Angels pitcher Mike Morin is Thursday’s spring training Player of the Day.
Morin struck out three in a scoreless ninth inning to earn the save in the 3-2 win over the Dodgers.
Morin had a Box-Toppers game score of 4.0, the same score earned Thursday by Rays pitcher Nathan Karns, who was Player of the Game in the 10-1 win over the Phillies. Morin earned Player of the Day honors over Karns because he earned the save in the game while Karns had a no-decision.
Braves pitcher Andrew McKirahan is National League Player of the Day. McKirahan pitched a scoreless ninth inning and struck out two, earning the save, in the 6-5 win over the Orioles.
Luke Montz of the Red Sox is American League Batter of the Day. Montz homered and scored twice in the 8-5 win over the Twins.
Tuffy Gosewisch of the Diamondbacks is NL Batter of the Day. Gosewisch went 4-for-4 in the 10-2 win over the White Sox.
Box-Toppers points aren’t awarded for spring training games, but if this were the regular season, Morin would earn 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and McKirahan would earn 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day. Montz and Gosewisch would each earn 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Thursday’s other Players of the Game (listed in the chart below) would earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point.
Twelve spring training games were scheduled Thursday. One game which ended in a tie (Mets-Cardinals) and another game which featured a non-Major League team (Astros-Corpus Christi—for clarification, Corpus Christi is the non-Major League team) are not included in Box-Toppers results.
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
| 402 | Score | Team | BATTERS | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 4.0 | Angels | Mike Morin (S, 1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | |
| 4.0 | `Rays | Nathan Karns | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 8 | ||
| 3.1 | `Yankees | Michael Pineda | - | - | - | - | - | - | 5.1 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | ||
| BAT | 3.0 | Red Sox | Luke Montz PR, DH | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| NL | 3.0 | Braves | Andrew McKirahan (W, 1-1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| 3.0 | `Padres | Chris Rearick (H, 3) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2.2 | `Tigers | Alberto Cabrera (H, 2) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| BAT | 2.0 | Dbacks | Tuffy Gosewisch C | 4 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 2.0 | Indians | Michael Brantley LF | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | Athletics | Marcus Semien SS | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| `Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save. | ||||||||||||||||