Mets pitcher Noah Syndergaard is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to fifth place in season player rankings.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2016 season as of June 15:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 18.0 |
| 2 | Fernandez, Jose 3147 | pi sp | fla nl | 11.7 |
| 3 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 10.0 |
| 4 | Cueto, Johnny 2400 | pi sp | sf nl | 10.0 |
| 5 | Syndergaard, Noah 3472 | pi sp | nym nl | 10.0 |
| 6 | Lackey, John 1640 | pi sp | chi nl | 9.4 |
| 7 | Bumgarner, Madison 2753 | pi sp | sf nl | 9.0 |
| 8 | Salazar, Danny 3223 | pi sp | cle al | 8.8 |
| 9 | Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | chi nl | 8.7 |
| 10 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | chi al | 8.7 |
Also Wednesday, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw extended his dominant lead in season player rankings and Giants pitcher Johnny Cueto rose to fourth in player rankings.
Player of the Day—Syndergaard struck out 11 over 8 1/3 innings, allowing two runs, five hits and no walks, in the 11-2 win over the Pirates.
Syndergaard earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 10.0 for the season, becoming the fourth player this season with 10 or more points. It is the second straight year Syndergaard has reached 10 points—in 2015, he had 10.4.
American League Player of the Day—Rays pitcher Drew Smyly struck out 12 over 6 2/3 innings, allowing two runs, four hits and no walks, in the 3-2, 13-inning win over the Mariners. Smyly did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because the game was tied when he exited.
National League Batter of the Day—Melvin Upton of the Padres homered and went 3-for-3, scoring twice and driving in two runs, in the 6-3 win over the Marlins.
Upton had a Box-Toppers game score of +4, the same as DJ LeMahieu of the Rockies, who was Player of the Game in the 6-3 win over the Yankees. While both players also had similar batting lines (3-3 2R 2BI), Upton won NL Batter of the Day honors on a tiebreaker because he hit a home run.
American League Batter of the Day—Hanley Ramirez of the Red Sox hit a three-run homer, going 2-for-3 and scoring twice, in the 6-4 win over the Orioles.
Kershaw—Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw extends his dominant lead in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Wednesday.
Kershaw (7.1IP 5H 2R BB 11K W in the 3-2 win over the Diamondbacks) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point for being Player of the Game, giving him 18.0 for the season. He now leads second-place player, Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez (11.7) by 6.3 points, meaning Fernandez would need at least four starts to have a chance of catching Kershaw.
Kershaw also now has 177.3 career Box-Toppers points, maintaining his rank of sixth place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began (see homepage for updated list of “all-time” top 20 players in career points). Kershaw trails fifth-ranked player, Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia (182.0).
Rankings—Giants pitcher Johnny Cueto rises to fourth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Wednesday.
Cueto (7IP 7H R BB 9K W in the 10-1 win over the Brewers) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 10.0 for the season. He becomes the fifth player this season with 10.0 or more Box-Toppers points. It is the fifth season Cueto has reached 10 points, the third straight season.
Notable—With the rise of Syndergaard and Cueto in Box-Toppers top 10 player rankings, the only batter—Manny Machado of the Orioles—has slipped off the top 10 list. Machado, who leads AL batters with 8.7 Box-Toppers points, now ranks 11th among all players. Machado had been in the top 10 overall rankings since May 8.
The top NL batter, Eugenio Suarez of the Reds (7.0), ranks 20th among all players.
Also, with Machado sliding out of the top 10, eight of the top 10 players are now from the NL. The only two from the AL are Indians pitcher Danny Salazar (8.8 points, eighth place) and White Sox pitcher Chris Sale (8.7 points, 10th place).
Debut—Tim Anderson of the White Sox made his Box-Toppers debut Wednesday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors.
Anderson (3B 3-5 3R in the 5-3 win over the Tigers) made his Major League debut June 10 and was playing in his sixth career game. He is the 3,659th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Syndergaard earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Smyly earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Upton and Ramirez each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s 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
| 6/15 | Score | Game | Player of Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 11.1 | NYM 11/PIT 2 | Noah Syndergaard (W,7-2) | - | - | - | - | 8.1 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 11 | |
| AL | 10.2 | `TB 3/SEA 2 | Drew Smyly | - | - | - | - | 6.2 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 12 | |
| 8.1 | LAD 3/ARI 2 | Clayton Kershaw (W,10-1) | - | - | - | - | 7.1 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 11 | ||
| 6.0 | SF 10/MIL 1 | Johnny Cueto (W,10-1) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 9 | ||
| 6.0 | `DC 5/CHC 4 | Stephen Strasburg | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 | ||
| 5.0 | LAA 10/MIN 2 | Hector Santiago (W,4-4) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | ||
| BAT | 4.0 | SD 6/MIA 3 | Melvin Upton, LF | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | COL 6/NYY 3 | DJ LeMahieu, 2B | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| BAT | 4.0 | BOS 6/BAL 4 | Hanley Ramirez, 1B | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 3.0 | TEX 7/OAK 5 | Rougned Odor, 2B | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.2 | TOR 7/PHI 2 | Marco Estrada (W,5-2) | - | - | - | - | 6.2 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 | ||
| 1.2 | `HOU 4/STL 1 | Collin McHugh | - | - | - | - | 6.2 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | ||
| 1.0 | CHW 5/DET 3 | Tim Anderson, SS | 5 | 3 | 3 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | KC 9/CLE 4 | Eric Hosmer, 1B | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | `ATL 9/CIN 8 | Bud Norris | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 7 | ||
| `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 of Game | Pos | Team | 16 | 15-16 | 11-16 | Career | +/- |
| Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 18.0 | 43.7 | 143.8 | 177.3 | -7.7 |
| Cueto, Johnny 2400 | pi sp | sf nl | 10.0 | 22.8 | 74.0 | 93.4 | -2.8 |
| Syndergaard, Noah 3472 | pi sp | nym nl | 10.0 | 20.4 | 20.4 | 20.4 | -0.4 |
| Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 8.4 | 22.4 | 68.5 | 76.2 | -5.6 |
| Santiago, Hector 3109 | pi sp | ana al | 6.4 | 14.4 | 26.8 | 26.8 | -1.6 |
| Estrada, Marco 2847 | pi sp | tor al | 6.0 | 14.0 | 38.1 | 38.1 | -2.0 |
| Smyly, Drew 3009 | pi sp | tb al | 4.7 | 10.7 | 32.8 | 32.8 | -1.3 |
| LeMahieu, DJ 3091 | 2b | col nl | 4.5 | 11.5 | 17.5 | 17.5 | -2.5 |
| McHugh, Collin 3316 | pi sp | hou al | 3.0 | 12.7 | 24.5 | 24.5 | -6.7 |
| Hosmer, Eric 2886 | 1b | kc al | 3.0 | 12.0 | 25.5 | 25.5 | -6.0 |
| Odor, Rougned 3336 | 2b | tex al | 3.0 | 6.0 | 7.5 | 7.5 | 0.0 |
| Norris, Bud 2638 | pi sp | atl nl | 2.0 | 3.0 | 33.4 | 42.4 | 1.0 |
| Ramirez, Hanley 2119 | 1b ss | bos al | 1.5 | 1.5 | 24.2 | 52.1 | 1.5 |
| Upton, Melvin 1922 | lf | sd nl | 1.5 | 1.5 | 14.5 | 36.2 | 1.5 |
| Anderson, Tim 3659 | ss | chi al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |