Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer is Friday’s Player of the Day, while perennial Box-Toppers scorers David Price, Clayton Kershaw, Alex Rodriguez and Mike Trout also earned Player of the Game honors.
Scherzer struck out nine over eight innings, allowing one run, in the 7-2 win over the Phillies. Scherzer earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 3.0 for the season and rises to second in Box-Toppers player rankings.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2015 season as of April 17.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kazmir, Scott 1947 | pi sp | oak al | 3.7 |
| 2 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 3.0 |
| 3 | Archer, Chris 3194 | pi sp | tb al | 3.0 |
| 4 | Bauer, Trevor 3065 | pi sp | cle al | 3.0 |
| 5 | Price, David 2593 | pi sp | det al | 2.7 |
| 6 | Harvey, Matt 3075 | pi sp | nym nl | 2.7 |
| 7 | Stanton, Giancarlo 2737 | rf | fla nl | 2.5 |
| 8 | Chirinos, Robinson 2924 | ca | tex al | 2.5 |
| 9 | Markakis, Nick 2116 | rf | atl nl | 2.5 |
| 10 | Rodriguez, Alex | dh 3b | nyy al | 2.5 |
American League Player of the Day—Tigers pitcher David Price struck out nine over eight innings, allowing one run, in the 2-1 win over the White Sox. Price did not pick up the win because he exited the game with the score tied 1-1. Price earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 2.7 for the season, rising to fifth in Box-Toppers player rankings.
American League Batter of the Day—Alex Rodriguez of the Yankees hit two home runs (career 657 and 658) and went 3-for-4 with four RBIs, including driving in the go-ahead run in the eighth inning, in the 5-4 win over the Rays. Rodriguez earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day, giving him 2.5 for the season, rising to 10th place in Box-Toppers player rankings.
Rodriguez, the leading batter in Box-Toppers points since 1995 with 181.8, last earned Batter of the Day honors on May 23, 2012.
National League Batter of the Day—Nick Markakis of the Braves went 4-for-4 and scored three times in the 8-7 win over the Blue Jays. Markakis earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being NL Batter of the Day, giving him 2.5 for the season, rising to ninth in Box-Toppers player rankings.
Notables—Three other notable players also earned Player of the Game honors in their wins Friday:
- Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw, who led all players in Box-Toppers points in 2014 with 31.5, scored his first Box-Toppers point of the season. Kershaw (6IP 3R 12K W in 7-3 win over the Rockies) earned 1.0 Box-Toppers point for being Player of the Game.
- Mike Trout of the Angels, AL Most Valuable Player in 2014, earned his first Box-Toppers point of the season. Trout (2HR 2R 5BI in the 6-3 win over the Astros) earned 1.0 Box-Toppers point for being Player of the Game. (Trout and Alex Rodriguez both had identical Box-Toppers game scores of +5, but Rodriguez won AL Batter of the Day honors by virtue of having more hits—three vs. two.)
- Robinson Chirinos of the Rangers rose to eighth place in Box-Toppers player rankings for the season after earning Player of the Game honors Friday. Chirinos (HR 2-4 2R) earned 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 2.5 for the season.
Debut—Twins pitcher Aaron Thompson made his Box-Toppers debut Friday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Thompson (2IP 0R K ND in the 3-2, 11-inning win over the Indians) made his Major League debut Aug. 24, 2011, and was playing in his 17th career game. He is the 3,448th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Scherzer earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Price earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day. Rodriguez and Markakis each earn 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Friday’s other Players of the Game (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.
Top player from each game
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score
| 4/17 | Score | Team | Player | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 11.0 | Nationals | Max Scherzer (W, 1-1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 9 | |
| AL | 9.0 | `Tigers | David Price | - | - | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 9 | |
| 7.0 | Dodgers | Clayton Kershaw (W, 1-1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 12 | ||
| 6.0 | Dbacks | Josh Collmenter (W, 1-2) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 9.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | ||
| BAT | 5.0 | Yankees | Alex Rodriguez DH | 4 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 5.0 | Angels | Mike Trout CF | 4 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.0 | Mets | Bartolo Colon (W, 3-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | ||
| BAT | 3.0 | Braves | Nick Markakis RF | 4 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 3.0 | Padres | Wil Myers CF | 4 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | Cardinals | Michael Wacha (W, 2-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | ||
| 3.0 | `Twins | Aaron Thompson | - | - | - | - | - | - | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 3.0 | Red Sox | Koji Uehara (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2.0 | Pirates | Starling Marte LF | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | Royals | Salvador Perez C | 4 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | Rangers | Robinson Chirinos C | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| `Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save. | ||||||||||||||||