A look at Box-Toppers' top 100 players for 2014

Top 100 players of 2014

Here are Box-Toppers Top 100 players of 2014, ranked by Box-Toppers points (BTP).

Rank Player Pos Team BTP
1 Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 31.5
2 Kluber, Corey 3200 pi sp cle al 25.8
3 Bumgarner, Madison 2753 pi sp sf nl 22.6
4 Cueto, Johnny 2400 pi sp cin nl 22.4
5 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp det al 22.1
6 Hernandez, Felix 2064 pi sp sea al 20.8
7 Price, David 2593 pi sp det al 19.1
8 Wainwright, Adam 2150 pi sp stl nl 18.7
9 Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp chi al 17.4
10 Strasburg, Stephen 2736 pi sp dc nl 16.7
11 Greinke, Zack 1871 pi sp lad nl 16.5
12 Lester, Jon 2173 pi sp oak al 16.4
13 Richards, Garrett 3042 pi sp ana al 15.7
14 Abreu, Jose 3308 1b chi al 15.5
15 Kazmir, Scott 1947 pi sp oak al 15.1
16 Zimmermann, Jordan 2612 pi sp dc nl 15.0
17 Arrieta, Jake 2738 pi sp chi nl 14.7
18 Teheran, Julio 3176 pi sp atl nl 14.4
19 Fister, Doug 2688 pi sp dc nl 14.4
20 Hughes, Phil 2272 pi sp min al 14.1
21 Hutchison, Drew 3038 pi sp tor al 14.0
22 Shields, James 2157 pi sp kc al 13.7
23 Stroman, Marcus 3327 pi sp tor al 13.7
24 Smyly, Drew 3009 pi sp tb al 13.4
25 Collmenter, Josh 2863 pi sp ari nl 13.0
26 deGrom, Jacob 3343 pi sp nym nl 13.0
27 Tanaka, Masahiro 3305 pi sp nyy al 12.7
28 Cabrera, Miguel 1776 1b det al 12.5
29 Darvish, Yu 3003 pi sp tex al 12.4
30 Archer, Chris 3194 pi sp tb al 12.4
31 Hamels, Cole 2135 pi sp phi nl 12.4
32 Keuchel, Dallas 3050 pi sp hou al 12.4
33 Young, Chris 1933 pi sp sea al 12.1
34 Iwakuma, Hisashi 3048 pi sp sea al 12.0
35 McHugh, Collin 3316 pi sp hou al 11.8
36 Cobb, Alex 2916 pi sp tb al 11.7
37 Alvarez, Henderson 2951 pi sp fla nl 11.7
38 Shoemaker, Matt 3290 pi sp ana al 11.7
39 Tulowitzki, Troy 2308 ss col nl 11.6
40 Jones, Adam 2347 cf bal al 11.5
41 Ryu, Hyun-Jin 3139 pi sp lad nl 11.4
42 Liriano, Francisco 2104 pi sp pit nl 11.1
43 Lohse, Kyle 1487 pi sp mil nl 11.1
44 Gonzalez, Gio 2626 pi sp dc nl 11.0
45 Kimbrel, Craig 2825 pi cp atl nl 11.0
46 Santana, Ervin 2005 pi sp atl nl 11.0
47 Cishek, Steve 2997 pi cp fla nl 11.0
48 Lynn, Lance 2992 pi sp stl nl 10.7
49 Colon, Bartolo pi sp nym nl 10.7
50 Lackey, John 1640 pi sp stl nl 10.7
51 Norris, Bud 2638 pi sp bal al 10.7
52 Carrasco, Carlos 2885 pi cp cle al 10.7
53 Donaldson, Josh 3144 3b oak al 10.5
54 Lincecum, Tim 2288 pi sp sf nl 10.4
55 Hammel, Jason 2235 pi sp oak al 10.4
56 Roark, Tanner 3261 pi sp dc nl 10.0
57 Gray, Sonny 3259 pi sp oak al 10.0
58 Duffy, Danny 2915 pi sp kc al 10.0
59 Buehrle, Mark 1407 pi sp tor al 9.7
60 Ross, Tyson 2840 pi sp sd nl 9.7
61 Kennedy, Ian 2723 pi sp sd nl 9.7
62 Simon, Alfredo 2718 pi sp cin nl 9.7
63 Encarnacion, Edwin 2098 1b dh lf tor al 9.5
64 Miller, Shelby 3134 pi sp stl nl 9.0
65 Gallardo, Yovani 2333 pi sp mil nl 9.0
66 Cashner, Andrew 2807 pi sp sd nl 9.0
67 Leake, Mike 2709 pi sp cin nl 9.0
68 Uehara, Koji 2802 pi cp bos al 9.0
69 Odorizzi, Jake 3291 pi sp tb al 9.0
70 Gonzalez, Miguel 3062 pi sp bal al 8.7
71 Hudson, Tim 1231 pi sp sf nl 8.7
72 Porcello, Rick 2573 pi sp det al 8.7
73 Wood, Alex 3246 pi sp atl nl 8.7
74 Vogelsong, Ryan 1820 pi sp sf nl 8.7
75 Ventura, Yordano 3294 pi sp kc al 8.7
76 Posey, Buster 2745 ca sf nl 8.5
77 Cruz, Nelson 2224 dh lf bal al 8.5
78 Trout, Mike 2949 cf ana al 8.5
79 Duda, Lucas 2818 1b nym nl 8.5
80 Upton, Justin 2411 lf atl nl 8.2
81 LaRoche, Adam 1910 1b dc nl 8.2
82 Burnett, A.J. 1300 pi sp phi nl 8.0
83 Haren, Danny 1787 pi sp lad nl 8.0
84 Wood, Travis 2777 pi sp chi nl 8.0
85 Carter, Chris 2828 dh hou al 8.0
86 Cespedes, Yoenis 3008 lf bos al 8.0
87 Volquez, Edinson 2220 pi sp pit nl 8.0
88 Ozuna, Marcell 3190 cf fla nl 8.0
89 Seager, Kyle 3031 3b sea al 8.0
90 Doolittle, Sean 3052 pi cp oak al 8.0
91 Freeman, Freddie 2887 1b atl nl 7.7
92 Dickey, R.A. 1734 pi sp tor al 7.7
93 Wheeler, Zack 3204 pi sp nym nl 7.7
94 Chavez, Jesse 2780 pi sp oak al 7.7
95 Beckett, Josh 1544 pi sp lad nl 7.7
96 Despaigne, Odrisamer 3359 pi sp sd nl 7.7
97 Holliday, Matt 1836 lf stl nl 7.5
98 Pujols, Albert 1438 dh 1b ana al 7.5
99 Ackley, Dustin 2921 lf dh ph pr sea al 7.5
100 Yelich, Christian 3334 lf fla nl 7.5
BTP: Box-Toppers points

