If Box-Toppers points rather than fan voting were used to determine Major League All-Star teams, you’d have very different teams, very pissed-off fans and one very stunned baseball blogger.
For example, if Box-Toppers points were used to determine All-Stars, there would be no Yasiel Puig, no Mike Trout, no Jose Bautista and no Derek Jeter in the game. And you would have players in the line-up, such as Daniel Murphy, Freddie Freeman and Erick Aybar, among others.
The All-Star Game is July 15. Online fan voting ends July 3, less than a week away.
Box-Toppers may have a different perspective on All-Stars because it tracks who most helps their team win the most games. Players only earn points if they are deemed to be Player of the Game, based on a simple box score formula.
So players such as Puig, Trout and Bautista, while they often put up impressive numbers, have not regularly been top player in games their teams have won recently. So while their fan All-Star vote may be high, their Box-Toppers point totals lately have been lower.
Another example of Box-Toppers not matching baseball’s conventional thinking is Andrew McCutchen of the Pirates. Last year, baseball writers voted him National League Most Valuable Player. But in Box-Toppers, he ranked 22nd among NL batters. However, this year, McCutchen has earned Player of the Game four times and picked up 5.0 Box-Toppers points and ranks fifth among NL batters and second among NL outfielders.
Box-Toppers looks at the All-Star team in two different ways. First, it considers players on their performance during the 2014 season. But since this season is still a small data sample, it looks at last season, too, and considers players on their performance since the start of 2013.
For example, if you look at Box-Toppers points for just this season, Chris Colabello of the Twins is the second-ranked outfielder based on his early season performance. But Colabello slumped and has been in the minors for more than a month—which does not speak well for his All-Star credentials.
But looking at player’s performance since 2013 can be misleading, too. For example, Alfonso Soriano of the Yankees leads AL outfielders since the start of 2013 with 13.9 Box-Toppers points. But 12.9 of those were earned in 2013. Despite his strong 2013, he probably would not be considered an All-Star in 2014.
But then there’s a player like Paul Goldschmidt of the Diamondbacks. He actually is leading currently in NL voting for first basemen. And in fact, in 2013, he led all NL batters in Box-Toppers points, with 13.7. But this year, while his numbers are generally good, he is playing for a bad team and has earned only 1.5 Box-Toppers points. Despite his great 2013 in Box-Toppers, he is overshadowed in the NL at first base by Freddie Freeman of the Braves. Freeman leads all NL first basemen in Box-Toppers points for both 2014 and 2013-14.
But enough prelude. Here is a look a the All-Star teams. First, it’s the Box-Toppers points leaders by position and league for 2014. Then, it’s Box-Toppers points leaders by position and league for 2013-14. And finally, a look at current All-Star vote leaders, showing their current Box-Toppers point total and their rank in Box-Toppers by position and league.
2014
Jose Abreu of the White Sox leads AL batters in Box-Toppers points. He is on the AL All-Star ballot as first baseman and not as a designated hitter, but since he has played DH this season, we will break the “rules” and put him at DH and put Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers, last year’s Box-Toppers AL batting leader, at first.
In the American League, only four of the nine starters are even among the top vote-getters at their positions.
The National League is a little better—six of the eight Box-Toppers leaders for starting positions are among the All-Star voting leaders.
And though fan voters don’t get to pick pitchers, included here for both leagues are Box-Toppers leaders for starting pitchers (the top four starters) along with the top middle reliever and top closing pitcher.
Box-Toppers pick for All-Star starters based on 2014 stats? Masahiro Tanaka of the Yankees for the AL and Adam Wainwright of the Cardinals for the NL.
