Blue Jays pitcher Drew Hutchison is Thursday’s Player of the Day.
Hutchison struck out seven over eight innings and allowed two runs in the 7-6 win over the Orioles.
National League Player of the Day—Marlins pitcher David Phelps pitched seven shutout innings and struck out five in the 9-1 win over the Phillies. Phelps tied Hutchison for the day’s top Box-Toppers game score of +7, but Hutchison won overall Player of the Day on a tiebreaker—he had more innings pitched than Phelps (eight vs. seven).
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2015 season as of April 23.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Hernandez, Felix 2064 | pi sp | sea al | 4.0 |
| 2 | Kazmir, Scott 1947 | pi sp | oak al | 3.7 |
| 3 | DeSclafani, Anthony 3441 | pi sp | cin nl | 3.7 |
| 4 | Cueto, Johnny 2400 | pi sp | cin nl | 3.4 |
| 5 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 3.0 |
| 6 | Archer, Chris 3194 | pi sp | tb al | 3.0 |
| 7 | Carrasco, Carlos 2885 | pi sp | cle al | 3.0 |
| 8 | Gray, Sonny 3259 | pi sp | oak al | 3.0 |
| 9 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | pit nl | 3.0 |
| 10 | Bauer, Trevor 3065 | pi sp | cle al | 3.0 |
National League Batter of the Day—Daniel Murphy of the Mets drove in four runs and went 2-for-3 with a double, in the 6-3 win over the Braves.
American League Batter of the Day—There is no AL Batter of the Day Thursday because no AL batter earned Player of the Game honors.
Streak—Brewers pitcher Kyle Lohse has now earned at least 1.0 Box-Toppers point for 15 straight seasons. Lohse was Player of the Game in Thursday’s 4-2 win over the Reds (7IP 3H 2R 4K W) and earned 1.0 Box-Toppers point, his first of the season. Lohse earned his first Box-Toppers points in 2001 with the Twins. His best season was 2011 with the Cardinals when he had 12.0 Box-Toppers points. In 2014, his second-best season, he had 11.1 points with the Brewers, ranking 17th among NL pitchers. He has 86.0 career Box-Toppers points, ranking him 17th among active pitchers currently in the NL.
The record for most consecutive seasons with at least 1.0 Box-Toppers point is 19, held by Jason Giambi (1995-2013). (Box-Toppers record keeping began in 1995.) Three active players had Box-Toppers points in 16 straight seasons as of 2014, the longest current streaks—Tim Hudson of the Giants, Carlos Beltran of the Yankees and Torii Hunter of the Tigers. None of them has yet earned Box-Toppers points in 2015.
Debut—Angels pitcher Nick Tropeano made his Box-Toppers debut Thursday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Tropeano (6IP 5H 0R 5K W in the 2-0 win over the Athletics) made his Major League debut Sept. 10, 2014, and was playing in his fifth career game. He is the 3,451st player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Notables—Three other notable facts from Thursday:
- Corey Dickerson of the Rockies earned Player of the Game honors for the second straight day Thursday (HR 2-3 in the 2-1 win over the Padres).
- Pirates pitcher Radhames Liz earned his first Box-Toppers point in more than five years. Liz (2IP H 0R 2K W in the 5-4 win over the Cubs) last earned Player of the Game honors Sept. 14, 2008 as a starting pitcher with the Orioles. It is the only other time he has earned Player of the Game honors.
- Thursday marks the first day of the season there are no changes in Box-Toppers top 10 player rankings list. Hutchison is the highest-ranked player from Thursday’s list of Players of the Games. He has 2.0 Box-Toppers points for the season, ranked 23rd among all players.
Scoring—Hutchison earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Phelps earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day. Murphy earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being NL Batter of the Day. All of Thursday’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
| 4/23 | Score | Team | Player | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 7.0 | Blue Jays | Drew Hutchison (W, 2-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 7 | |
| NL | 7.0 | Marlins | David Phelps (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | |
| 5.1 | `Yankees | Masahiro Tanaka | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | ||
| 5.0 | `Royals | Yordano Ventura | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 8 | ||
| 5.0 | Angels | Nick Tropeano (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | ||
| 4.0 | Cardinals | Michael Wacha (W, 3-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | ||
| BAT | 3.0 | Mets | Daniel Murphy 2B | 3 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 3.0 | Brewers | Kyle Lohse (W, 1-3) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 4 | ||
| 3.0 | `Giants | Ryan Vogelsong | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 | ||
| 3.0 | Pirates | Radhames Liz (W, 1-1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 2.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2.0 | Rockies | Corey Dickerson LF | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | Rays | Brad Boxberger (W, 2-1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| `Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save. | ||||||||||||||||