Rockies pitcher Chad Kuhl is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Monday, Padres pitcher Sean Manaea rises from seventh to fifth in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Player of the Day—Kuhl struck out four over six scoreless innings, allowing two hits and one walk, in the 4-1 win over the Phillies.
Kuhl earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, his first points of the season and ranks 18th overall and 11th among National League pitchers.
American League Player of the Day—Yordan Alvarez of the Astros hit two home runs and went 3-for-5, scoring three times and driving in four runs, in the 8-3 win over the Angels.
Alvarez earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, his first points of the season and ranks fourth among AL batters.
National League Batter of the Day—Christian Yelich of the Brewers hit a grand slam, doubled and went 2-for-3, scoring once and driving in four runs, in the 6-1 win over the Pirates.
American League Batter of the Day—There is no separate AL Batter of the Day for Monday because the overall AL Player of the Day is batter Yordan Alvarez.
Rankings—Padres pitcher Sean Manaea rises from seventh to fifth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Monday.
Manaea (6IP 6H R 2BB 6K W in the 4-1 win over the Reds) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 3.0 for the season. He ranks third among NL pitchers, behind Tylor Megill of the Mets (3.7) and teammate Joe Musgrove (3.0).
Streak—Dodgers closing pitcher Craig Kimbrel has now earned Box-Toppers points in 13 straight seasons after earning his first Player of the Game honor of 2022 Monday.
Kimbrel (1IP 0H 0R 0BB K Sv in the 7-4 win over the Braves) earned his first Box-Toppers point in 2010 with the Braves and now has 84.1 career points. While that ranks third among active NL closing pitchers, he is behind two players who have more recently served as closers but spent the majority of their careers as starting pitchers—David Price of the Dodgers (133.0) and Ian Kennedy of the Diamondbacks (88.2). Kimbrel has the most career points among active NL players who have spent the bulk of their careers as closers, ahead of Braves closer Kenley Jansen (57.4). Kimbrel ranks sixth among all closers in career points since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began.
Kimbrel’s best season was 2012 with the Braves when he had 15.0 Box-Toppers points, first among NL closing pitchers and tied for the fourth-highest single-season Box-Toppers point total for a closing pitcher since 1998. Kimbrel earned 6.7 Box-Toppers point in 2021 with the Cubs. He also played for the White Sox in 2021, but earned no points with them. He finished 2021 ranked second among AL closers, behind Liam Hendriks of the White Sox (7.0).
Debut—Cubs pitcher Keegan Thompson made his Box-Toppers debut Monday with his first career Player of the Game honor.
Thompson (3.2IP H 0R BB 5K W in the 4-2 win over the Rays) made his Major League debut May 2, 2021, and was playing in his 35th career game.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 in Box-Toppers season player rankings for 2022. Players are ranked by Box-Toppers points (BTP) earned this season through Monday, April 18.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Megill, Tylor 4464 | pi sp | nym nl | 3.7 |
| 2 | Ramirez, Jose 3436 | 3b | cle al | 3.2 |
| 3 | Musgrove, Joe 3705 | pi sp | sd nl | 3.0 |
| 4 | Ohtani, Shohei 3933 | dh pi sp | ana al | 3.0 |
| 5 | Manaea, Sean 3637 | pi sp | sd nl | 3.0 |
| 6 | Heaney, Andrew 3515 | pi sp | lad nl | 3.0 |
| 7 | Chavis, Michael 4127 | 1b rf | pit nl | 2.5 |
| 8 | Cease, Dylan 4231 | pi sp | chi al | 2.0 |
| 9 | Bassitt, Chris 3413 | pi sp cp | nym nl | 2.0 |
| 10 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 2.0 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Scoring—Kuhl earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Alvarez earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Yelich earns 1.5 points for being NL Batter of the Day. All of Monday’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.
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).| 4/18 | BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | +7.0 | COL 4, PHI 1 | Chad Kuhl, (W 1‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | |
| +6.2 | CHC 4, TB 2 | Keegan Thompson, (W 2‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 3.2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | ||
| AL | +5.0 | HOU 8, LAA 3 | Yordan Alvarez, DH | 5 | 3 | 3 | 4 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +5.0 | OAK 5, BAL 1 | Frankie Montas, (W 2‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | ||
| +4.1 | MIN 8, BOS 3 | Dylan Bundy, (W 2‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.1 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | ||
| BAT | +4.0 | MIL 6, PIT 1 | Christian Yelich, LF | 3 | 1 | 2 | 4 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +2.0 | SD 4, CIN 1 | Sean Manaea, (W 2‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | ||
| +2.0 | LAD 7, ATL 4 | Craig Kimbrel, (S 3) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
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.
N/A—Not applicable. No Player of the Game was chosen because the game ended in a tie.