All-Stars based on 2014 Box-Toppers points
Here are Box-Toppers points leaders by position for each league. Also shown is players' current ranking in All-Star fan voting by their position. A hyphen (-) indicates they are not among the league leaders in fan voting by their position. Also shown are pitching leaders. Fans don't get to vote on pitchers so their vote rank is marked with an asterisk (*).| Pos | AL players | Team | BTP | Vote rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1B | Cabrera, Miguel 1776 | det al | 7.5 | 1 |
| 2B | Rodriguez, Sean 2729 | tb al | 5.0 | - |
| SS | Aybar, Erick 2416 | ana al | 6.0 | - |
| 3B | Donaldson, Josh 3144 | oak al | 6.5 | 1 |
| CA | Perez, Salvador 2972 | kc al | 3.7 | - |
| OF | Cespedes, Yoenis 3008 | oak al | 5.5 | 4 |
| OF | Colabello, Chris 3235 | min al | 5.2 | - |
| OF | Hunter, Torii 1190 | det al | 4.5 | 10 |
| DH | Abreu, Jose 3308 | chi al | 8.5 | - |
| SP | Tanaka, Masahiro 3305 | nyy al | 12.7 | * |
| SP | Scherzer, Max 2588 | det al | 11.4 | * |
| SP | Kazmir, Scott 1947 | oak al | 9.7 | * |
| SP | Hernandez, Felix 2064 | sea al | 8.8 | * |
| MR | Duffy, Danny 2915 | kc al | 6.0 | * |
| CP | Uehara, Koji 2802 | bos al | 6.0 | * |
| Pos | NL players | Team | BTP | Vote rank |
| 1B | Freeman, Freddie 2887 | atl nl | 6.2 | 3 |
| 2B | Murphy, Daniel 2589 | nym nl | 4.5 | - |
| SS | Tulowitzki, Troy 2308 | col nl | 10.6 | 1 |
| 3B | Ramirez, Aramis 1364 | mil nl | 3.5 | 1 |
| CA | Lucroy, Jonathan 2744 | mil nl | 3.7 | 2 |
| OF | Morse, Michael 2020 | sf nl | 5.5 | - |
| OF | McCutchen, Andrew 2637 | pit nl | 5.0 | 2 |
| OF | Stanton, Giancarlo 2737 | fla nl | 4.7 | 4 |
| SP | Wainwright, Adam 2150 | stl nl | 13.0 | * |
| SP | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | lad nl | 12.7 | * |
| SP | Bumgarner, Madison 2753 | sf nl | 12.5 | * |
| SP | Cueto, Johnny 2400 | cin nl | 11.7 | * |
| MR | Collmenter, Josh 2863 | ari nl | 4.0 | * |
| CP | Kimbrel, Craig 2825 | atl nl | 5.0 | * |
Vote rank: Where the player ranks by position in All-Star fan voting. A hyphen (-) indicates they are not among the leaders. An asterisk (*) indicates they are a pitcher and not eligible for fan voting.
What are those numbers after players' names?
2013-14
These are Box-Toppers points leaders by position since the start of 2013.
In the American League, the Box-Toppers leaders agree a little better with voters—seven of the nine Box-Toppers leaders are among the leaders in fan voting and three (Cabrera, Robinson Cano of the Mariners and Josh Donaldson of the Athletics) are vote leaders for their positions.
In the National League, five of the Box-Toppers position leaders are also among the vote leaders. However, Troy Tulowitzki of the Rockies is the only player who leads his position in both Box-Toppers points and fan voting.
And though fan voters don’t get to pick pitchers, included here for both leagues are Box-Toppers leaders for starting pitchers (the top four starters) along with the top middle reliever and top closing pitcher.
Box-Toppers pick for starters based on 2013-14 stats? Max Scherzer of the Tigers for the AL and Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers for the NL.
All-Stars based on 2013-14 Box-Toppers points
Here are Box-Toppers points leaders by position for each league. Also shown is players' current ranking in All-Star fan voting by their position. A hyphen (-) indicates they are not among the league leaders in fan voting by their position. Also shown are pitching leaders. Fans don't get to vote on pitchers so their vote rank is marked with an asterisk (*).| Pos | AL players | Team | BTP | Vote rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1B | Cabrera, Miguel 1776 | det al | 24.4 | 1 |
| 2B | Cano, Robinson 2092 | sea al | 15.5 | 1 |
| SS | Aybar, Erick 2416 | ana al | 11.0 | - |
| 3B | Donaldson, Josh 3144 | oak al | 16.0 | 1 |
| CA | McCann, Brian 2179 | nyy al | 9.5 | 3 |
| OF | Soriano, Alfonso 1445 | nyy al | 13.9 | - |
