Giancarlo Stanton of the Marlins, who ranked second among National League batters in 2017 Box-Toppers points, was named NL Most Valuable Player Thursday.
But Jose Altuve of the Astros was named American League MVP despite his low Box-Toppers rankings—with just 2.5 Box-Toppers points on the season, he ranked 90th among AL batters and 387th among all players.
Stanton barely edged out Joey Votto of the Reds to win NL MVP in voting by the Baseball Writers Association of America. Stanton had 302 total points in the voting while Votto had 300. Both players received 10 first-place votes. (See charts below for complete MVP voting results and Box-Toppers rankings.)
From a Box-Toppers perspective, Stanton was far more deserving of the award. He had 14.2 Box-Toppers points on the season and ranked second among NL batters, 17th among all players and had the fourth-highest Box-Toppers point total for a batter since 2012. Votto meanwhile had just 4.0 Box-Toppers points in 2017, 53rd among NL batters and 238th among all players. (In 2016, Votto had 10.5 Box-Toppers points, which was fourth among NL batters.)
Stanton led all players in home runs in 2017 with 59.
Anthony Rizzo of the Cubs led all batters and all NL batters with 15.5 Box-Toppers points in 2017 (tied for the second-highest Box-Toppers point total for a batter since 2012, behind only Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers, who in 2013 had 16.9). However, Rizzo finished 13th in NL MVP voting. That’s odd because last year he finished fourth in NL MVP voting and had very similar statistics (32 home runs and 109 runs batted in both years). However, in 2017, he had far more Box-Toppers points—15.5 vs. 3.0. He actually was the key contributor more often to help the Cubs win games than in 2016 and yet finished lower in MVP voting.
Odder still, Rizzo’s teammate and last year’s NL MVP, Kris Bryant, finished ahead of Rizzo in MVP voting—in seventh place with one first place vote. Bryant, after earning NL Rookie of the Year in 2015 and NL MVP in 2016, had a down year in 2017. He had a career-low 6.0 Box-Toppers points and ranked 24th among NL batters (he had 8.5 points in 2015 and 10.5 in 2016). Despite coming off an MVP season, Bryant was not selected to play in the All-Star Game.
Scooter Gennett of the Reds is Box-Toppers’ highest-ranked NL batter to receive no NL MVP votes. Gennett had 10.7 Box-Toppers points in 2017, third among NL batters, 34th among all players.
In AL MVP voting, Altuve received 27 first-place votes, finishing far ahead of second-place Aaron Judge of the Yankees, who received two first-place votes. Altuve had 405 total points in voting, while Judge had 279.
Altuve led the league in hits (204), batting average (.346) and had the highest Wins Above Replacement (WAR) number (8.3) among all players in baseball.
Still, he had only 2.5 Box-Toppers points. Looking at the Astros’ 101 wins one-by-one, there were only two times when Altuve earned Player of the Game honors. In the other 99 wins, another Astros player was the one whose contributions were most key to the team earning the win. The post linked here details why Altuve did not earn Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors more frequently, including the fact that if he had won the honor in the eight games he was close to earning it, Box-Toppers might have him as top AL batter, rather than 90th-best. (In 2016, Altuve had 12.5 Box-Toppers points and ranked third among AL batters.)
Edwin Encarnacion of the Indians was Box-Toppers top-ranked AL batter in 2017. He had 12.1 Box-Toppers points in 2017, which is the lowest Box-Toppers point total to lead AL batters since player tracking began in 1995. It is the fourth-lowest point total to lead any category—only NL batting leaders from 2014, 2015 and 2016 had lower point totals.
Encarnacion finished 20th in AL MVP voting, earning just one seventh-place vote.
Judge, who finished second in AL MVP voting, ranked second among AL batters with 11.2 Box-Toppers points, 26th among all players.
Jose Ramirez of the Indians finished third in AL MVP voting with one first-place vote. He ranked fifth among AL batters with 10.0 Box-Toppers points, 38th among all players.
Perennial MVP candidate Mike Trout of the Angels finished fourth in AL MVP voting. However, he had just 5.0 Box-Toppers points in 2017, 45th among AL batters. Trout won AL MVP in 2016, when he ranked second among AL batters with 12.5 Box-Toppers points.
Elvis Andrus of the Rangers is Box-Toppers’ highest-ranked AL batter to receive no AL MVP votes. Andrus had 11.0 Box-Toppers points in 2017, third among AL batters, 30th among all players.
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.
