Giants’ Rodon tops players for Saturday, July 9, rising to 8th in player rankings

Giants pitcher Carlos Rodon is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Box-Toppers Toppers Box

Today’s key Box-Toppers numbers. Click links to jump to charts elsewhere on this page.
▪️ Box-Toppers Player of the Game winners.
▪️ Box-Toppers points of the day’s top players.
▪️ Top 10 players in 2022 Box-Toppers points.
▪️ A B-T look at today’s pitching matchups.

Giants pitcher Carlos Rodon is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to eighth place in season player rankings.

Rodon pitched a complete game, striking out 12 and allowing one run, three hits and two walks, in the 3-1 win over the Padres.

Rodon earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 10.7 for the season, eighth among all players and fourth among National League pitchers.

Rodon becomes the ninth player this season to reach 10.0 Box-Toppers points. It is his second straight season with 10.0 or more points. In 2021, he had 11.7 points with the White Sox, 12th among American League pitchers.

American League Player of the Day—White Sox pitcher Johnny Cueto struck out five over eight scoreless innings, allowing five hits and no walks, in the 8-0 win over the Tigers.

Cueto earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 4.4 for the season, 33rd among AL pitchers.

Cueto now has 116.2 career Box-Toppers points, rising to 54th place among all players in career points since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995. With his 1.7 points Saturday, he passes four players on the “all-time” career points list—Josh Beckett (114.9), Tim Lincecum (115.0), Padres pitcher Yu Darvish (115.3) and Torii Hunter (115.9). He now trails 53rd-ranked player Todd Helton (116.4).

Cueto ranks 15th among active players in career points, sixth among active AL pitchers.

White Sox pitcher Johnny Cueto is Saturday’s Box-Toppers AL Player of the Day.

American League Batter of the Day—Jose Ramirez of the Guardians homered, doubled and went 3-for-4, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 13-1 win over the Royals.

Ramirez earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day, giving him 8.7 for the season, 16th among all players and second among AL batters, behind Shohei Ohtani of the Angels (16.0). (It should be noted that Ohtani has earned most of his 16.0 points as a starting pitcher (12.0), earning just 4.0 as a designated hitter.)

Jose Ramirez of the Guardians is Saturday’s Box-Toppers AL Batter of the Day.

National League Batter of the Day—Austin Riley of the Braves homered and went 2-for-3, scoring twice and driving in two runs, in the 4-3 win over the Nationals.

Austin Riley of the Braves is Saturday’s Box-Toppers NL Batter of the Day.

Notable—Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw now has 252.6 career Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Saturday.

Kershaw (7.2IP 5H 2R ER 0BB 10K W in the 4-2 win over the Cubs) ranks second among all players in career Box-Toppers points since player tracking began in 1995, behind Randy Johnson (282.5). (It should be noted Johnson would have an estimated 380 points if his entire career from 1988 were tracked.) Kershaw leads active players in career points, ahead of second-place player, Mets pitcher Max Scherzer (228.3).

With Kershaw’s 1.0 Box-Toppers point Saturday, he now has 4.0 points in 2022, 36th among NL pitchers.

Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Saturday’s win over the Cubs.

Debut—Two players made their Box-Toppers debut Saturday, each with their first career Player of the Game honor:

Jeter Downs of the Red Sox is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Saturday’s win over the Yankees.

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 Saturday, July 9.

Player Pos Team BTP
1 Ohtani, Shohei 3933 pi sp dh ana al 16.0
2 McClanahan, Shane 4399 pi sp tb al 13.4
3 Verlander, Justin 2112 pi sp hou al 13.0
4 Musgrove, Joe 3705 pi sp sd nl 12.4
5 Cease, Dylan 4231 pi sp chi al 12.0
6 Fried, Max 4011 pi sp atl nl 12.0
7 Alcantara, Sandy 4061 pi sp fla nl 11.7
8 Rodon, Carlos 3494 pi sp sf nl 10.7
9 Cole, Gerrit 3232 pi sp nyy al 10.4
10 Wright, Kyle 4349 pi sp atl nl 9.7
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  • Jeter Downs of the Red Sox (1-1 2R BI in the 6-5, 10-inning win over the Yankees) made his Major League debut June 22 and was playing in his second career game.

  • Athletics pitcher Domingo Acevedo (1IP 0H 0R 0BB K ND in the 3-2 win over the Astros) made his Major League debut June 21, 2021, and was playing in his 49th career game.

