MLB Hottest Bats, Javier Sanoja Leads the Week

Reputations do not get a vote here. Over the last seven days the box scores have been keeping their own list of who is actually seeing the ball in MLB, and the name at the top is not up for debate.

The hottest hand

Nobody is squaring the ball up like Javier Sanoja (MIA) right now: 14 hits in 31 at-bats across eight games, a .452 pace that leads every qualified hitter we track.

Averaged out, he is banging 1.8 hits a night over the window, which is the difference between a hot streak and a headline streak.

Add two home runs and 5 RBI, and you have a hitter carrying his corner of the lineup.

The gap matters too: the next-best hit total in the sample is 11, leaving him 3 hits clear of everybody.

The rest of the hot list

Alex Bregman (CHC) is making noise of his own at 11-for-29 (.379) with four homers and nine RBI.

Ronald Acuna Jr. (ATL) has quietly gone 11-for-28 (.393) with three homers and nine RBI.

Add TJ Rumfield (COL) to the watch list as well, 11-for-22 over the stretch with two homers and six RBI.

Filling out the board: Ivan Herrera (STL) 11-for-28, Tommy Edman (LAD) 11-for-27, Rafael Devers (SF) 10-for-26.

The board

Here is the top of the board, straight from the box scores:

Worth remembering

A word on the cutoff: hitters need 8 at-bats and multiple games in the window to make this list, which keeps one-night wonders off the board.

Small samples run hot and cold by nature. Treat this as a snapshot of who is seeing it well right now, not a forecast of anyone's next at-bat.

The schedule cooperates, too, Miami Marlins face New York Mets next, so this story gets its next chapter almost immediately.