Silver Slugger winners | Box-Toppers points leaders | ||||||||
AL winners | Team | BTP | Rank* | AL leaders | Team | BTP | Rank* | ||
1B | Vladimir Guerrero | Blue Jays | 3.7 | 12 | Jose Abreu | White Sox | 8.0 | 1 | |
2B | Marcus Semien | Blue Jays | 6.2 | 4 | Brandon Lowe | Rays | 10.5 | 1 | |
SS | Xander Bogaerts | Red Sox | 8.5 | 1 | Xander Bogaerts | Red Sox | 8.5 | 1 | |
3B | Rafael Devers | Red Sox | 7.5 | 2 | Jose Ramirez | Indians | 13.0 | 1 | |
CA | Salvador Perez | Royals | 4.5 | 2 | Max Stassi | Angels | 4.5 | 1 | |
OF | Aaron Judge | Yankees | 9.0 | 1 | Aaron Judge | Yankees | 9.0 | 1 | |
OF | Teoscar Hernandez | Blue Jays | 4.5 | 13 | Mitch Haniger | Mariners | 7.5 | 2 | |
OF | Cedric Mullins | Orioles | 3.5 | 27 | Kyle Tucker | Astros | 7.2 | 3 | |
DH | Shohei Ohtani | Angels | 16.1 | —** | J.D. Martinez | Red Sox | 10.7 | 1 | |
NL winners | Team | BTP | Rank* | NL leaders | Team | BTP | Rank* | ||
1B | Freddie Freeman | Braves | 4.5 | 7 | Joey Votto | Reds | 9.7 | 1 | |
2B | Ozzie Albies | Braves | 7.0 | 1 | Ozzie Albies | Braves | 7.0 | 1 | |
SS | Fernando Tatis Jr. | Padres | 10.2 | 1 | Fernando Tatis Jr. | Padres | 10.2 | 1 | |
3B | Austin Riley | Braves | 8.5 | 2 | Nolan Arenado | Cardinals | 9.0 | 1 | |
CA | Buster Posey | Giants | 6.5 | 2 | J.T. Realmuto | Phillies | 7.2 | 1 | |
OF | Nick Castellanos | Reds | 11.5 | 1 | Nick Castellanos | Reds | 11.5 | 1 | |
OF | Juan Soto | Nationals | 6.0 | 6 | Adam Duvall | Braves | 8.0 | 2 | |
OF | Bryce Harper | Phillies | 5.5 | 10 | Bryan Reynolds | Pirates | 8.0 | 3 |
Rank*: Shows the players rank among all players in his league at that position. For example, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. ranks 12th among AL first basemen in Box-Toppers points; Jose Abreu ranks first.
** Ohtani did not qualify to be ranked among designated hitters or among batters since the overwhelming majority of his Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors came as a starting pitcher. Ohtani earned nine of his 12 Player of the Game honors as a pitcher, the other three coming as a designated hitter. He earned 4.0 total Box-Toppers points as a designated hitter, which, by itself would rank 14th among designated hitters. His 16.1 Box-Toppers points was third among all AL players.
Only five of the 17 batters winning Silver Slugger Awards Thursday also were among the leaders at their positions in 2021 Box-Toppers point totals.
The awards are given to the top batter in each position in both leagues, voted on by Major League Baseball coaches and managers. Box-Toppers analyzes traditional box scores and tracks which player most helps his team win the most games, awarding points for the top player in each game.
The five Silver Slugger award winners who also would have been among Box-Toppers’ Silver Slugger recipients:
Xander Bogaerts of the Red Sox led American League shortstops with 8.5 Box-Toppers points.
Aaron Judge of the Yankees led AL outfielders with 9.0 points.
Ozzie Albies of the Braves led National League second basemen with 7.0 points.
Fernando Tatis Jr. of the Padres led NL shortstops with 10.2 points.
Nick Castellanos of the Reds led NL outfielders with 11.5 points.
Here is a position-by-position look at the Silver Slugger winners compared to Box-Toppers leaders:
AL first base: Box-Toppers grade: C
Award-winner Vladimir Guerrero Jr. of the Blue Jays had 3.7 Box-Toppers points and ranked 12th among AL first basemen. The Box-Toppers points leader at the position was Jose Abreu of the White Sox with 8.0 Box-Toppers points, sixth among AL batters.
