Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to third place in Box-Toppers player rankings.
Also Sunday, Athletics pitcher Sonny Gray rises to ninth in player rankings. Plus, Pirates pitcher A.J. Burnett now has 125.8 career Box-Toppers points.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2015 season as of June 14.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Hernandez, Felix 2064 | pi sp | sea al | 12.4 |
| 2 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | pit nl | 12.0 |
| 3 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 11.0 |
| 4 | Archer, Chris 3194 | pi sp | tb al | 11.0 |
| 5 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | chi al | 10.4 |
| 6 | Price, David 2593 | pi sp | det al | 10.1 |
| 7 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 9.7 |
| 8 | Martinez, Carlos 3371 | pi sp | stl nl | 9.7 |
| 9 | Gray, Sonny 3259 | pi sp | oak al | 9.4 |
| 10 | Heston, Chris 3437 | pi sp | sf nl | 8.7 |
Player of the Day—Scherzer pitched a complete game, one-hit shutout, striking out 16, in the 4-0 win over the Brewers. Scherzer allowed only two base runners, giving up one walk and one hit. He had a Box-Toppers game score of 23, the second-highest of the season. (Indians pitcher Corey Kluber had a higher Box-Toppers game score of 25 when he was Player of the Day on May 13.)
Scherzer earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 11.0 for the season and moving him to third in season Box-Toppers player rankings. He ranks second among American League pitchers, behind overall leader Mariners pitcher Felix Hernandez (12.4). Scherzer is the sixth player this season with 10.0 or more Box-Toppers points.
American League Player of the Day—Athletics pitcher Sonny Gray struck out nine over 7 2/3 innings, allowing one run, in the 8-1 win over the Angels.
Gray rises to ninth place in Box-Toppers player rankings. He earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 9.4 for the season. He ranks fifth among AL pitchers.
American League Batter of the Day—Ryan Goins of the Blue Jays homered, doubled and went 2-for-5, scoring twice and driving in five runs, in the 13-5 win over the Red Sox.
National League Batter of the Day—There is no NL Batter of the Day for Sunday because no NL batters earned Player of the Game honors. In fact, in all 14 games completed Sunday, only one batter earned Player of the Game honors.
Notable—Pirates pitcher A.J. Burnett now has 125.8 career Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Sunday. Burnett (9IP 5H 0R 4K ND in the 1-0, 11-inning win over the Phillies) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point. His 125.8 career Box-Toppers points ranks 32nd among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers record keeping began. He trails 31st-place player Mariano Rivera (126.4). Burnett has 4.0 Box-Toppers points for the season.
Rankings—White Sox pitcher Chris Sale, ranked in Box-Toppers top 10 season player rankings, started Sunday but did not earn Player of the Game honors. Sale (6.2IP 3H 2R 12K L) had a Box-Toppers game score of 8.2, but the White Sox lost to the Rays, 2-1. Rays pitcher Nathan Karns (6IP 7H R 8K ND, Box-Toppers game score of 4) was Player of the Game.
Sale has 10.4 Box-Toppers points for the season and fell from fourth to fifth in Box-Toppers player rankings Sunday.
Debut—Two players made their Box-Toppers debut Sunday, the first time in their career they earned Player of the Game honors:
- Mets pitcher Sean Gilmartin (2IP 0H 0R 3K W in the 10-8 win over the Braves) made his Major League debut April 10, and was playing in his 24th career game. He is the 3,500th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
- Dodgers pitcher Josh Ravin (2IP H 0R 3K W in the 4-2 win over the Padres) made his Major League debut June 2, and was playing in his fourth career game. He is the 3,501st player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Scherzer earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Gray earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day. Goins earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day. All of Sunday’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
| 6/14 | Score | Team | Player | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 23.0 | Nationals | Max Scherzer (W, 7-5) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 9.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 16 | |
| AL | 10.2 | Athletics | Sonny Gray (W, 8-3) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.2 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 9 | |
| 7.0 | `Pirates | A.J. Burnett | - | - | - | - | - | - | 9.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | ||
| 6.0 | Tigers | Alfredo Simon (W, 7-3) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | ||
| 5.0 | Astros | Lance McCullers (W, 3-1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 4 | ||
| 5.0 | `Yankees | Justin Wilson (H, 9) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| BAT | 4.0 | Blue Jays | Ryan Goins 2B | 5 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | Dbacks | Rubby De La Rosa (W, 5-3) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | ||
| 4.0 | `Cubs | Jon Lester | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | ||
| 4.0 | `Rays | Nathan Karns | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 | ||
| 4.0 | Twins | Casey Fien (W, 2-2) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | ||
| 4.0 | Mets | Sean Gilmartin (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | ||
| 4.0 | Dodgers | Josh Ravin (W, 2-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 2.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 3.0 | Rockies | John Axford (S, 12) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | ||
| `Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save. | ||||||||||||||||