August’s MLB award winners offered a clean snapshot of the season’s stretch run: a few stars heating up, a few pitchers locking things down, and several names strengthening their cases as the calendar turns toward September.
The Royals and Cubs featured heavily among the month’s honorees, with Kansas City claiming both the American League Player of the Month and Pitcher of the Month awards. Jac Caglianone took the hitting prize after a massive August, while Noah Cameron earned the pitching nod with a sharp month of his own.
Caglianone’s rise has been one of the month’s biggest stories. The No. 6 pick in the 2024 Draft out of Florida struggled in his first MLB look in 2025, posting a .532 OPS across 62 games.
August showed a very different player. The 23-year-old hit .411/.429/.684 with an MLB-best 1.113 OPS, adding six homers and 26 RBIs.
He’s also doing damage with the bat, averaging 93.1 mph in exit velocity, and he now owns an .829 OPS through 127 games in 2026. It’s his first career monthly award, and the Royals’ first AL Player of the Month since Bobby Witt Jr. in July 2024.
In the National League, Pete Crow-Armstrong kept pushing his MVP case. The Cubs outfielder finished August with a 1.069 OPS, good for second in MLB behind Caglianone and tied with Bryce Harper.
He also led the majors with 14 home runs, including four multi-homer games, and helped Chicago set an NL record for most home runs in a calendar month with 62. This is Crow-Armstrong’s second NL Player of the Month honor of the year after winning in June.
On the mound, Cameron delivered a breakout month for Kansas City. He posted a 1.87 ERA in five starts, highlighted by a one-hit shutout on Aug. 16 against the Angels.
Cameron’s season had some early turbulence - his ERA climbed as high as 5.55 on May 10 - but he’s settled in lately, allowing two or fewer runs in six of his last seven starts. The award is his first, and the first for a Royal since Kris Bubic won AL Pitcher of the Month in May 2025.
Jesús Luzardo claimed the NL pitching honor after a dominant August for Philadelphia. The first-time All-Star put up a 1.31 ERA in five starts and struck out 46 batters in 34 1/3 innings. He allowed two or fewer earned runs in every outing, and the performance brought him his first monthly award.
The rookie awards went to Tristan Peters and Sal Stewart. Peters, a 26-year-old rookie and first-time All-Star, has been a key piece for the White Sox, who sit in first place in the AL Central in early September.
The former Savannah Banana earned AL Rookie of the Month after posting a 1.054 OPS in August and running off a five-game home run streak from Aug. 22-26.
Stewart, 22, kept making his case for National League Rookie of the Year. The Reds infielder leads the majors with 105 RBIs and has 31 home runs, tops on the team.
In August, he hit eight homers and drove in 21 runs while slashing .304/.349/.530. He also won the award in April.
Josh Hader rounded out the AL winners after a spotless month for Houston. The Astros left-hander, who has now won Reliever of the Month nine times in his career, didn’t allow a run in August. Opponents managed just four hits and one walk against him, and he remains perfect in 21 save chances this season.
In Other News...
Reds Just Found An Intriguing New Outfield Depth Option
The Reds added another name to their outfield mix this week, signing Dominic Fletcher to a minor league contract and sending him to Triple-A Louisville. For a club that is always weighing depth as the season wears on, Fletcher brings a little more experience to the stash in case the major league roster needs help down the line.
Fletcher has already gotten a taste of the big leagues with the Diamondbacks and White Sox, and he arrives in the organization after opting out of a minor league deal with the Pirates. Cincinnati will take a close look at him in Louisville as it evaluates whether he can become useful outfield insurance, the kind of move that rarely grabs attention now but can matter later if injuries or underperformance thin the group. [Read more 🡒]
Reds Give Carlos Jorge A Shot At A Role They Need Right Now
The Reds made a roster move that points straight to an immediate need, selecting outfield prospect Carlos Jorge's contract ahead of their series opener against the Brewers. To clear space, Cincinnati optioned Ivan Johnson to Triple-A Louisville and shifted Michael Toglia to the 60-day injured list, opening a door for Jorge, a 22-year-old converted infielder whose defense and speed have helped him climb into the conversation even while he sits just outside the clubs top 15 prospects.
Jorge has spent this season grinding through 88 minor-league games, and the call-up gives the Reds a chance to see whether his athleticism can translate to a role at the big-league level right away. For a team in search of help on the roster, the move is less about long-term projection than the possibility that a player with his profile can provide a useful answer when the need is immediate. [Read more 🡒]
Matt McLain Just Became A Bigger Reds Concern Than Fans Expected
With the Reds unlikely to make a postseason push this year, the rest of the schedule has turned into a long evaluation period for the future. That puts plenty of attention on Matt McLain, who arrived as one of the organizations more encouraging young pieces but has not followed up his rookie season the way Cincinnati hoped. His spot in the lineup still matters, because the Reds are trying to sort out which parts of the core can be counted on when next season arrives.
Ryan Phillips of Sports Illustrated recently ranked Cincinnati 23rd in the league and singled out McLain as a player to watch over the final stretch. That kind of spotlight says plenty about where the conversation has shifted: the Reds are not just waiting for wins now, they are trying to learn whether a player who once looked like a building block can still become one. For a club already eyeing the offseason, McLains progress has become a much bigger question than fans probably expected. [Read more 🡒]