August Awesomeness (Hitters)

Here are, in my opinion, the ten best (unranked) hitting performances in the month of August:

Miguel Cabrera (.356/.430/.733)
More of the same from baseball's best hitter, who bolstered his MVP credentials with 11 taters and 31 ribbies in the August heat.

Jayson Werth (.380/.468/.620)
Coming off the heels of a monster July (1.072 OPS), Werth topped himself in August, remaining red-hot during the summer's dog days. After a pair of disappointing seasons with Washington, Werth is enjoying--on a per game basis--the finest season of his career.

Will Venable (.367/.395/.697)
With the Padres headed for another disappointing finish, Venable kicked it into high gear. He hit safely in 15 straight games to open the month, then reeled off a nine-gamer the day after his first streak was snapped. He finished the month with 40 base knocks--17 of which went for extra bases. Amazingly, he managed to sustain that success despite striking out nine times for every unintentional walk he drew (27/3).

Alfonso Soriano (.257/.314/.578)
Soriano went out of his mind in the middle of the month, providing one of the most breathtaking displays of power the game has ever seen. He hit 11 home runs in August, knocked in 31 runs, and even stole six bases. His heavy hitting clearly put a charge into the Yankees, who've forced their way back into contention.

Victor Martinez (.386/.449/.491)
Though V-Mart didn't do much in the power department (just two home runs), he made up for it with his sheer volume of hits. Martinez rung up 44 of them in August after piling up 41 in July, raising his batting average from .232 to .298 in that span.

Mike Trout (.337/.500/.590)
Given the statistics-oriented nature of this website, I had to recognize Trout for reaching base in half of his plate appearances last month. Trout's exhibited much better command of the strike zone this season, using that keen batting eye of his to draw 25 free passes last month.

Martin Prado (.374/.425/.565)
Like Martinez, Prado produced next to nothing in the season's first half but has been on a tear since the calendar flipped to July. He recorded 43 hits in August, including 10 doubles, and drove home 30 runs.

Andrew McCutchen (.384/.483/.535)
Every morning when I checked the box scores, it always felt like McCutchen had gotten two hits the night before. Sure enough, he enjoyed 15 multi-hit games last month, and 14 of them were of the two-hit variety.

Brandon Moss (.288/.352/.663)
Moss cleared the fences eight times in just 80 official at-bats, a pace superior to that of Chris Davis. He inflicted most of that damage between August 19th and 29th, a span of 10 games in which he crushed seven long balls and knocked in 14 runs.

Adrian Beltre (.381/.479/.577)
Not quire as good as his July (nine home runs, 1.084 OPS), but an impressive performance nevertheless. Not known for his patience, Beltre worked 17 walks in August--the same amount of free trips to first he took in May, June, and July combined.

Honorable Mention: Shane Victorino, Robinson Cano, and Khris Davis