(Other duties have put us behind updating Box-Toppers. Playing catch up …)
Giants pitcher Ryan Vogelsong is Box-Toppers Player of the Day for Tuesday, Aug. 18.
Also Tuesday, Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom extended his season lead in Box-Toppers points and now has 19.4.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2015 season as of Aug. 18.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 19.4 |
| 2 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 16.7 |
| 3 | Price, David 2593 | pi sp | tor al | 16.1 |
| 4 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | chi al | 16.1 |
| 5 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 16.0 |
| 6 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | lad nl | 16.0 |
| 7 | Gray, Sonny 3259 | pi sp | oak al | 15.8 |
| 8 | Hernandez, Felix 2064 | pi sp | sea al | 15.4 |
| 9 | Harvey, Matt 3075 | pi sp | nym nl | 15.4 |
| 10 | Keuchel, Dallas 3050 | pi sp | hou al | 14.7 |
Player of the Day—Vogelsong pitched six scoreless innings, allowing two hits and striking out five, in the 2-0 win over the Cardinals.
Vogelsong earned 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and now has 10.0 for the season. He is the 27th player this season with 10.0 or more Box-Toppers points and now ranks 26th among all players, 13th among NL pitchers.
American League Player of the Day—Josh Donaldson of the Blue Jays hit two home runs, including a three-run homer, and went 3-for-4, scoring three times, in the 8-5 win over the Phillies.
Donaldson earned 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 7.9 for the season. He ranks fifth among AL batters.
National League Batter of the Day—Yunel Escobar of the Nationals homered and went 3-for-4, scoring three times and driving in four runs, in the 15-6 win over the Rockies.
American League Batter of the Day—There is no separate AL Batter of the Day for Tuesday because the AL Player of the Day was a batter, Josh Donaldson.
Rankings—Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom extended his season lead in Box-Toppers points among all players after earning Player of the Game honors Tuesday.
deGrom (7IP 5H R 6K W in the 5-3 win over the Orioles) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 19.4 for the season. deGrom has led all players since July 26.
Debut—Cole Gillespie of the Marlins made his Box-Toppers debut Tuesday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors.
Gillespie (3B 2-4 R 3BI in the 9-6 win over the Brewers) made his Major League debut April 21, 2010, and was playing in his 153rd career game. He is the 3,561st player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Vogelsong earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Donaldson earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day. Escobar earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being NL 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
| 8/18 | Score | Team | Player | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 8.0 | Giants | Ryan Vogelsong (W,9-8) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | |
| BAT | 7.0 | Nationals | Yunel Escobar, 3B | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| AL | 6.0 | Blue Jays | Josh Donaldson, 3B | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 6.0 | Padres | James Shields (W,9-5) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | ||
| 6.0 | `Athletics | Felix Doubront | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 8 | ||
| 5.2 | Mets | Jacob deGrom (W,12-6) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | ||
| 5.0 | Tigers | Ian Kinsler, 2B | 5 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 5.0 | Red Sox | Eduardo Rodriguez (W,7-5) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | ||
| 4.0 | Yankees | Chase Headley, PH-3B | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.0 | Astros | Luke Gregerson (W,6-2) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 4.0 | `Royals | Edinson Volquez | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 7 | ||
| 3.0 | Mariners | Hisashi Iwakuma (W,5-2) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 6 | ||
| 2.0 | Marlins | Cole Gillespie, CF-LF | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | `Pirates | Arquimedes Caminero | - | - | - | - | - | - | 3.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 1.0 | Angels | Huston Street (S,29) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| `Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save. | ||||||||||||||||