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National League Most Valuable Player Award voting
Giancarlo Stanton of the Marlins was voted NL Most Valuable Player. Below are the NL players in order of their voting finish, shown with their first- through 10th-place votes and their voting points total. Also shown are each player’s Box-Toppers points (BTP) for 2017 and their rank among AL batters (except in the case of pitchers, denoted with †, in which case their rank among NL pitcher is shown).| 1st-10th place votes | ||||||||||||||||
| NL player | Team | Pos | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th | Points | BTP | Rank | |
| 1 | Giancarlo Stanton | Marlins | rf | 10 | 10 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 302 | 14.2 | 2 | ||||
| 2 | Joey Votto | Reds | 1b | 10 | 9 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 300 | 4.0 | 53 | |||||
| 3 | Paul Goldschmidt | Diamondbacks | 1b | 4 | 5 | 4 | 9 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 239 | 7.4 | 16 | |||
| 4 | Nolan Arenado | Rockies | 3b | 2 | 3 | 8 | 11 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 229 | 9.2 | 5 | |||
| 5 | Charlie Blackmon | Rockies | cf | 3 | 3 | 7 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 205 | 5.7 | 28 | |
| 6 | Anthony Rendon | Nationals | 3b | 1 | 1 | 6 | 10 | 7 | 4 | 141 | 8.0 | 12 | ||||
| 7 | Kris Bryant | Cubs | 3b | 1 | 1 | 5 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 132 | 6.0 | 24 | ||
| 8 | Justin Turner | Dodgers | 3b | 3 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 43 | 2.5 | 98 | ||||||
| 9 | Cody Bellinger | Dodgers | 1b rf | 2 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 38 | 8.7 | 10 | |||||
| 10 | Max Scherzer | Nationals | pi sp | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 34 | 25.0 | 1† | |||||
| 11 | Tommy Pham | Cardinals | lf | 1 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 24 | 5.5 | 36 | ||||||
| 12 | Bryce Harper | Nationals | rf | 2 | 3 | 2 | 21 | 7.0 | 19 | |||||||
| 13 | Anthony Rizzo | Cubs | 1b | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 17 | 15.5 | 1 | ||||||
| 14 | J.D. Martinez | Diamondbacks | rf | 1 | 3 | 2 | 11 | 5.5 | 31 | |||||||
| 15 | Kenley Jansen | Dodgers | pi cp | 1 | 1 | 8 | 7.0 | 34† | ||||||||
| 16 | Marcell Ozuna | Marlins | lf | 2 | 4 | 8 | 9.2 | 6 | ||||||||
| 17 | Clayton Kershaw | Dodgers | pi sp | 1 | 1 | 6 | 23.1 | 2† | ||||||||
| 17 | Corey Seager | Dodgers | ss | 2 | 6 | 7.0 | 18 | |||||||||
| 19 | Daniel Murphy | Nationals | 2b | 1 | 1 | 3 | 7.5 | 14 | ||||||||
| 20 | Archie Bradley | Diamondbacks | pr mr | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | 141† | |||||||||
| 20 | Zack Greinke | Diamondbacks | pi sp | 1 | 1 | 20.1 | 4† | |||||||||
| 20 | Ryan Zimmerman | Nationals | 1b | 1 | 1 | 7.2 | 17 | |||||||||
† When an NL pitcher received MVP votes, their Box-Toppers ranking is shown among NL pitchers.
American League Most Valuable Player Award voting
Jose Altuve of the Astros was voted AL Most Valuable Player. Below are the AL players in order of their voting finish, shown with their first- through 10th-place votes and their voting points total. Also shown are each player’s Box-Toppers points (BTP) for 2017 and their rank among AL batters (except in the case of pitchers, denoted with †, in which case their rank among AL pitcher is shown).| 1st-10th place votes | ||||||||||||||||
| AL player | Team | Pos | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th | Points | BTP | Rank | |
| 1 | Jose Altuve | Astros | 2b | 27 | 3 | 405 | 2.5 | 90 | ||||||||
| 2 | Aaron Judge | Yankees | rf | 2 | 27 | 1 | 279 | 11.2 | 2 | |||||||
| 3 | Jose Ramirez | Indians | 3b 2b | 1 | 22 | 6 | 1 | 237 | 10.0 | 5 | ||||||
| 4 | Mike Trout | Angels | cf | 6 | 18 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 197 | 5.0 | 45 | |||||
| 5 | Francisco Lindor | Indians | ss | 4 | 12 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 143 | 3.5 | 69 | ||||
| 6 | Mookie Betts | Red Sox | rf | 2 | 6 | 7 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 110 | 6.0 | 29 | |||
| 7 | Corey Kluber | Indians | pi sp | 1 | 4 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 101 | 22.0 | 2† | |||
| 8 | Andrelton Simmons | Angels | ss | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 8 | 2 | 60 | 2.5 | 95 | ||||
| 9 | Chris Sale | Red Sox | pi sp | 1 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 56 | 25.1 | 1† | |||||
| 10 | Nelson Cruz | Mariners | dh | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 44 | 5.5 | 38 | ||||
| 11 | Brian Dozier | Twins | 2b | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 25 | 5.5 | 40 | |||||
| 12 | Jonathan Schoop | Orioles | 2b | 2 | 2 | 3 | 19 | 6.0 | 30 | |||||||
| 13 | George Springer | Astros | rf cf | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 17 | 5.0 | 48 | ||||||
| 14 | Jose Abreu | White Sox | 1b | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 16 | 1.0 | 151 | |||||
| 15 | Eric Hosmer | Royals | 1b | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 16 | 9.5 | 6 | ||||||
| 16 | Justin Upton | Angels* | lf | 1 | 2 | 1 | 12 | 7.5 | 14 | |||||||
| 17 | Carlos Correa | Astros | ss | 1 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 7.0 | 20 | |||||||
| 18 | Byron Buxton | Twins | cf | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 5.5 | 39 | |||||||
| 19 | Marwin Gonzalez | Astros | lf | 2 | 2 | 6 | 6.7 | 23 | ||||||||
| 20 | Edwin Encarnacion | Indians | dh 1b | 1 | 4 | 12.1 | 1 | |||||||||
| 21 | Didi Gregorius | Yankees | ss | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2.0 | 115 | ||||||||
| 22 | Josh Donaldson | Blue Jays | 3b | 1 | 1 | 8.0 | 10 | |||||||||
| 22 | Khris Davis | Athletics | lf | 1 | 1 | 4.5 | 56 | |||||||||
| 22 | Gary Sanchez | Yankees | ca dh | 1 | 1 | 3.5 | 71 | |||||||||
* Justin Upton finished the season with the Angels. He was traded from the Tigers Aug. 31.
† When an AL pitcher received MVP votes, their Box-Toppers ranking is shown among AL pitchers.
Box-Toppers
Tracking who most helps their teams win the most games, based on box score stats. A method to measure & compare baseball's top players.
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. Players earn Box-Toppers points 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.