Royals pitcher Yordano Ventura is Tuesday’s Player of the Day.
Also Tuesday, Colby Rasmus of the Astros rose to 10th place in Box-Toppers player rankings for the season, taking the lead among American League batters and Giants pitcher Tim Hudson earned a Box-Toppers point for the 17th straight season, tying him for the longest current consecutive streak.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2015 season as of May 19.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Hernandez, Felix 2064 | pi sp | sea al | 8.7 |
| 2 | Archer, Chris 3194 | pi sp | tb al | 7.0 |
| 3 | Miller, Shelby 3134 | pi sp | atl nl | 7.0 |
| 4 | Harvey, Matt 3075 | pi sp | nym nl | 6.7 |
| 5 | Harper, Bryce 3011 | lf rf | dc nl | 6.5 |
| 6 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 6.0 |
| 7 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | pit nl | 6.0 |
| 8 | Harang, Aaron 1599 | pi sp | phi nl | 5.1 |
| 9 | Hamels, Cole 2135 | pi sp | phi nl | 5.0 |
| 10 | Rasmus, Colby 2608 | lf rf cf | hou al | 5.0 |
Player of the Day—Ventura pitched seven scoreless innings, allowing four hits and striking out six, in the 3-0 win over the Reds.
National League Player of the Day—Padres pitcher James Shields struck out 11 over seven innings, allowing two runs, in the 4-3 win over the Cubs. Shields did not pick up the win in the game because he exited with the score tied 2-2.
National League Batter of the Day—A.J. Pollock of the Diamondbacks hit a pinch-hit, two-run, go-ahead home run in the 4-2 win over the Marlins.
American League Batter of the Day—Jimmy Paredes of the Orioles homered and went 2-for-5, driving in four runs, in the 9-4 win over the Mariners.
Rankings—Colby Rasmus of the Astros rose to 10th place in Box-Toppers player rankings for the season, taking the lead among AL batters, after earning Player of the Game honors Tuesday.
Rasmus (HR 2B 2-4 2R 2BI in the 6-4 win over the Athletics) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 5.0 for the season. Rasmus has the same 2015 Box-Toppers point total as Eric Hosmer of the Royals, but wins the tie-breaker because he had more points in 2014—3.2 vs. 2.5.
Streak—Giants pitcher Tim Hudson has now earned Box-Toppers points for 17 straight seasons, tied for the longest currently active streak. Hudson was Player of the Game Tuesday in the 2-0 win over the Dodgers (6.1IP 0R W) and earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, his first of the season.
In addition, with his point Tuesday, Hudson now has 154.0 for his career and rises to 13th place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers record keeping began. Hudson passes Barry Bonds (153.2) on that list, though it should be noted Bonds played nine seasons before Box-Toppers record keeping began and so would likely have many more career Box-Toppers points.
Hudson’s 17-season streak of earning at least 1.0 Box-Toppers point ties him with Torii Hunter of the Twins for the longest active streak. (Hunter has 3.5 Box-Toppers points this season.) The record for most consecutive seasons with at least 1.0 Box-Toppers point is 19, held by Jason Giambi (1995-2013). (Box-Toppers record keeping began in 1995.) One other active player had Box-Toppers points in 16 straight seasons as of 2014 and also has a chance to extend that to 17 straight seasons in 2015—Carlos Beltran of the Yankees.
Hudson earned his first Box-Toppers points in 1999 with the Athletics. His best year was 2001 with the Athletics, when he had 18.8 Box-Toppers points, ranked first among AL pitchers. In 2014, he had 8.7 Box-Toppers points with the Giants.
His 154.0 career Box-Toppers points ranks him 13th among all players since 1995, just behind Mike Mussina (155.6). His career total ranks 10th among all pitchers since 1995 and first among active pitchers currently in the NL, ahead of Bartolo Colon of the Mets (136.4).
Debuts—Two players made their Box-Toppers debut Tuesday, the first time in their career they earned Player of the Game honors:
- Randal Grichuk of the Cardinals (3B 2-2B 3-5 R 3BI in the 10-2 win over the Mets) made his Major League debut April 28, 2014, and was playing in his 57th career game. He is the 3,474th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
- Clint Robinson of the Nationals (PH 2B 1-1 R BI in the 8-6 win over the Yankees) made his Major League debut June 8, 2012, and was playing in his 40th career game. He is the 3,475th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Ventura earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Shields earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day. Pollock and Paredes each earn 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Tuesday’s other Players of the Game (listed in the chart below) earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point.
About Box-Toppers—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.
Top player from each game
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score
| 5/19 | Score | Team | Player | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 9.0 | Royals | Yordano Ventura (W, 3-3) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |
| NL | 7.0 | `Padres | James Shields | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 11 | |
| 5.1 | Indians | Trevor Bauer (W, 3-1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 7 | ||
| 4.0 | Brewers | Jimmy Nelson (W, 2-4) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | ||
| BAT | 3.0 | Dbacks | A.J. Pollock PH, CF | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 2.2 | `Twins | Blaine Boyer (H, 7) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 2.0 | Cardinals | Randal Grichuk RF | 5 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| BAT | 2.0 | Orioles | Jimmy Paredes DH | 5 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 2.0 | Astros | Colby Rasmus CF, LF | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | Nationals | Clint Robinson PH | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | Red Sox | Wade Miley (W, 3-4) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 7 | ||
| 2.0 | Angels | Hector Santiago (W, 3-2) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 5 | ||
| 2.0 | Rays | Brad Boxberger (S, 11) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 1.1 | Giants | Tim Hudson (W, 2-3) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.1 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | ||
| 1.0 | Rockies | Nick Hundley C | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| `Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save. | ||||||||||||||||