Throughout the season, we’ve reviewed the top 10 hitting prospects from each month. Now, with just a few weeks remaining in the season, players are looking to end their seasons on a high note.
For many players, August is the last real chance to right the ship after a disappointing first half, and we’ve seen multiple prospects in this month’s edition do just that. August also brings a talent injection into the lower minors as complex level players and recent draftees make their full-season debuts.
Below, we’ve compiled a list of 10 standout hitters from the final full month of the minor league season.
Ryan Waldschmidt, OF, Diamondbacks
The D-backs’ 2024 supplemental first-round pick has enjoyed a strong first season, hitting .281/.416/.470 between High-A Hillsboro and Double-A Amarillo. After a slow start to his Double-A career, Waldschmidt leveled up in August and hit .386/.505/.687 with five doubles, a triple and six home runs.
Waldschmidt’s performance was the best of any hitter in the minors for August and showed how the 22-year-old can do a little bit of everything. He reached base in more than half his plate appearances, slugged his way to the top of the monthly leaderboard and also stole 10 bases during the month.
Based on underlying data, Waldschmidt displays above-average contact skills, swing decisions and power, making for a very well-rounded profile. He could debut with the D-backs in 2026.
Kala’i Rosario, OF, Twins
A 2020 fifth-round pick and native of Hawaii, Rosario was held to just 68 games with Double-A Wichita in 2024 before returning to the level to begin 2025. He’s spent the entirety of the season with the Wind Surge, hitting .257/.364/.486 with 21 home runs and 25 stolen bases—both career highs. He is one of seven players in the minor leagues to already hit 20 home runs and steal 20 bases.
Rosario’s strong August helped the tooled-up outfielder reach those career-high totals, as he hit .310/.444/.701 with eight home runs and four stolen bases. His ability to hit for power in games is his carrying tool, as he totaled 16 extra-base hits for the month.
Rosario was left unprotected for the Rule 5 draft last season and will likely give the Twins a tougher decision this offseason.
Ralphy Velazquez, 1B, Guardians
After hitting .206/.282/.411 over the first 64 games of the season, Velazquez locked in during July and has dominated since. The 20-year-old slashed .313/.374/.554 last month and followed it up with an even stronger performance in August, hitting .372/.481/.709 with seven home runs.
Even more impressive? The majority of Velazquez’s monthly production came after he was promoted to Double-A on August 11. In his first 13 games in Double-A, he went 19-for-51 with four home runs and 10 walks to eight strikeouts.
After a rough first half, Velazquez has changed the outlook of his season and is trending toward ending 2025 on a high note. He’s a bat-first prospect who boasts as much impact hitting ability as any player in the Guardians’ organization.
Aidan Miller, SS, Phillies
After a cup of coffee with Double-A Reading to close out 2024, Miller has spent his entire 2025 season back at the level. Over 101 games, he’s produced a line 29% better than league average while also showing the ability to handle shortstop long term.
After hitting .222/.343/.354 over the first 80 games, Miller turned it on in August, hitting .348/.454/.629 with 13 doubles and four home runs. One of the youngest players in the Eastern League this season, Miller had some expected growing pains to begin the year. However, he looks like he’s made the necessary adjustments to find further success as he gets ready to advance to the game’s highest levels in 2026.
Miller is likely to debut with the Phillies in the second half of 2026.
Alfredo Duno, C, Reds
After debuting when he was 18 with Low-A Daytona in 2024, Duno returned to the Florida State League to begin 2025. He’s spent the entire season with the Tortugas and has performed well, hitting .287/.427/.501 with an even number of walks and strikeouts.
Duno really heated up in August, slashing .371/.500/.743 with eight doubles and six home runs. While he has below-average bat-to-ball skills, BA’s No. 62 prospect shows plus swing decisions and plus raw power in games. As a larger-framed catcher, Duno will likely always have some swing-and-miss in his game, but his ability to discern balls and strikes effectively will allow him to limit some of his whiff in the future.
The selling point with Duno is his outlier power for a teenage catcher. He’ll likely see a late-season promotion to High-A Dayton.
Sal Stewart, 2B, Reds
Stewart is one of the most divisive prospects in the minors presently. While there’s little debate around whether or not he can hit, many wonder if Stewart’s bat-first, hit-over-power profile will translate to success in the major leagues.
Since his promotion to Triple-A Louisville on July 18, Stewart has been on a mission to prove the doubters wrong. In his first full month in Triple-A, he dominated to the tune of a .317/.431/.646 slash line with nine doubles and six home runs. He walked in 16.7% of his plate appearances and struck out in just 18.6%, proving his advanced approach and plate skills could translate immediately to the minor leagues’ highest level.
While Stewart is likely to debut later in 2026, a first-half appearance with the Reds next season isn’t outside the realm of possibility.
Konnor Griffin, SS/OF, Pirates
The top prospect in the game continued his outstanding season with another strong performance in August.
Griffin was promoted to Double-A Altoona on August 18 and has not skipped a beat, hitting .322/.429/.456 over 24 games in August with three doubles, three home runs and a whopping 18 stolen bases. Griffin showed why he’s considered the game’s ultimate five-tool prospect, producing a massive month despite only meager power output. His ability to impact the game with his hitting, baserunning and above-average or better defense at multiple premium positions makes him a unicorn like no other.
Griffin has yet to hit his first Double-A home run, but it should be only a matter of time before he begins to unload on Eastern League pitching.
John Gil, SS, Braves
Signed in January 2023 out of the Dominican Republic, Gil is arguably the best hitting prospect in a shallow Braves system.
A 19-year-old shortstop who’s put up above-average production across each minor league stop, Gil has spent all of 2025 with Low-A Augusta, hitting .251/.344/.366 over 92 games. Though he’s not known for his power, he’s shown off some strong plate skills this season, as evidenced by a 12.1% walk rate against a 13.9% strikeout rate. Gil has plus plate skills, showing plus bat-to-ball ability and an advanced approach at the plate.
In August, Gil put on a clinic, hitting .346/.433/.590 with four home runs. He brought his power stroke this month, and it resulted in the best 30-day stretch of his young career.
Gil is still a few years away, but he brings an intriguing profile as a plus-contact-hitting shortstop.
Emil Morales, SS, Dodgers
After hitting .300/.383/.498 over 59 games with the Dodgers’ Arizona Complex League affiliate, Morales made the jump to Low-A Rancho Cucamonga. In 18 games this month, he’s hit .378/.460/.662 with six doubles and five home runs to quickly show that the California League has posed little challenge for the talented 18-year-old.
One of the top players in the ACL this season, Morales has seen a drop in strikeout rate with the move to a full-season level. While that’s an unlikely development, he has shown the ability to navigate around below-average contact skills and still hit for impact.
Morales’ plus raw power and excellent angles on contact are his carrying tools currently, but if he can continue to refine his plate skills, he has Top 100 upside.
Kendall George, OF, Dodgers
One of the minor leagues’ top speedsters, George has taken off—literally—in 2025, as he leads all of professional baseball with 85 stolen bases to date.
In the month of August, George hit .386/.491/.432 with 27 steals and a pair of triples. Though he has bottom-of-the-scale power and is unlikely to ever hit 10 home runs in a season, he figures to consistently hit for a high average, get on base and put pressure on opposing defenders with his 80-grade speed. George’s plus bat-to-ball skills, advanced approach, speed and outfield defense could make him the best among his archetypal contemporaries in the major leagues like Chandler Simpson and Victor Scott.
Time will tell if George’s game translates, but he does boast multiple tools that could play long term.
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