Braves pitcher Max Fried is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Fried pitched a complete-game shutout, striking out four and allowing four hits and no walks, in the 3-0 win over the Orioles.
Fried earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 7.4 for the season, 60th among all players and 30th among National League pitchers.
American League Player of the Day—White Sox pitcher Lucas Giolito struck out eight over seven innings, allowing two runs, three hits and no walks, in the 7-5, 11-inning win over the Rays. Giolito did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because the White Sox did not hold the lead after he exited.
Giolito earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 10.4 for the season, 21st among all players and seventh among AL pitchers.
Giolito becomes the 24th player this season to reach 10 Box-Toppers points. It is his second season with 10 or more points. In 2019 with the White Sox he had 13.7 Box-Toppers points, 10th among AL pitchers.
American League Batter of the Day—Luke Voit of the Yankees homered, doubled and went 4-for-5, scoring twice and driving in four runs, in the 10-2 win over the Twins.
National League Batter of the Day—Garrett Hampson of the Rockies homered and went 1-for-3, scoring twice and driving in two runs, in the 9-4 win over the Diamondbacks.
Notable—Dodgers pitcher Walker Buehler has the most 2021 Box-Toppers points among the 15 who earned Player of the Game honors Friday.
Buehler (7.2IP 6H 2R 0BB 8K W in the 3-2 win over the Mets) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 12.7 for the season, 11th among all players and seventh among NL pitchers.
Also notable—Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale now has 143.6 career Box-Toppers points—29th-most among all players since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995—after earning Player of the Game honors Friday.
Sale (5IP 5H 0RBB 5K W in the 6-0 win over the Rangers) trails 28th-ranked player David Ortiz (145.9) on the “all-time” career points list. He ranks ninth among active players in career points, third among active AL pitchers, behind Zack Greinke of the Astros (217.8) and Justin Verlander of the Astros (206.6).
This was Sale’s first Box-Toppers point of 2021 and his first in more than two years. He last earned Player of the Game honors Aug. 8, 2019. Sale had Tommy John surgery in March 2020 and did not play in 2020.
Despite his two-year absence from earning Box-Toppers points, he maintained his 29th-place “all-time” career ranking, as no other player passed his career point total.
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, Aug. 20.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | nyy al | 18.4 |
| 2 | Wheeler, Zack 3204 | pi sp | phi nl | 17.1 |
| 3 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 16.7 |
| 4 | Marquez, German 3788 | pi sp | col nl | 16.4 |
| 5 | Ohtani, Shohei 3933 | pi sp dh | ana al | 15.1 |
| 6 | Woodruff, Brandon 3868 | pi sp | mil nl | 14.4 |
| 7 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | lad nl | 14.4 |
| 8 | Bassitt, Chris 3413 | pi sp | oak al | 13.7 |
| 9 | Burnes, Corbin 4029 | pi sp | mil nl | 13.1 |
| 10 | Glasnow, Tyler 3948 | pi sp | tb al | 12.7 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Scoring—Fried earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Giolito earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Voit and Hampson each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Friday’s other Player of the Game winners (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.
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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).| 8/20 | BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | +9.0 | ATL 3, BAL 0 | Max Fried, (W 11‑7) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 9.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | |
| +9.0 | CIN 5, MIA 3 | Sonny Gray, (W 5‑6) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | ||
| +8.1 | WSH 4, MIL 1 | Patrick Corbin, (W 7‑12) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 7 | ||
| AL | +8.0 | `CHW 7, TB 5 (F/11) | Lucas Giolito | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 8 | |
| +6.0 | KC 6, CHC 2 | Brad Keller, (W 8‑12) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 8 | ||
| +5.2 | LAD 3, NYM 2 | Walker Buehler, (W 13‑2) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.2 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 8 | ||
| BAT | +5.0 | NYY 10, MIN 2 | Luke Voit, 1B | 5 | 2 | 4 | 4 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +5.0 | `DET 4, TOR 1 (F/10) | Tyler Alexander | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | ||
| +4.0 | HOU 12, SEA 3 | Lance McCullers Jr., (W 10‑4) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 8 | ||
| +4.0 | PIT 4, STL 0 | Mitch Keller, (W 4‑10) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | ||
| +4.0 | BOS 6, TEX 0 | Chris Sale, (W 2‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | ||
| +4.0 | CLE 9, LAA 1 | Trevor Stephan, (W 2‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 3.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| +3.1 | PHI 4, SD 3 | Ian Kennedy, (S 4) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| BAT | +2.0 | COL 9, ARI 4 | Garrett Hampson, CF | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +0.0 | OAK 4, SF 1 | Josh Harrison, 2B | 4 | 0 | 2 | 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 | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buehler, Walker 3943 | pi sp | lad nl | 12.7 | 18.4 | 49.9 | 49.9 | +7.0 |
| Giolito, Lucas 3900 | pi sp | chi al | 10.4 | 17.4 | 38.1 | 38.1 | +3.4 |
| McCullers, Lance 3488 | pi sp | hou al | 7.7 | 10.4 | 36.6 | 43.3 | +5.0 |
| Fried, Max 4011 | pi sp | atl nl | 7.4 | 13.1 | 24.1 | 24.1 | +1.7 |
| Kennedy, Ian 2723 | pi cp | phi nl | 6.0 | 6.0 | 29.0 | 85.5 | +6.0 |
| Corbin, Patrick 3027 | pi sp | dc nl | 5.7 | 5.7 | 51.5 | 80.3 | +5.7 |
| Gray, Sonny 3259 | pi sp | cin nl | 5.4 | 10.1 | 42.6 | 74.4 | +0.7 |
| Keller, Mitch 4230 | pi sp | pit nl | 4.0 | 4.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | +4.0 |
| Voit, Luke 4053 | 1b | nyy al | 3.0 | 9.0 | 18.5 | 18.5 | ‑3.0 |
| Keller, Brad 4008 | pi sp | kc al | 3.0 | 9.0 | 18.0 | 18.0 | ‑3.0 |
| Alexander, Tyler 4196 | pi sp mr | det al | 3.0 | 5.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 | +1.0 |
| Stephan, Trevor 4446 | pi mr | cle al | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.7 | +2.7 |
| Hampson, Garrett 4252 | cf | col nl | 2.5 | 2.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 | +2.5 |
| Harrison, Josh 2947 | 2b | oak al | 2.0 | 2.0 | 8.5 | 14.5 | +2.0 |
| Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | bos al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 70.6 | 143.6 | +1.0 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
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