| OF | Cespedes, Yoenis 3008 | oak al | 12.5 | 4 |
| OF | Choo, Shin-Soo 2267 | tex al | 11.0 | 14 |
| DH | Ortiz, David | bos al | 16.4 | 2 |
| SP | Scherzer, Max 2588 | det al | 29.5 | * |
| SP | Darvish, Yu 3003 | tex al | 24.4 | * |
| SP | Sale, Chris 2806 | chi al | 24.1 | * |
| SP | Hernandez, Felix 2064 | sea al | 23.6 | * |
| MR | Smyly, Drew 3009 | det al | 10.7 | * |
| CP | Holland, Greg 2906 | kc al | 14.0 | * |
| Pos | NL players | Team | BTP | Vote rank |
| 1B | Freeman, Freddie 2887 | atl nl | 17.7 | 3 |
| 2B | Murphy, Daniel 2589 | nym nl | 13.0 | - |
| SS | Tulowitzki, Troy 2308 | col nl | 14.6 | 1 |
| 3B | Alvarez, Pedro 2817 | pit nl | 10.2 | - |
| CA | Posey, Buster 2745 | sf nl | 10.0 | 3 |
| OF | Gonzalez, Carlos 2460 | col nl | 12.5 | - |
| OF | Cuddyer, Michael 1826 | col nl | 11.5 | 14 |
| OF | McCutchen, Andrew 2637 | pit nl | 11.0 | 2 |
| SP | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | lad nl | 34.4 | * |
| SP | Wainwright, Adam 2150 | stl nl | 33.2 | * |
| SP | Bumgarner, Madison 2753 | sf nl | 28.2 | * |
| SP | Greinke, Zack 1871 | lad nl | 26.8 | * |
| MR | Collmenter, Josh 2863 | ari nl | 12.0 | * |
| CP | Kimbrel, Craig 2825 | atl nl | 17.7 | * |
Vote rank: Where the player ranks by position in All-Star fan voting. A hyphen (-) indicates they are not among the leaders. An asterisk (*) indicates they are a pitcher and not eligible for fan voting.
What are those numbers after players' names?
Voting leaders
A case can be made for any of these players to be on the All-Star team.
Numbers? Performance? Yes, players like Yadier Molina, Yasiel Puig and Mike Trout have that. Though they may not register very highly on Box-Toppers, it’s hard to argue that they’re not All-Star worthy.
And a case can even be made for a player like Derek Jeter of the Yankees—is he an All-Star? Well, technically, there ARE probably better and more deserving AL shortstops based on any metric you put forth for this season and last season. But then, this is Derek Jeter. The Captain. His final season. Even Yankee haters may be forced to put the numbers aside for a moment and vote with their heart on this one.
Here are the leaders as of June 22 and 23 in All-Star voting by position. Also included in the chart are each of the leaders’ Box-Toppers points total for 2014 and their current rank among their position in their league.
Only three players who lead for their position in All-Star voting also lead their position in Box-Toppers points:
• AL 3B Josh Donaldson of the Athletics.
• NL SS Troy Tulowitzki of the Rockies.
• NL 3B Aramis Ramirez of the Pirates.
All-Stars voting leaders & their Box-Toppers rankings
Here are All-Star fan voting leaders as of June 22 and 23. For comparison, their Box-Toppers points totals for 2014 are included along with their rank at their position by league. (For example, Miguel Cabrera has 7.5 Box-Toppers points in 2014, second-most among AL first basemen.| Pos | AL players | Team | BTP | BTP rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1B | Miguel Cabrera | det al | 7.5 | 2 |
| 2B | Robinson Cano | sea al | 3.0 | 4 |
| SS | Derek Jeter | nyy al | 0.0 | 22 |
| 3B | Josh Donaldson | oak al | 6.5 | 1 |
| CA | Matt Wieters | bal al | 1.5 | 7 |
| OF | Jose Bautista | tor al | 2.5 | 15 |
| OF | Mike Trout | ana al | 2.0 | 23 |
| OF | Melky Cabrera | tor al | 3.0 | 10 |
| DH | Nelson Cruz | bal al | 3.0 | 10 |
| Pos | NL players | Team | BTP | BTP rank |
| 1B | Paul Goldschmidt | ari nl | 1.5 | 13 |
| 2B | Chase Utley | phi nl | 2.0 | 10 |
| SS | Troy Tulowitzki | col nl | 10.6 | 1 |
| 3B | Aramis Ramirez | mil nl | 3.5 | 1 |
| CA | Yadier Molina | stl nl | 0.0 | 20 |
| OF | Yasiel Puig | lad nl | 1.0 | 44 |
| OF | Andrew McCutchen | pit nl | 5.0 | 2 |
| OF | Carlos Gomez | mil nl | 2.5 | 14 |
BTP rank: Where the player ranks by position in their league in Box-Toppers points.
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. Players earn Box-Toppers points 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.