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 in 2022 (’22). Also shown is their point total for this season and last (’21-22), the period 2017-2022 (’17-22) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2022 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2021 total (+/-).| Player of the Game | Pos | Team | ’22 | ’21‑22 | ’17‑22 | Career | +/‑ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manaea, Sean 3637 | pi sp | sd nl | 3.0 | 18.7 | 40.5 | 47.2 | ‑12.7 |
| Montas, Frankie 3803 | pi sp | oak al | 2.0 | 14.4 | 32.8 | 32.8 | ‑10.4 |
| Kuhl, Chad 3687 | pi sp | col nl | 2.0 | 4.7 | 11.7 | 13.7 | ‑0.7 |
| Bundy, Dylan 3655 | pi sp | min al | 2.0 | 4.0 | 32.8 | 38.8 | 0.0 |
| Alvarez, Yordan 4209 | dh lf | hou al | 1.7 | 8.7 | 12.2 | 12.2 | ‑5.3 |
| Yelich, Christian 3334 | lf | mil nl | 1.5 | 7.0 | 36.7 | 52.2 | ‑4.0 |
| Kimbrel, Craig 2825 | pi cp | lad nl | 1.0 | 7.7 | 25.4 | 84.1 | ‑5.7 |
| Thompson, Keegan 4579 | pi mr | chi nl | 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.
A Box-Toppers look at Tuesday’s pitching matchups
A Box-Toppers look at Tuesday’s probable pitching matchups. Teams are paired below with visiting teams on top and home teams on the bottom. Each team’s starting pitcher is shown with their Box-Toppers point total from 2022 (’22), over a two-year period (’21-22), over a six-year period (’17-22) and their career point total.| Game | Starter | ’22 | ’21‑22 | ’17‑22 | Career |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ARI | Bumgarner, Madison 2753 | 0.0 | 10.0 | 29.7 | 135.4 |
| WSH | Gray, Josiah 4503 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| SF | Cobb, Alex 2916 | 1.0 | 8.4 | 20.8 | 52.2 |
| NYM | Megill, Tylor 4464 | 3.7 | 9.7 | 9.7 | 9.7 |
| CHW | Keuchel, Dallas 3050 | 0.0 | 3.0 | 23.8 | 66.6 |
| CLE | Bieber, Shane 4005 | 0.0 | 6.7 | 42.6 | 42.6 |
| NYY | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | 0.0 | 22.4 | 87.0 | 122.9 |
| DET | Alexander, Tyler 4196 | 0.0 | 3.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 |
| STL | Wainwright, Adam 2150 | 1.0 | 13.0 | 31.3 | 143.3 |
| MIA | Luzardo, Jesus 4282 | 0.0 | 7.4 | 12.1 | 12.1 |
| ARI | Gilbert, Tyler 4509 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| WSH | Adon, Joan* | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| TOR | Kikuchi, Yusei 4136 | 0.0 | 6.0 | 11.7 | 11.7 |
| BOS | Eovaldi, Nathan 2928 | 0.0 | 14.1 | 27.8 | 53.6 |
| PIT | Brubaker, JT 4382 | 0.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
| MIL | Burnes, Corbin 4029 | 1.0 | 19.1 | 29.8 | 29.8 |
| SF | Webb, Logan 4258 | 1.0 | 16.5 | 19.2 | 19.2 |
| NYM | Scherzer, Max 2588 | 0.0 | 25.1 | 94.6 | 226.3 |
| TB | Wisler, Matt 3522 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 5.0 | 12.0 |
| CHC | Steele, Justin 4415 | 1.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
| LAA | Sandoval, Patrick 4357 | 1.0 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
| HOU | Valdez, Framber 4048 | 2.0 | 7.0 | 17.4 | 17.4 |
| MIN | Archer, Chris 3194 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 13.7 | 62.8 |
| KC | Hernandez, Carlos 4466 | 0.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 |
| PHI | Gibson, Kyle 3312 | 2.0 | 9.7 | 29.5 | 46.5 |
| COL | Freeland, Kyle 3763 | 0.0 | 7.0 | 27.4 | 27.4 |
| BAL | Undecided | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| OAK | Irvin, Cole 4140 | 0.0 | 4.7 | 7.7 | 7.7 |
| CIN | Sanmartin, Reiver* | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| SD | Musgrove, Joe 3705 | 3.0 | 19.1 | 35.1 | 38.8 |
| TEX | Gray, Jon 3634 | 0.0 | 4.0 | 32.4 | 39.4 |
| SEA | Ray, Robbie 3502 | 1.0 | 18.7 | 52.1 | 62.8 |
| ATL | Fried, Max 4011 | 0.0 | 11.8 | 28.5 | 28.5 |
| LAD | Buehler, Walker 3943 | 0.0 | 16.7 | 53.9 | 53.9 |
Starters subject to change.
What are those numbers after players' names?
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, game-by-game view.