MLB Hottest Bats, Jackson Merrill Leads the Week

Forget the season-long averages for a minute; hot is a right-now thing. Every line below comes straight from the last seven days of box scores, with a 8 at-bat minimum so nobody sneaks on with one good afternoon.

Top of the list

Jackson Merrill has spent the week making pitchers miserable. The SD hitter has rapped out 14 hits in 31 at-bats across seven games, a .452 average, and nobody else in the sample is particularly close.

Spread it out and that is 2.0 hits a game, every game, for the whole stretch, not one big night propping up a quiet week.

Add one home run and 6 RBI, and you have a hitter carrying his corner of the lineup.

For separation, consider that second place has 12 hits, he is ahead by 2 all by himself.

The chase pack

Right behind him is Riley Greene (DET), who has gone 12-for-29 over the same stretch, a .414 pace with one homer and eight RBI.

Cody Bellinger (NYY) belongs in the conversation too at 11-for-25 (.440) with three homers and seven RBI.

Gabriel Moreno (ARI) keeps the list honest at 11-for-25 (.440) with three homers and five RBI.

The rest of the hot list reads Dustin Harris (SD) 11-for-26, Josh Naylor (SEA) 11-for-27, Randy Arozarena (SEA) 10-for-26.

By the numbers

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, San Diego Padres face Miami Marlins next, so this story gets its next chapter almost immediately.