Fernando Tatis Jr. of the Padres is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Tatis hit three home runs and went 4-for-5, scoring four times and driving in four runs, in the 11-5 win over the Diamondbacks.
Tatis earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 5.5 for the season, 52nd among all players and third among National League batters, behind Adam Duvall of the Marlins (6.0) and Bryan Reynolds of the Pirates (5.5).
Tatis is just the second batter this season to earn overall Player of the Day honors and the first to do it in a day in which 15 games were played. The only other batter to earn Player of the Day honors in 2021, Max Stassi of the Angels, did it on June 7 when only three games were played.
In 2020’s 67-day, pandemic-shortened season, four batters won Player of the Day honors. On the other 63 days, pitchers won Player of the Day honors.
American League Player of the Day—Luis Arraez of the Twins hit two triples, doubled and went 3-for-4, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 8-7 win over the Indians.
Batters of the Day—There are no separate AL or NL Batters of the Day for Friday because batters won both the overall Player of the Day honor (Fernando Tatis Jr.) and overall AL Player of the Day honor (Luis Arraez).
Notable—Mets pitcher Taijuan Walker has the most 2021 Box-Toppers points among the 15 who earned Player of the Game honors Friday.
Walker (5IP 3H R BB 5K ND in the 2-1, eight-inning win over the Phillies) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 9.4 for the season, 11th among all players and ninth among NL pitchers.
Also notable—Giants pitcher Johnny Cueto now has 110.8 career Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Friday.
Cueto (7IP 5H 0R BB 6K W in the 2-0 win over the Athletics) rises to 62nd place among all players in career Box-Toppers points since 1995, when player tracking began. With his 1.0 point Friday, he passes two players on the “all-time” list—Jeff Kent (110.2) and Tom Glavine (110.6). (It should be noted that if Glavine’s entire career from 1987 were tracked, projections put his career total at 170.) Cueto now trails 61st-ranked player Kevin Brown (112.8).
Cueto ranks 17th among active players in career points and ninth among active NL pitchers.
Cueto had a Box-Toppers game score Friday of +7.0, same as Tatis. But Tatis beat Cueto for overall Player of the Day because in cases of game score ties, batters rank ahead of pitchers.
Debut—Luis Torrens of the Mariners made his Box-Toppers debut Friday with his first career Player of the Game honor.
Torrens (2HR 2-5 2R 4BI in the 9-3 win over the White Sox) made his Major League debut April 3, 2017, and was playing in his 124th career game.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 in Box-Toppers season player rankings for 2021. Players are ranked by Box-Toppers points (BTP) earned this season through Friday, June 25.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 13.7 |
| 2 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | nyy al | 13.4 |
| 3 | Glasnow, Tyler 3948 | pi sp | tb al | 12.7 |
| 4 | Woodruff, Brandon 3868 | pi sp | mil nl | 12.4 |
| 5 | Wheeler, Zack 3204 | pi sp | phi nl | 11.4 |
| 6 | Civale, Aaron 4173 | pi sp | cle al | 9.7 |
| 7 | Peralta, Freddy 3965 | pi sp | mil nl | 9.7 |
| 8 | Bauer, Trevor 3065 | pi sp | lad nl | 9.4 |
| 9 | Darvish, Yu 3003 | pi sp | sd nl | 9.4 |
| 10 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 9.4 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Scoring—Tatis earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Arraez earns 1.7 points for being AL Player 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.
Box-Toppers strives for accuracy. See a mistake in a post? A wrong name, wrong team, grammar error, spelling goof, etc.? Thanks for pointing it out! Contact Box-Toppers here. Let's fix it and make it right.
