Athletics pitcher Kendall Graveman is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Friday, Rangers pitcher Cole Hamels rises to fifth in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2016 season as of Aug. 19:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 20.0 |
| 2 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 18.7 |
| 3 | Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | cle al | 17.2 |
| 4 | Fernandez, Jose 3147 | pi sp | fla nl | 16.4 |
| 5 | Hamels, Cole 2135 | pi sp | tex al | 15.1 |
| 6 | Cueto, Johnny 2400 | pi sp | sf nl | 14.4 |
| 7 | Lester, Jon 2173 | pi sp | chi nl | 14.4 |
| 8 | Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 14.1 |
| 9 | Happ, J.A. 2536 | pi sp | tor al | 12.7 |
| 10 | Altuve, Jose 3007 | 2b | hou al | 12.5 |
Player of the Day—Graveman pitched a complete-game, two-hit shutout, striking out five and walking none, in the 9-0 win over the White Sox.
National League Player of the Day—Ryan Schimpf of the Padres hit a walk-off, three-run homer in the 7-4, 10-inning win over the Diamondbacks. Schimpf hit two homers in the game and also doubled twice, going 4-for-5, scoring three times and driving in five runs.
American League Batter of the Day—Teoscar Hernandez of the Astros homered and went 3-for-4, scoring three times and driving in three runs, in the 15-8 win over the Orioles.
This was Hernandez’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Hernandez made his Major League debut Aug. 12 and was playing in his seventh career game. He is the 3,713rd player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
National League Batter of the Day—There is no separate NL Batter of the Day for Friday because the overall NL Player of the Day was batter Ryan Schimpf.
Rankings—Rangers pitcher Cole Hamels rises from seventh to fifth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Friday.
Hamels (7.1IP 3H R 2BB 10K W in the 6-2 win over the Rays) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 15.1 for the season. He ranks second among AL pitchers, behind Corey Kluber of the Indians (17.2).
Hamels also now has 141.3 career Box-Toppers points, ranked 26th since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails 25th-ranked player, Giants pitcher Jake Peavy (141.8).
Notable—Two players became the 25th and 26th players this season to reach 10 Box-Toppers points after they earned Player of the Game honors Friday:
- Yankees pitcher Masahiro Tanaka (7.2IP 5H 0R 0BB 9K W in the 7-0 win over the Angels) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 10.7 for the season, becoming the 25th player with 10 or more points in 2016. Tanaka ranks 19th among all players and sixth among AL pitchers. It is his second season with 10 or more points; he had 12.7 points in 2014 with the Yankees.
- Indians pitcher Trevor Bauer (8IP 5H 2R 2BB 13K ND in the 3-2 win over the Blue Jays) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 10.4 for the season, becoming the 26th player with 10 or more points in 2016. Bauer ranks 23rd among all players and 10th among AL pitchers. This is Bauer's first season with 10 or more points.
Debut—David Dahl of the Rockies made his Box-Toppers debut Friday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors.
Dahl (HR 2-4 2R BI in the 7-6, 11-inning win over the Cubs) made his Major League debut July 25 and was playing in his 24th career game. He is the 3,714th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Graveman earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Schmipf earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Hernandez earns 1.5 points for being AL Batter of the Day. All of Friday’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
| 8/19 | Score | Game | Player of Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 12.0 | OAK 9, CHW 0 | Kendall Graveman (W,9-8) | - | - | - | - | 9.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | |
| 11.2 | NYY 7, LAA 0 | Masahiro Tanaka (W,10-4) | - | - | - | - | 7.2 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | ||
| 10.1 | TEX 6, TB 2 | Cole Hamels (W,13-4) | - | - | - | - | 7.1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 10 | ||
| 10.0 | `CLE 3, TOR 2 | Trevor Bauer | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 13 | ||
| NL | 7.0 | SD 7, ARI 4 (10) | Ryan Schimpf, 2B | 5 | 3 | 4 | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 6.0 | BOS 10, DET 2 | Rick Porcello (W,17-3) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 8 | ||
| BAT | 5.0 | HOU 15, BAL 8 | Teoscar Hernandez, CF | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 5.0 | CIN 9, LAD 2 | Joey Votto, 1B | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | MIA 6, PIT 5 | J.T. Realmuto, C | 3 | 2 | 3 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | SF 8, NYM 1 | Conor Gillaspie, PH | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | WSH 7, ATL 6 | Clint Robinson, 1B | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | STL 4, PHI 3 (11) | Seung Hwan Oh (W,3-2) | - | - | - | - | 2.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | ||
| 1.0 | COL 7, CHC 6 (11) | David Dahl, CF | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | SEA 7, MIL 6 | Adam Lind, PH-1B | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | KC 5, MIN 4 (11) | Chien-Ming Wang (W,6-0) | - | - | - | - | 2.0 | 1 | 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. | ||||||||||||||
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 | +/- |
| Hamels, Cole 2135 | pi sp | tex al | 15.1 | 30.5 | 82.1 | 141.3 | -0.3 |
| Tanaka, Masahiro 3305 | pi sp | nyy al | 10.7 | 18.7 | 31.4 | 31.4 | 2.7 |
| Bauer, Trevor 3065 | pi sp | cle al | 10.4 | 19.8 | 28.5 | 28.5 | 1.0 |
| Votto, Joey 2366 | 1b | cin nl | 8.5 | 13.5 | 30.2 | 62.2 | 3.5 |
| Porcello, Rick 2573 | pi sp | bos al | 7.0 | 11.0 | 32.7 | 41.7 | 3.0 |
| Realmuto, J.T. 3491 | ca | fla nl | 5.5 | 10.5 | 10.5 | 10.5 | 0.5 |
| Graveman, Kendall 3444 | pi sp | oak al | 5.0 | 9.7 | 9.7 | 9.7 | 0.3 |
| Schimpf, Ryan 3686 | 2b 3b | sd nl | 4.2 | 4.2 | 4.2 | 4.2 | 4.2 |
| Oh, Seung Hwan 3693 | pi cp | stl nl | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
| Lind, Adam 2238 | 1b ph | sea al | 3.7 | 10.2 | 30.2 | 57.8 | -2.8 |
| Gillaspie, Conor 3218 | 3b ph | sf nl | 2.0 | 2.0 | 8.5 | 8.5 | 2.0 |
| Hernandez, Teoscar 3713 | cf | hou al | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 |
| Robinson, Clint 3475 | 1b | dc nl | 1.0 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 | -2.5 |
| Wang, Chien-Ming 2023 | pi cp | kc al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 5.0 | 28.1 | 1.0 |
| Dahl, David 3714 | cf | col nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |