career) but he’s quick on his feet and always finds his way on base. His July performance may not be sustainable, but a high-average speedster like this could sneak his way onto another podium or two before the year ends.

Gold Medal Pitcher of the Month: Hunter Greene, CIN

July stats: 2-0 (4 GS), 0.33 ERA, 27.0 IP, 29 K, 8 BB, 0.9 fWAR

Holy cow, how about this Hunter Greene guy? Across four starts and 27 innings of work, the first-time All-Star allowed just one earned run all month (on a solo home run) while finishing in a tie for seventh in the NL in strikeouts. The dude was unreal.

Greene’s 2.72 FIP was good for sixth in the NL last month, too, while his 3.39 SIERA comes in seventh. It was a very tight race amongst as many as five different hurlers here, but one run allowed across a month’s worth of starts is enough to earn the top spot here.

Silver Medal Pitcher of the Month: Blake Snell, SFG

July stats: 0-0 (4 GS), 0.75 ERA, 24.0 IP, 30 K, 7 BB, 0.8 fWAR

Another potential high-end trade chip, Snell stayed put at the 2024 trade deadline. The two-time Cy Young Award winner is fresh off of a 15-strikeout start in his last time out against the Rockies, which went a long way to him landing on the podium.

It’s not even that one start that got him on here, though. Two starts before that one, he went seven shutout innings, allowing just one hit and striking out eight. Before that, he turned in another one-hit performance across five shutout innings. The 31-year-old has turned his season around in a big way and two earned runs over 24 innings is another showing worth a spot on the podium.

Bronze Medal Pitcher of the Month: Paul Skenes, PIT

July stats: 2-1 (5 GS), 1.59 ERA, 28.1 IP, 33 K, 6 BB, 0.8 fWAR

It’s been a heck of a year for Skenes, who quickly went from a must-watch MLB debut to starting the All-Star Game just a handful of starts into his big league career. He was outstanding in the month of July, finishing second to Greene in ERA, third in BABIP, fifth in FIP and K/9, sixth in strikeouts and first in the league in SIERA.

Skenes, 22, is a special talent who is going to be in contention for a spot on the podium every single time we put together a list like this. The first-rounder is sporting a 1.90 ERA with over 100 strikeouts and he hasn’t even topped 15 starts yet.