Box-Toppers Player of the Game winners
Here is the top player from each of the day’s games listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score (BTG).| 6/25 | BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | +7.0 | SD 11, ARI 5 | Fernando Tatis Jr., SS | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +7.0 | SF 2, OAK 0 | Johnny Cueto, (W 6‑3) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | ||
| +6.0 | `MIL 5, COL 4 (F/11) | Corbin Burnes | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 | ||
| +6.0 | `LAD 6, CHC 2 | Tony Gonsolin | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 4.0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 | ||
| +5.0 | MIA 11, WSH 2 | Garrett Cooper, 1B | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| AL | +4.0 | MIN 8, CLE 7 | Luis Arraez, LF | 4 | 2 | 3 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +4.0 | TB 4, LAA 3 | Diego Castillo, (S 12) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| +4.0 | `NYM 2, PHI 1 (F/8) | Taijuan Walker | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | ||
| +3.0 | SEA 9, CHW 3 | Luis Torrens, DH | 5 | 2 | 2 | 4 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +3.0 | TEX 9, KC 4 | Nate Lowe, 1B | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +3.0 | BOS 5, NYY 3 | Hunter Renfroe, RF | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +3.0 | PIT 5, STL 4 | Richard Rodríguez, (S 10) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| +3.0 | `PHI 2, NYM 1 (F/8) | Matt Moore | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | ||
| +2.0 | BAL 6, TOR 5 (F/10) | Anthony Santander, PH‑RF | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +2.0 | ATL 3, CIN 2 | Will Smith, (S 16) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
AL—Overall American League Player of the Day, worth 1.7 total Box-Toppers points.
NL—Overall National League Player of the Day, worth 1.7 total Box-Toppers points.
BAT—Top AL or NL Batter of the Day, worth 1.5 total Box-Toppers points.
All other players listed here earn Player of the Game honors, worth 1.0 Box-Toppers point.
` 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 Player of the Game winners
Here are Box-Toppers point totals of each of the Player of the Game winners. Players are ranked by their Box-Toppers point total for the current season (’21). Also shown are each players’ Box-Toppers point total for this season and last (’20-21), the period 2016-2021 (’16-21) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2021 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2020 total (+/-).| Player of the Game | Pos | Team | ’21 | ’20‑21 | ’16‑21 | Career | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Walker, Taijuan 3453 | pi sp | nym nl | 9.4 | 15.4 | 28.1 | 41.8 | +3.4 |
| Burnes, Corbin 4029 | pi sp | mil nl | 5.7 | 13.4 | 16.4 | 16.4 | ‑2.0 |
| Tatis, Fernando Jr. 4101 | ss | sd nl | 5.5 | 8.5 | 11.5 | 11.5 | +2.5 |
| Cueto, Johnny 2400 | pi sp | sf nl | 4.0 | 6.0 | 27.4 | 110.8 | +2.0 |
| Smith, Will 3073 | pi cp | atl nl | 4.0 | 4.0 | 14.7 | 22.7 | +4.0 |
| Arraez, Luis 4219 | 2b lf | min al | 3.2 | 4.7 | 5.7 | 5.7 | +1.7 |
| Renfroe, Hunter 3749 | rf | bos al | 3.0 | 4.7 | 19.9 | 19.9 | +1.3 |
| Lowe, Nate 4340 | 1b dh ph | tex al | 2.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 | +1.5 |
| Rodriguez, Richard 4023 | pi cp | pit nl | 2.0 | 4.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 | +0.0 |
| Santander, Anthony 3935 | dh rf ph | bal al | 2.0 | 3.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 | +1.0 |
| Gonsolin, Tony 4211 | pi sp | lad nl | 1.0 | 5.7 | 8.7 | 8.7 | ‑3.7 |
| Castillo, Diego 3995 | pi cp mr | tb al | 1.0 | 3.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 | ‑1.0 |
| Moore, Matt 2975 | pi sp | phi nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 21.8 | 47.3 | +1.0 |
| Cooper, Garrett 4184 | 1b | fla nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | +1.0 |
| Torrens, Luis 4452 | dh | sea al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | +1.0 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Chart is sortable. Click a column header to re-sort the chart by the values in that column. Refresh page to restore chart to default view.