All-Star outfielder Jackson Merrill of the San Diego Padres has been voted the National League Rookie of the Month for August and starting pitcher Spencer Arrighetti of the Houston Astros has been voted the American League Rookie of the Month for August. The announcements were made earlier today on MLB Network.

Merrill claimed his second Rookie of the Month award after also winning in June and is one of seven Padres rookies (ninth occurrence) to win the award. He is the first rookie to win the award twice since Josh Jung won in April and May last year, and is the second Padres player to win twice after Khalil Greene won in April and August 2004. Arrighetti is the ninth Houston rookie (11th occurrence) to win the award and the first since Yordan Alvarez won in June, July and August of his AL Jackie Robinson Rookie of the Year winning 2019 season. He is the fourth Astros pitcher to win the award and the first since Collin McHugh won in September 2014. Arrighetti is the second pitcher to be named Rookie of the Month this season, joining Luis Gil, who won in May, in additon to being named the AL Pitcher of the Month for May.

Jackson Merrill, San Diego Padres (@_jacksonmerrill_)
• The 21-year-old hit .303 (30-for-99) with seven homers, 23 RBI, five doubles, three triples, seven walks, 18 runs scored, five stolen bases, a .626 slugging percentage and a .343 on-base percentage in 27 games.

• The Maryland native ranked fourth in the NL in slugging; tied for seventh in RBI; ranked eighth in OPS (.969); and tied for eighth in homers and extra-base hits (15).

• The 2024 All-Star came up in the clutch for San Diego on multiple occasions, hitting three game-tying or go-ahead homers in the ninth inning-or-later. On August 7th, he registered his second career two-homer game, hitting a game-tying solo home run in the ninth inning as the Padres went on to win in 10 innings. On August 9th, he connected with a game-tying solo home run in the ninth inning as the Padres again went on to win in extras. On August 25th, he won the game for San Diego, clubbing a walk-off solo home run to beat the Mets.

• He now has six game-tying or go-ahead home runs in the eighth inning-or-later this
season, tying him with Hall of Famer Frank Robinson (1956) for the most in a season by a player 21
-or-younger since 1900. He has five home runs in the ninth inning-or-later, the most in the Majors, while no other hitter has more than three such home runs this year.

• The 27th overall selection in the 2021 Draft has 36 multi-hit games this season, including 11 three-hit games, and tallied his third career four-hit game on August 7th (also: April 7th and July 24th). His three four-hit games are tied with Yonder Alonso (2012) for the most by a Padres rookie in a single season.

Spencer Arrighetti, Houston Astros (@szarrighetti)
• Across six starts, the 24-year-old posted a 3-2 record with a 1.95 ERA (7 ER/32.1 IP), 47 strikeouts, 10 walks, a 0.90 WHIP, a .168 opponents’ average and 13.08 strikeouts per 9.0 innings.

• The Texas native tied for second in the Majors in strikeouts; ranked sixth in opponents’ average; ranked ninth in ERA; and ranked 10th in WHIP.

• The sixth-round selection in the 2021 MLB Draft carried a no-hitter into the eighth inning in his final start of the month on August 28th at Philadelphia before Austin Hays knocked a single to break up the no-hit bid.

• He struck out at least 10 batters in three of his starts, registering 12 strikeouts on August 4th against Tampa Bay; 13 strikeouts on August 10th at Boston; and 11 strikeouts on August 28th at Philadelphia.

• He became the first rookie in American League history with at least 12 strikeouts in back-to-back starts and is one of six Astros pitchers to accomplish the feat, joining Cristian Javier, Gerrit Cole, J. R. Richard, Tom Griffin and Don Wilson. Arrighetti joined 1998 NL Jackie Robinson Rookie of the Year Kerry Wood (60 SO, 19 H) as the only rookies in Major League history with at least 47 strikeouts and 19-or-fewer hits allowed during a calendar month.

• The right-hander did not allow a run in each of his final two starts of the month, blanking the Orioles and Phillies to claim back-to-back wins. It was the second time that he won consecutive starts after accomplishing the feat on May 13th and 19th.

Others receiving votes for NL Rookie of the Month included outfielder Jackson Chourio (.321, 5 HR, 19 RBI, 7 2B, 2 3B, 6 BB, 18 R, 8 SB, .554 SLG) of the Milwaukee Brewers; and outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong (.314, 4 HR, 17 RBI, 5 2B, 2 3B, 8 BB, 17 R, 6 SB, .558 SLG) of the Chicago Cubs.

Others receiving votes for AL Rookie of the Month included outfielder Jhonkensy Noel (.262, 7 HR, 14 RBI, 2 2B, 7 BB, 14 R, .615 SLG) of the Cleveland Guardians; catcher Austin Wells (.325, 4 HR, 15 RBI, 5 2B, 8 BB, 6 R) of the New York Yankees; outfielder Wilyer Abreu (.282, 5 HR, 18 RBI, 6 2B, 8 BB, 11 R, .551 SLG) and infielder/outfielder Ceddanne Rafaela (.260, 2 HR, 8 RBI, 4 2B, 3 BB, 12 R, 2 SB) of the Boston Red Sox; second baseman Will Wagner (.385, 2 HR, 8 RBI, 6 2B, 2 BB, 8 R, .615 SLG, .407 OBP) of the Toronto Blue Jays; and All-Star closer Mason Miller (1.59 ERA, 10 G, 8/8 SV, 11.1 IP, 4 BB, 16 SO) of the Oakland Athletics.