Scoring—Rodon earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Cueto earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Ramirez and Riley each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Saturday’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).
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7/9 BTG Game Player AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB +14.0 SF 3, SD 1 Carlos Rodón, (W 8‑5) 9.0 3 1 1 2 12
+10.0 `PHI 1, STL 0 Kyle Gibson 7.0 2 0 0 0 5
+9.2 LAD 4, CHC 2 Clayton Kershaw, (W 6‑2) 7.2 5 2 1 0 10
AL +8.0 CHW 8, DET 0 Johnny Cueto, (W 3‑4) 8.0 5 0 0 0 5
+7.0 BAL 1, LAA 0 Dean Kremer, (W 3‑1) 5.0 2 0 0 3 7
+6.0 `CIN 5, TB 4 (F/10) Hunter Greene 6.0 3 1 1 4 9
+5.0 `SEA 2, TOR 1 Robbie Ray 6.0 3 1 1 2 6
BAT +4.0 CLE 13, KC 1 Jose Ramírez, 3B 4 2 3 3
+4.0 TEX 9, MIN 7 Marcus Semien, 2B 4 2 2 4
BAT +3.0 ATL 4, WSH 3 Austin Riley, 3B 3 2 2 2
+3.0 ARI 9, COL 2 Geraldo Perdomo, SS 3 2 2 2
+3.0 NYM 5, MIA 4 (F/10) Tomas Nido, C 2 2 2 1
+3.0 BOS 6, NYY 5 (F/10) Jeter Downs, PR‑DH 1 2 1 1
+2.0 PIT 4, MIL 3 David Bednar, (S 15) 1.0 0 0 0 0 1
+2.0 `OAK 3, HOU 2 Domingo Acevedo, (Hld 13) 1.0 0 0 0 0 1
MLB—Overall Box‑Toppers Player of the Day, worth 2.0 total Box‑Toppers points.
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.
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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 (+/-).
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Player of the Game Pos Team ’22 ’21‑22 ’17‑22 Career +/‑
Rodon, Carlos 3494 pi sp sf nl 10.7 22.4 31.4 47.5 -1.0
Ramirez, Jose 3436 3b cle al 8.7 21.7 42.7 47.7 -4.3
Ray, Robbie 3502 pi sp sea al 8.4 26.1 59.5 70.2 -9.3
Semien, Marcus 3302 2b tex al 6.0 12.2 27.9 37.4 -0.2
Bednar, David 4499 pi cp pit nl 6.0 8.0 8.0 8.0 +4.0
Cueto, Johnny 2400 pi sp chi al 4.4 9.4 16.4 116.2 -0.6
Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 4.0 17.4 68.9 252.6 -9.4
Gibson, Kyle 3312 pi sp phi nl 4.0 11.7 31.5 48.5 -3.7
Riley, Austin 4144 3b atl nl 3.5 12.0 19.5 19.5 -5.0
Greene, Hunter 4651 pi sp cin nl 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 +3.0
Kremer, Dean 4330 pi sp bal al 2.0 4.0 5.7 5.7 0.0
Nido, Tomas 4121 ca nym nl 2.0 3.0 5.0 5.0 +1.0
Perdomo, Geraldo 4601 3b ss ari nl 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 +2.0
Acevedo, Domingo 4685 pi mr oak al 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 +1.0
Downs, Jeter 4684 dh pr bos al 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 +1.0
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A Box-Toppers look at Sunday’s pitching matchups

A Box-Toppers look at the upcoming day’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.
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Game Starter ’22 ’21-22 ’17-22 Career
LAA Suarez, Jose 4425 2.0 8.4 8.4 8.4
BAL Voth, Austin 4082 0.0 0.0 4.7 4.7
WSH Espino, Paolo 4443 0.0 5.0 5.0 5.0
ATL Anderson, Ian 4312 3.0 10.0 12.7 12.7
MIA Alcantara, Sandy 4061 11.7 21.4 30.8 30.8
NYM Walker, Taijuan 3453 4.0 13.4 24.4 45.8
TB Baz, Shane 4560 0.0 1.7 1.7 1.7
CIN Lodolo, Nick 4586 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0
CLE Plesac, Zach 4168 3.7 9.1 19.2 19.2
KC Greinke, Zack 1871 1.0 9.7 62.7 218.8
DET Hutchison, Drew 3038 0.0 1.0 1.0 26.0
CHW Kopech, Michael 4385 6.0 11.7 11.7 11.7
PIT Quintana, Jose 3040 3.0 4.0 39.5 74.7
MIL Lauer, Eric 4017 8.4 14.4 27.8 27.8
PHI Nelson, Nick 4279 1.7 1.7 2.7 2.7
STL Pallante, Andre 4656 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
MIN Bundy, Dylan 3655 4.7 6.7 35.5 41.5
TEX Dunning, Dane 4317 1.7 3.7 6.7 6.7
HOU Odorizzi, Jake 3291 3.0 7.0 37.5 63.6
OAK Irvin, Cole 4140 2.0 6.7 9.7 9.7
CHC Smyly, Drew 3009 2.0 10.0 14.0 49.5
LAD Urias, Julio 3652 8.0 27.1 35.1 40.8
COL Marquez, German 3788 2.0 19.4 49.5 49.5
ARI Gilbert, Tyler 4509 0.0 2.0 2.0 2.0
SF Wood, Alex 3246 2.0 15.0 35.7 55.1
SD Gore, MacKenzie 4582 4.7 4.7 4.7 4.7
TOR Undecided 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
SEA Gilbert, Logan 4439 7.7 14.7 14.7 14.7
NYY Taillon, Jameson 3658 5.7 14.7 36.1 41.1
BOS Pivetta, Nick 3825 6.7 11.7 34.4 34.4
Starters subject to change.
* Player has yet to earn Box-Toppers points.
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