The rookies with the most Box-Toppers points in each league not only failed to win this year’s Rookie of the Year awards—they didn’t even receive any votes for top newcomer.
Giants pitcher Chris Heston was Box-Toppers’ top National League rookie, though Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant was voted top NL rookie. Also, Indians pitcher Carlos Rodon was Box-Toppers’ top American League rookie, though Astros shortstop Carlos Correa was voted top AL rookie.
Neither Heston nor Rodon received any first, second or third place votes for top rookie from voters of the Baseball Writers of America, who choose the winner.
Heston, Box-Toppers’ overall top rookie, had 11.4 Box-Toppers points, ranked 34th among all players and 15th among NL pitchers. But Bryant was unanimously voted NL Rookie of the Year. While Bryant’s 8.5 Box-Toppers point total for 2015 is respectable—he ranked 71st among all players and 12th among NL batters—he actually was Box-Toppers’ fifth-ranked NL rookie:
- 1—Heston, 11.4 Box-Toppers points.
- 2—Noah Syndergaard, starting pitcher, Mets, 10.4 Box-Toppers points, ranked 41st among all players.
- 3—Randal Grichuk, outfielder, Cardinals, 9.5 points, ranked 56th.
- 4—Justin Bour, first baseman, Marlins, 8.5 points, ranked 70th. (Though Bryant and Bour are tied in Box-Toppers points, Bour ranks ahead because he had more Box-Toppers points in 2014—1.5 vs. 0.)
Of those four, Syndergaard and Bour received second- and third-place votes for top NL rookie, but Heston along with Grichuk were both entirely shutout.
The American League crop of rookies did not quite measure up to those in the National League. Box-Toppers top-ranked AL rookie Carlos Rodon had 8.1 Box-Toppers points and ranked 76th among all players, below the top five NL rookies. Carlos Correa of the Astros, who won AL Rookie of the Year, was Box-Toppers’ second-ranked AL rookie with 7.2 Box-Toppers points, ranked 102nd among all players.
Rodon ranked 27th among AL pitchers in Box-Toppers points. Correa ranked 19th among AL batters in Box-Toppers points.
Correa received 17 first place votes for AL Rookie of the Year, with Indians shortstop Francisco Lindor receiving the other 13. Lindor, who finished second in voting, had just 1.0 Box-Toppers point in 2015, ranked 714th among all players.
While Box-Toppers top rookie results vary greatly from the baseball writers’, it should be noted that last year Box-Toppers’ top rookies and baseball writers’ top rookies were the same:
- Jose Abreu of the White Sox was voted top AL rookie in 2014 and led AL rookies in Box-Toppers points with 15.5.
- Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom was voted top NL rookie in 2014 and led NL rookies in Box-Toppers points with 13.0.
About Box-Toppers—Box-Toppers points are a measure of how much a player provides key contributions to his team’s wins. Specifically, Box-Toppers tracks who most helps their team win the most games. Using standard box score statistics, Box-Toppers uses a simple formula to determine a Player of the Game for each Major League Baseball game played. That player is the person who contributed most to his team’s win. In regular season games, players earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point for being named Player of the Game and can earn bonus points for being Player of the Day or top player or batter in their league for the day.
American League Rookie of the Year voting
Carlos Correa of the Astros was voted AL Rookie of the Year. Here is the order of finish for the AL rookie award. Also shown are the votes each player received from baseball writers for first, second and third place, plus their overall voting point totals. Also shown are each player’s Box-Toppers point (BTP) total for 2015 and their overall rank among all players.| AL rookies | Team | Pos | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Points | BTP | Rank | |
| 1 | Carlos Correa | Astros | ss | 17 | 13 | 124 | 7.2 | 102 | |
| 2 | Francisco Lindor | Indians | ss | 13 | 14 | 2 | 109 | 1.0 | 714 |
| 3 | Miguel Sano | Twins | dh | 20 | 20 | 6.0 | 153 | ||
| 4 | Roberto Osuna | Blue Jays | pi cp | 2 | 2 | 8 | 4.0 | 268 | |
| 5 | Billy Burns | Athletics | cf | 1 | 3 | 6 | 0.0 | -** | |
| 6 | Eddie Rosario | Twins | lf | 2 | 2 | 1.5 | 532 | ||
| 7 | Delino DeShields | Rangers | cf | 1 | 1 | 4.5 | 220 | ||
| * | Carlos Rodon | Indians | pi sp | 0 | 8.1 | 76 |
* Carlos Rodon led AL rookies in Box-Toppers points but received no votes for AL Rookie of the Year from baseball writers.
** Billy Burns has yet to earn Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors and so has no Box-Toppers points and no ranking.
National League Rookie of the Year voting
Kris Bryant of the Cubs was voted NL Rookie of the Year. Here is the order of finish for the NL rookie award. Also shown are the votes each player received from baseball writers for first, second and third place, plus their overall voting point totals. Also shown are each player’s Box-Toppers point (BTP) total for 2015 and their overall rank among all players.| NL rookies | Team | Pos | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Points | BTP | Rank | |
| 1 | Kris Bryant | Cubs | 3b | 30 | 150 | 8.5 | 71 | ||
| 2 | Matt Duffy | Giants | 3b | 22 | 4 | 70 | 6.2 | 131 | |
| 3 | Jung Ho Kang | Pirates | ss 3b | 4 | 16 | 28 | 3.0 | 360 | |
| 4 | Noah Syndergaard | Mets | pi sp | 3 | 7 | 16 | 10.4 | 41 | |
| 5 | Justin Bour | Marlins | 1b | 1 | 1 | 4 | 8.5 | 70 | |
| 6 | Joc Pederson | Dodgers | cf | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | -** | ||
| 7 | Stephen Piscotty | Cardinals | lf rf | 1 | 1 | 4.2 | 224 | ||
| * | Chris Heston | Giants | pi sp | 0 | 11.4 | 34 | |||
| * | Randal Grichuk | Cardinals | rf lf cf | 0 | 9.5 | 56 |
* NL rookies Chris Heston and Randal Grichuk both had more 2015 Box-Toppers points than NL Rookie of the Year Kris Bryant, but neither received any votes from baseball writers for NL Rookie of the Year.
** Joc Pederson has yet to earn Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors and so has no Box-Toppers points and no ranking.