Though Clayton Kershaw is on DL, he still holds commanding Box-Toppers player rankings lead

Here are the top 10 players by category (AL & NL pitching & batting) in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2016 season as of June 30.


AL PITCHERS POS TEAM BTP NL PITCHERS POS TEAM BTP
1 Kluber, Corey 3200 pi sp cle al 10.8 1 Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 20.0
2 Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp chi al 10.7 2 Fernandez, Jose 3147 pi sp fla nl 13.4
3 Salazar, Danny 3223 pi sp cle al 10.5 3 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 12.0
4 Hamels, Cole 2135 pi sp tex al 10.4 4 Cueto, Johnny 2400 pi sp sf nl 11.7
5 Hill, Rich 2215 pi sp oak al 8.4 5 Arrieta, Jake 2738 pi sp chi nl 10.7
6 Lewis, Colby 1567 pi sp tex al 7.7 6 Syndergaard, Noah 3472 pi sp nym nl 10.0
7 Kennedy, Ian 2723 pi sp kc al 7.0 7 Greinke, Zack 1871 pi sp ari nl 9.7
8 Price, David 2593 pi sp bos al 6.7 8 Lester, Jon 2173 pi sp chi nl 9.7
9 Carrasco, Carlos 2885 pi sp cle al 6.7 9 Lackey, John 1640 pi sp chi nl 9.4
10 Bauer, Trevor 3065 pi sp cle al 6.7 10 Bumgarner, Madison 2753 pi sp sf nl 9.0
AL BATTERS POS TEAM BTP NL BATTERS POS TEAM BTP
1 Machado, Manny 3087 ss 3b bal al 8.7 1 Carpenter, Matt 2987 3b 1b 2b stl nl 7.5
2 Altuve, Jose 3007 2b hou al 8.5 2 Suarez, Eugenio 3355 3b cin nl 7.0
3 Davis, Chris 2478 1b bal al 7.5 3 Cespedes, Yoenis 3008 cf lf nym nl 6.0
4 Donaldson, Josh 3144 3b tor al 7.2 4 Holliday, Matt 1836 1b lf dh stl nl 6.0
5 Martin, Russell 2202 ca tor al 7.0 5 Carter, Chris 2828 1b mil nl 6.0
6 Wieters, Matt 2643 ca bal al 7.0 6 Myers, Wil 3228 1b sd nl 5.7
7 Correa, Carlos 3506 ss hou al 6.7 7 Bryant, Kris 3465 lf 3b rf chi nl 5.5
8 Lee, Dae-Ho 3627 1b ph sea al 6.7 8 Bruce, Jay 2453 rf cin nl 5.0
9 Trout, Mike 2949 cf ana al 6.5 9 Murphy, Daniel 2589 2b dc nl 5.0
10 Cain, Lorenzo 3171 cf kc al 6.5 10 Belt, Brandon 2943 1b sf nl 5.0

Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw still holds a commanding lead in the Box-Toppers player rankings report, but is now on the disabled list with lower back issues.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2016 season as of June 30:  


Player Pos Team BTP
1 Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 20.0
2 Fernandez, Jose 3147 pi sp fla nl 13.4
3 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 12.0
4 Cueto, Johnny 2400 pi sp sf nl 11.7
5 Kluber, Corey 3200 pi sp cle al 10.8
6 Arrieta, Jake 2738 pi sp chi nl 10.7
7 Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp chi al 10.7
8 Salazar, Danny 3223 pi sp cle al 10.5
9 Hamels, Cole 2135 pi sp tex al 10.4
10 Syndergaard, Noah 3472 pi sp nym nl 10.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Kershaw has 20.0 Box-Toppers points at the halfway point in the season. He did not pick up any points in the past week, but has more than double the points of all but eight players and holds a 6.6-point lead over second-place player, Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez.

Kershaw was placed on the 15-day disabled list Thursday with a mildly herniated disc in his lower back.

Should Kershaw come back, he would have a chance to break the single-season Box-Toppers points record of 33.7 set by Randy Johnson in both 2000 and 2002. And if he is not able to come back or is unable to earn additional Box-Toppers points, he may still end the season leading National League pitchers. Three times since 1995 (when Box-Toppers tracking began), the leading NL pitcher has ended the season with fewer than 20.0 Box-Toppers points:

  • 2004: Eric Gagne, Dodgers—19.7
  • 2006: John Smoltz, Braves—19.1
  • 2009: Tim Lincecum, Giants—19.7

(American League pitchers have led with fewer than 20.0 Box-Toppers points in five different seasons.)

In fact, Kershaw led NL pitchers in 2012 with just over 20.0 Box-Toppers points—20.8.

In other player rankings news, NL batters have a new leader this week—Matt Carpenter of the Cardinals, with 7.5 Box-Toppers points, rose to first place in the category, passing previous leader Eugenio Suarez of the Reds (7.0). Carpenter ranks 23rd among all players.

The other category leaders remain the same:

American League pitchers—Indians pitcher Corey Kluber has 10.8 Box-Toppers points, picking up 1.0 point in the past week. He ranks fifth among all players.

American League batters—Manny Machado of the Orioles leads with 8.7 Box-Toppers points. He ranks 15th among all players.

One player rose into Box-Toppers overall top 10 since last week—Indians pitcher Danny Salazar (10.5) rises to eighth. One player fell from the overall top 10—Diamondbacks pitcher Zack Greinke (9.7) fell to 11th.

So far this season, 524 different players have earned Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors. There are 216 players who have more than 2.0 Box-Toppers points.

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.

Last week’s player rankings