While Guerrero tied for the Major League lead with 48 home runs and led in runs scored (123) and total bases (363), he only earned Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors three times during the season. Guerrero played on a Blue Jays team in which pitchers were most often the most key player in team wins, including Robbie Ray (17.7 Box-Toppers points, second among AL pitchers). He also shared the Box-Toppers Player of the Game load with teammates who were star batters, to the point that Guerrero ranked seventh in Box-Toppers points among Blue Jays batters. (Bo Bichette led Blue Jays batters with 7.0 Box-Toppers points, 15th among AL batters.)
Abreu, by contrast, earned Player of the Game honors six times in 2021 and led White Sox batters in Box-Toppers points.
AL second base: Box-Toppers grade: C
Award-winner Marcus Semien of the Blue Jays finished fourth among players at the position with 6.2 Box-Toppers points. The Box-Toppers points leader at the position was Brandon Lowe of the Rays with 10.5 Box-Toppers points, third among AL batters.
AL shortstop: Box-Toppers grade: A
Award-winner Xander Bogaerts of the Red Sox also led AL shortstops with 8.5 Box-Toppers points, fifth among AL batters.
AL third base: Box-Toppers grade: B
Award-winner Rafael Devers of the Red Sox finished second among players at the position with 7.5 Box-Toppers points. The Box-Toppers points leader at the position was Jose Ramirez of the Indians with 13.0 Box-Toppers points, first among AL batters.
AL catcher: Box-Toppers grade: B
Award-winner Salvador Perez of the Royals earned 4.5 Box-Toppers points, second among AL catchers. The Box-Toppers points leader at the position is Max Stassi of the Angels, who also had 4.5 Box-Toppers points. Stassi ranked ahead of Perez (42nd among AL batters) because he earned more points in 2020 (1.0 vs. 0.0). Perez ranks 44th among AL batters.
AL outfield: Box-Toppers grade: B-
This grade includes one A and two Cs.
The A: Box-Toppers’ top-ranked AL outfielder Aaron Judge of the Yankees (9.0 Box-Toppers points, fourth among AL batters) also won a Silver Slugger award.
The Cs: Award-winners Teoscar Hernandez of the Blue Jays ranked 13th among AL outfielders with 4.5 points and Cedric Mullins of the Orioles ranked 27th among AL outfielders with 3.5 points. The C grades were kind of generous, given how far both were outside the top 10 AL outfielders in Box-Toppers points, but we gave them a benefit of the doubt because the point totals of the actual top three AL outfielders were also relatively low.
After Judge, Box-Toppers’ second-ranked AL outfielder is Mitch Haniger of the Mariners (7.5 Box-Toppers points, 11th among AL batters) and Kyle Tucker of the Astros (7.2 Box-Toppers points, 12th among AL batters).
AL designated hitter: Box-Toppers grade: Incomplete
Award-winner Shohei Ohtani of the Angels earned 16.1 Box-Toppers points in 2021, more than any other batter. But he earned most of those points as a starting pitcher. In fact, he earned such an overwhelming majority of his Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors as a pitcher (nine of 12, 75 percent) that he did not qualify to be ranked among batters.
Box-Toppers’ top-ranked AL designated hitter is J.D. Martinez, whose 10.7 Box-Toppers points ranks second among AL batters.
Despite Ohtani spending most of his playing time as a designated hitter (126 of the 155 games he played compared to serving as a starting pitcher 23 times), he only earned Player of the Game honors three times as a DH. In order for players to be listed at a certain position, they need to have more than 25 percent of their Player of the Game honors at that position. Ohtani earned exactly 25 percent of his Player of the Game honors as a designated hitter and so was not ranked among designated hitters or batters.
The 4.0 total Box-Toppers points he earned as a designated hitter would rank 14th at the position.
However, there was a period in 2021 in which Ohtani had more than 25 percent of his Player of the Game honors as a designated hitter. During that span, he was qualified to be ranked among batters. He took the lead among AL batters July 30 with 11.4 Box-Toppers points and held it through the weekly player rankings report of Sept. 2, when he had a fairly commanding lead. However, on Sept. 3, Ohtani earned Player of the Game honors as a pitcher for the ninth time of the season. That put him short of qualifying to be ranked as a batter. This meant that Ohtani went from ranking first among AL batters to being removed from batter rankings entirely because he no longer qualified. And it was his final Player of the Game honor of 2021, so his status didn’t change by the end of the season.
Ironically, Ohtani earned Player of the Game honors four times for batting this season, but one of those honors on April 26 came while he was a starting pitcher. It is one of five times this season a pitcher earned Player of the Game honors for batting.
