Pirates pitcher Juan Nicasio is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Nicasio struck out seven over six innings, allowing one run and two hits, in the 5-1 win over the Cardinals. Nicasio earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and is in fourth place in Box-Toppers player rankings for the season.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2016 season as of April 6:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 2.0 |
| 2 | Liriano, Francisco 2104 | pi sp | pit nl | 2.0 |
| 3 | Syndergaard, Noah 3472 | pi sp | nym nl | 2.0 |
| 4 | Nicasio, Juan 2888 | pi sp | pit nl | 2.0 |
| 5 | Hamels, Cole 2135 | pi sp | tex al | 1.7 |
| 6 | Odorizzi, Jake 3291 | pi sp | tb al | 1.7 |
| 7 | Volquez, Edinson 2220 | pi sp | kc al | 1.7 |
| 8 | Souza, Steven Jr. 3461 | rf | tb al | 1.7 |
| 9 | Goldschmidt, Paul 2935 | 1b | ari nl | 1.5 |
| 10 | Kinsler, Ian 2144 | 2b | det al | 1.5 |
American League Player of the Day—Steven Souza of the Rays hit two home runs, including a three-run go-ahead homer in the eighth inning, in the 5-3 win over the Blue Jays. Souza also doubled and went 4-for-4.
National League Batter of the Day—Matt den Dekker of the Nationals hit a seventh-inning, pinch-hit, two-run, go-ahead double in the 3-1 win over the Braves.
American League Batter of the Day—There is no separate AL Batter of the Day for Wednesday because the over AL Player of the Day is a batter, Steven Souza.
Streaks—Two players Wednesday extended their streak of 10 or more consecutive seasons earning at least 1.0 Box-Toppers point:
- Robinson Cano of the Mariners has now earned Box-Toppers points in 12 straight seasons. Cano (2HR 2-4 2R 5BI) was Player of the Game in the 9-5 win over the Rangers and earned 1.0 Box-Toppers point. Cano earned his first points in 2005 with the Yankees. He has 68.4 career points, most among active AL second basemen and fourth among all second basemen since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995. His best year was 2013 with the Yankees when he had 12.5 points, fourth among AL batters. In 2015, he had 6.5 points with the Mariners, 22nd among all AL batters and third among AL second basemen.
- Yovani Gallardo of the Orioles has now earned Box-Toppers points in 10 straight seasons. Gallardo (5IP 2H R 4K W) was Player of the Game in the 4-2 win over the Twins and earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point. Gallardo earned his first Box-Toppers points in 2007 with the Brewers. He has 88.7 career points, ranking 98th among all players since 1995 when Box-Toppers tracking began and eighth among active AL pitchers. His best year was 2011 with the Brewers when he had 19.9 points, ranked fourth among NL pitchers. In 2015, he had 5.0 points with the Rangers.
Debut—Dodgers pitcher Kenta Maeda made his Box-Toppers debut Wednesday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Maeda (6IP 5H 0R 4K W in the 7-0 win over the Padres) was making his Major League debut. He is the 3,609th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995. Maeda also hit a home run in the game.
Scoring—Nicasio earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, Souza earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day and den Dekker earns 1.5 points for being NL Batter of the Day. All of Wednesday’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
| 4/6 | Score | Team | Player | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 9.0 | Pirates | Juan Nicasio (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 7 | |
| 7.0 | `Reds | Brandon Finnegan | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 9 | ||
| AL | 6.0 | Rays | Steven Souza, RF | 4 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 5.0 | Yankees | Starlin Castro, SS | 5 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 5.0 | Mariners | Robinson Cano, 2B | 4 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 5.0 | Dodgers | Kenta Maeda (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | ||
| 3.0 | Indians | Carlos Santana, DH | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | Tigers | Victor Martinez, PH-DH | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | Athletics | Sonny Gray (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | ||
| BAT | 2.0 | Nationals | Matt den Dekker, PH-LF | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 2.0 | Orioles | Yovani Gallardo (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | ||
| 2.0 | Brewers | Jeremy Jeffress (S,1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 1.0 | Rockies | DJ LeMahieu, 2B | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| `Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save. | ||||||||||||||||