Clayton Kershaw dominated all players to top Box-Toppers list of the top 100 players of 2014.

The Dodgers pitcher had 31.5 Box-Toppers points during the season, nearly 6.0 more than any other player, the most by any player since 2002 and the fourth-highest single-season total since Box-Toppers record keeping began in 1995. Kershaw also won the National League Cy Young Award for top pitcher and the NL Most Valuable Player Award.

Kershaw earned his 31.5 Box-Toppers points by being Box-Toppers Player of the Game in 20 of the Dodgers wins, earning 1.0 Box-Toppers point each time. In addition, he earned bonus Box-Toppers points:

• Five times for being NL Player of the Day (0.7 extra points each time, for a total of 3.5 Box-Toppers points).

• Eight times for being overall Player of the Day (1.0 extra point each, for a total of 8.0 more Box-Toppers points).

It took 7.5 Box-Toppers points to make the top 100 list—Marlins left fielder Christian Yelich took the 100th spot with 7.5 Box-Toppers points. He earned them by being Player of the Game in seven of the Marlins wins in 2014, including once on May 16, when he was National League Batter of the Day, earning an extra 0.5 Box-Toppers points.

Box-Toppers points are a measure of how much a player provides key contributions to his team’s wins. Specifically, 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.

 

Some player highlights among the top 100:

2. Corey Kluber of the Indians had 25.8 Box-Toppers points, leading AL players. He was voted AL Cy Young Award winner.

3. Madison Bumgarner of the Giants had 22.6 Box-Toppers points, he was second among NL pitchers and went on to earn Player of the Game honors five times during the postseason, three times in the World Series.

5. Max Scherzer of the Tigers had 22.1 Box-Toppers points, second among AL pitchers. He led AL pitchers most of the season before being passed in mid-September by Kluber. Scherzer led AL players in Box-Toppers points in 2013 and won the AL Cy Young Award that year.

14. Jose Abreu of the White Sox had 15.5 Box-Toppers points. The rookie first baseman led all batters in Box-Toppers points. While he won AL Rookie of the Year honors, he finished fourth in AL Most Valuable Player voting.

26. Jacob deGrom of the Mets had 13.0 Box-Toppers points. He led all NL rookies in Box-Toppers points and was voted NL Rookie of the Year. He ranked 12th among all NL pitchers.

28. Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers had 12.5 Box-Toppers points. He ranked second among AL batters, behind Abreu. In 2013, Cabrera led AL batters in Box-Toppers points and won the AL Most Valuable Player Award.

39. Troy Tulowitzki of the Rockies had 11.6 Box-Toppers points. In a comparatively lackluster year for NL batters, Tulowitzki had by far the most Box-Toppers points in the group, even though he played just over half the season due to injury. While he was Box-Toppers’ top NL batter, he received only one 10th-place vote for NL Most Valuable Player.

78. Mike Trout of the Angels had 8.5 Box-Toppers points. He was voted AL MVP, though he was the seventh-ranked AL batter in Box-Toppers points.

 

Box-Toppers favors pitchers, especially in the short term, so most of the top 100 players—for the 2014 season, 79, in fact, are pitchers. Here is a breakdown of player by their primary position:

74—Starting pitcher

8—Outfield (3 CF, 5 LF, 0 RF)

6—First base

5—Closing pitcher

3—Designated hitter

2—Third base

1—Catcher

1—Shortstop

 

All teams have at least one player in the top 100.

Eight teams had five or more players:

7—Athletics

6—Braves and Nationals

5—Dodgers, Mariners, Giants, Cardinals and Blue Jays.

While the World Series-winning Giants have five players in the top 100, the AL champ Royals had three.

Five teams had one player each in the top 100 (Diamondbacks, Rockies, Twins, Yankees, Rangers).

 

There were 722 players who earned Box-Toppers points in 2014. Of those, 475 players earned 2.0 or more points and 247 earned fewer than 2.0, meaning they earned Player of the Game honors only once.

There were another 447 players active on a roster at the end of the season who earned no Box-Toppers points in 2014.

 

What are those numbers after players' names?

How does Box-Toppers scoring work?

 

Editor's note: Box-Toppers realizes the Marlins are no longer called the Florida Marlins and the Angels are no longer the Anaheim Angels. But we keep the old team abbreviation names around (fla nl, ana al) since the changes in the team name were largely for marketing or political purposes and involved no substantial change in the actual geography of the team.