It’s hard to argue against giving Ohtani the Silver Slugger Award at designated hitter. Ohtani had baseball’s fourth-best slugging percentage (.592), tied for the fifth-most total bases (318), tied for the most triples (eight) and ranked third in home runs (46). He also drove in 100 runs.
Martinez meanwhile tied for the AL lead in doubles (42) and tied for sixth in extra base hits (73). He hit 28 home runs and drove in 99 runs. Still, as a batter, Martinez was the key player in Red Sox wins far more often than Ohtani was as a batter in Angel wins.
NL first base: Box-Toppers grade: C
Award-winner Freddie Freeman of the Braves ranked seventh among NL first basemen with 4.5 Box-Toppers points. The Box-Toppers points leader at the position was Joey Votto of the Reds with 9.7 Box-Toppers points, third among NL batters.
NL second base: Box-Toppers grade: A
Award-winner Ozzie Albies of the Braves also led NL second basemen with 7.0 Box-Toppers points, 15th among NL batters.
NL shortstop: Box-Toppers grade: A
Award-winner Fernando Tatis Jr. of the Padres also led NL shortstops with 10.2 Box-Toppers points, second among NL batters.
NL third base: Box-Toppers grade: B
Award-winner Austin Riley of the Braves ranked second at the position with 8.5 Box-Toppers points, just 0.5 points behind Nolan Arenado of the Cardinals (9.0). Arenado ranks fourth among NL batters; Riley ranks sixth.
NL catcher: Box-Toppers grade: B
Award-winner Buster Posey of the Giants ranked second at the position with 6.5 Box-Toppers points. J.T. Realmuto of the Phillies led NL catchers in Box-Toppers points with 7.2, 12th among NL batters.
NL outfield: Box-Toppers grade B+
This grade includes one A and two Bs.
The A: Box-Toppers’ top-ranked NL outfielder Nick Castellanos of the Reds (11.5 Box-Toppers points, first among NL batters) also won a Silver Slugger award.
The Bs: Award-winners Juan Soto of the Nationals ranked sixth among NL outfielders with 6.0 points and Bryce Harper of the Phillies ranked 10th among NL outfielders with 5.5 points. The B grades were kind of generous, given their low Box-Toppers point totals. Despite that, they did both rank among the top 10 NL outfielders in Box-Toppers points.
After Castellanos, Box-Toppers’ second-ranked NL outfielder is Adam Duvall of the Braves (8.0 Box-Toppers points, seventh among NL batters) and Bryan Reynolds of the Pirates (8.0 Box-Toppers points, eighth among NL batters).
NL pitcher: Box-Toppers grade: Incomplete
Max Fried of the Braves won the Silver Slugger Award for pitchers. This is kind of an exercise in futility given how few plate appearances pitchers are able to make. Ohtani would have been the more obvious choice here, but he is an AL pitcher, so if this was strictly an NL award, he wouldn’t have been under consideration.
There were five times in 2021 that a pitcher won Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors for batting. Ohtani did it once. But German Marquez of the Rockies did it twice, more than any other pitcher. (The other two pitchers who won Player of the Game honors for batting in 2021 were Daniel Camarena of the Padres and Logan Webb of the Giants.)
This may be the last Silver Slugger Award given to pitchers if the next collective bargaining agreement institutes the designated hitter rule in the National League for 2022.
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Box-Toppers points leaders usually correlate better to Silver Slugger winners. In 2019, there were 10 instances in which Silver Slugger voter and Box-Toppers rankings agreed on choices for the award. In 2016, six Box-Toppers position leaders won Silver Slugger Awards, in 2017, there were seven and in 2018, there were seven (or eight, depending on how you count). But in the 2020 season, only three of the 18 Silver Slugger award winners led their position in Box-Toppers points. That season was shortened to 60 games by the pandemic and the smaller sample size contributed to the decrease in correlation between award winners and Box-Toppers points leaders.
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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Related:
In 2020: Only 3 of 18 Silver Slugger Award winners also led their position in Box-Toppers points
In 2019: 10 of the 17 Silver Slugger Award winners also led their position in Box-Toppers points
In 2018: Seven (or eight) of 17 Silver Slugger Award winners also led their position in Box-Toppers points.
In 2017: Seven of 17 Silver Slugger Award winners also led their position in Box-Toppers points.
In 2016: Six of the 17 Silver Slugger winners were leaders at their position in Box-Toppers rankings.