Dodgers pitcher Zack Greinke is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to ninth in player rankings.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2015 season as of July 9.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Hernandez, Felix 2064 | pi sp | sea al | 14.4 |
| 2 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 14.0 |
| 3 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 13.4 |
| 4 | Price, David 2593 | pi sp | det al | 13.1 |
| 5 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | chi al | 12.4 |
| 6 | Archer, Chris 3194 | pi sp | tb al | 12.0 |
| 7 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | pit nl | 12.0 |
| 8 | Martinez, Carlos 3371 | pi sp | stl nl | 11.7 |
| 9 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | lad nl | 11.0 |
| 10 | Keuchel, Dallas 3050 | pi sp | hou al | 10.7 |
Also Thursday, Mariners pitcher Felix Hernandez rose to the top of Box-Toppers player rankings and two other players—David Price and Carlos Martinez—rose in the top 10 players list. Plus, Lorenzo Cain of the Royals earned American League Batter of the Day honors for the second straight day and now leads AL batters in Box-Toppers points for the season.
Player of the Day—Greinke pitched eight scoreless innings, allowing one hit and striking out eight, in the 6-0 win over the Phillies.
Greinke earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 11.0 for the season and rises to ninth in Box-Toppers player rankings, fifth among National League pitchers. He is the 10th player this season with 10.0 or more Box-Toppers points.
Greinke also rose to 22nd place among all players in Box-Toppers points since 1995, when Box-Toppers record keeping began. With his 2.0 points Thursday, Greinke now has 136.7 career Box-Toppers points and passes Bartolo Colon (136.4) on the “all-time” list. He now trails 21st-ranked player Andy Pettitte (138.5). Greinke ranks 16th among all pitchers since 1995 and fifth among active pitchers.
American League Player of the Day—White Sox pitcher Jeff Samardzija pitched a complete-game, four-hit shutout, striking out five, in the 2-0 win over the Blue Jays.
American League Batter of the Day—Lorenzo Cain of the Royals hit a two-run homer and scored twice in the 8-3 win over the Rays.
Cain earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day, giving him 8.2 for the season and moving him to first place among AL batters. He passes Mike Trout of the Angels (7.5 Box-Toppers points) who only rose to the top spot Wednesday. Cain ranks 20th among all players.
This was the second straight day Cain earned AL Batter of the Day honors—he was also the league’s top batter in the Royals win Wednesday over the Rays.
National League Batter of the Day—There is no NL Batter of the Day for Thursday because no NL batter earned Player of the Game honors.
Rankings—Mariners pitcher Felix Hernandez regained the top spot in Box-Toppers player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Thursday.
Hernandez (7IP 5H 0R 6K W in the 7-2 win over the Angels) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 14.4 for the season. He passes previous leader, Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer (14.0 Box-Toppers points).
Hernandez led in Box-Toppers points for more than two months when Scherzer passed him on June 26 with 14.0 points.
Hernandez now has 157.7 career Box-Toppers points, maintaining his rank of 12th place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers record keeping began. He trails 11th-place player John Smoltz (160.9). Hernandez ranks ninth among pitchers since 1995 and second among active pitchers, behind CC Sabathia (175.3).
Also, two other players rose in Box-Toppers top 10 player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Thursday:
- Tigers pitcher David Price rose to fourth place. Price (8IP 5H 2R 8K W in the 4-2 win over the Twins) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 13.1 for the season. He ranks second among AL pitchers, behind Hernandez.
- Cardinals pitcher Carlos Martinez rose to eighth place. Martinez (7.1IP 4H 0R 8K W in the 4-1 win over the Pirates) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 11.7 for the season. He ranks fourth among NL pitchers.
Notable—Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez earned his first Player of the Game honor in more than a year after his return from Tommy John surgery. Fernandez (7IP 6H 0R 9K W in the 2-0 win over the Reds) last earned Player of the Game honors April 29, 2014, when he was Box-Toppers Player of the Day. At that point in the 2014 season, Fernandez had 7.0 Box-Toppers points to lead all players. But injury and the surgery cut his season short. Fernandez had 19.0 Box-Toppers points in 2013, ranked fourth among all players and fourth among NL pitchers.
Scoring—Greinke earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Samardzija earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day. Cain earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day. All of Thursday’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.
(Note: Our usual Friday weekly team and player rankings reports will be postponed until Monday because of the All-Star break.)
Top player from each game
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score
| 7/9 | Score | Team | Player | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 15.0 | Dodgers | Zack Greinke (W,8-2) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | |
| 10.0 | Marlins | Jose Fernandez (W,2-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | ||
| 9.1 | Cardinals | Carlos Martinez (W,10-3) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8 | ||
| AL | 9.0 | White Sox | Jeff Samardzija (W,6-4) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 9.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | |
| 7.2 | Yankees | Masahiro Tanaka (W,5-3) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 6 | ||
| 6.0 | Tigers | David Price (W,9-2) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 8 | ||
| 6.0 | Mariners | Felix Hernandez (W,11-5) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | ||
| 3.0 | Rockies | John Axford (S,15) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| BAT | 2.0 | Royals | Lorenzo Cain, CF | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 1.0 | Indians | Ryan Raburn, DH | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - |