Tigers pitcher Michael Fulmer is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2016 season as of May 21:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 10.0 |
| 2 | Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | chi nl | 8.7 |
| 3 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | chi al | 8.7 |
| 4 | Cueto, Johnny 2400 | pi sp | sf nl | 8.0 |
| 5 | Machado, Manny 3087 | ss 3b | bal al | 7.7 |
| 6 | Fernandez, Jose 3147 | pi sp | fla nl | 6.7 |
| 7 | Matz, Steven 3516 | pi sp | nym nl | 6.7 |
| 8 | Hill, Rich 2215 | pi sp | oak al | 6.4 |
| 9 | Salazar, Danny 3223 | pi sp | cle al | 6.1 |
| 10 | Cespedes, Yoenis 3008 | cf lf | nym nl | 6.0 |
Also Saturday, Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez rose to sixth place in Box-Toppers player rankings and Yoenis Cespedes of the Mets rose to 10th after both earned Player of the Game honors.
Player of the Day—Fulmer struck out 11 over seven innings, allowing one run and four hits, in the 5-4 win over the Rays.
This was Fulmer’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. He made his Major League debut April 29 and was playing in his fifth career game. He is the 3,640th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
National League Player of the Day—Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez struck out nine over six innings, allowing one run and four hits, in the 3-2 win over the Mets.
Fernandez earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 6.7 for the season and rising to sixth place in season player rankings. He ranks fourth among NL pitchers.
American League Batter of the Day—Eduardo Nunez of the Twins hit a three-run homer and doubled, going 2-for-4, in the 5-3 win over the Blue Jays.
Nunez had a Box-Toppers game score Saturday of +2.0, tied with Matt Wieters of the Orioles, who was Player of the Game in the 3-1 win over the Angels. Both Nunez and Wieters also had similar batting lines and Nunez won AL Batter of the Day honors on a low-level tiebreaker—he left fewer runners on base—0 vs. 1.
National League Batter of the Day—Yoenis Cespedes of the Mets hit a two-run homer and went 2-for-4, scoring twice, in the 5-4 win over the Brewers. Cespedes earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being NL Batter of the Day, giving him 6.0 for the season, rising to 10th place in player rankings. He also extends his lead among NL batters in Box-Toppers points for the season.
Notable—Mariners pitcher Felix Hernandez now has 164.7 career Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Saturday, moving closer to 11th place on Box-Toppers “all-time” career points list.
Hernandez (6IP 4H 0R 5K in the 4-0 win over the Reds) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, maintaining his rank of 12th place among all players in Box-Toppers points since player tracking began in 1995. He trails 11th-place player Roger Clemens (164.8) by only 0.1 point. It should be noted that Clemens’s career began in 1984, before Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995, and so he would likely have more Box-Toppers points (rough estimates based on projections would put his career total at about 320 Box-Toppers points).
Hernandez has 2.0 Box-Toppers points on the season.
Debut—Rockies pitcher Carlos Estevez made his Box-Toppers debut Saturday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors.
Estevez (1.1IP 0H 0R 2K W in the 5-1 win over the Pirates) made his Major League debut April 23 and was playing in his 13th career game. He is the 3,641st player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Fulmer earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Fernandez earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Nunez and Cespedes each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Saturday’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
| 5/20 | Score | Team | Player | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 11.0 | Tigers | Michael Fulmer (W,3-1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 11 | |
| 9.2 | Red Sox | Joe Kelly (W,2-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 | ||
| NL | 8.0 | Marlins | Jose Fernandez (W,6-2) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 9 | |
| 7.1 | Braves | Williams Perez (W,2-1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | ||
| 6.0 | Cardinals | Mike Leake (W,3-3) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 5.0 | Rangers | Cesar Ramos (W,1-2) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | ||
| 5.0 | `Padres | Cesar Vargas | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 7 | ||
| 4.0 | Mariners | Felix Hernandez (W,4-3) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | ||
| 3.1 | `Royals | Danny Duffy | - | - | - | - | - | - | 4.1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 2.1 | Rockies | Carlos Estevez (W,1-1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | ||
| BAT | 2.0 | Twins | Eduardo Nunez, SS | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 2.0 | Orioles | Matt Wieters, C | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| BAT | 2.0 | Mets | Yoenis Cespedes, CF | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 2.0 | Yankees | Masahiro Tanaka (W,2-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | ||
| 1.0 | Giants | Buster Posey, 1B | 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. | ||||||||||||||||
Box-Toppers point totals of the day’s top players
Here are Box-Toppers point totals of each of the Players of the Game. Players are ranked by their Box-Toppers point total for the current season (16). Also shown are each players’ Box-Toppers point total for this season and last (15-16), the period 2011-2016 (11-16) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2016 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2015 total (+/-).| Player | Pos | Team | 16 | 15-16 | 11-16 | Career | +/- |
| Fernandez, Jose 3147 | pi sp | fla nl | 6.7 | 11.4 | 37.4 | 37.4 | 2.0 |
| Cespedes, Yoenis 3008 | cf lf | nym nl | 6.0 | 16.9 | 37.9 | 37.9 | -4.9 |
| Nunez, Eduardo 2795 | 2b ss lf | min al | 2.5 | 4.5 | 10.5 | 12.0 | 0.5 |
| Wieters, Matt 2643 | ca | bal al | 2.5 | 3.5 | 21.5 | 27.2 | 1.5 |
| Hernandez, Felix 2064 | pi sp | sea al | 2.0 | 21.4 | 87.4 | 164.7 | -17.4 |
| Leake, Mike 2709 | pi sp | stl nl | 2.0 | 12.0 | 37.1 | 41.6 | -8.0 |
| Tanaka, Masahiro 3305 | pi sp | nyy al | 2.0 | 10.0 | 22.7 | 22.7 | -6.0 |
| Duffy, Danny 2915 | pi sp | kc al | 2.0 | 6.0 | 21.0 | 21.0 | -2.0 |
| Perez, Williams 3476 | pi sp | atl nl | 2.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | -2.0 |
| Fulmer, Michael 3640 | pi sp | det al | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| Vargas, Cesar 3624 | pi sp | sd nl | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| Posey, Buster 2745 | 1b ca | sf nl | 1.0 | 5.0 | 26.0 | 30.5 | -3.0 |
| Kelly, Joe 3066 | pi sp | bos al | 1.0 | 3.0 | 10.0 | 10.0 | -1.0 |
| Ramos, Cesar 3168 | pi sp | tex al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 1.0 |
| Estevez, Carlos 3641 | pi mr | col nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |