Brewers pitcher Kyle Lohse is Friday’s Player of the Day.
Also Friday, two players with more than 100 career Box-Toppers points earned Player of the Game honors, including last year’s Box-Toppers points leader, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2015 season as of May 15.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Hernandez, Felix 2064 | pi sp | sea al | 8.7 |
| 2 | Archer, Chris 3194 | pi sp | tb al | 6.0 |
| 3 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | pit nl | 6.0 |
| 4 | Harang, Aaron 1599 | pi sp | phi nl | 5.1 |
| 5 | Miller, Shelby 3134 | pi sp | atl nl | 5.0 |
| 6 | Hosmer, Eric 2886 | 1b | kc al | 5.0 |
| 7 | Harper, Bryce 3011 | lf rf | dc nl | 5.0 |
| 8 | Heston, Chris 3437 | pi sp | sf nl | 5.0 |
| 9 | Cabrera, Miguel 1776 | 1b | det al | 4.7 |
| 10 | Keuchel, Dallas 3050 | pi sp | hou al | 4.7 |
Player of the Day—Lohse pitched eight scoreless innings, allowing two hits and striking out eight, in the 7-0 win over the Mets.
American League Player of the Day—Lorenzo Cain of the Royals drove in five runs, while going 3-for-4 with two doubles and two runs, in the 12-1 win over the Yankees.
National League Batter of the Day—Brandon Belt of the Giants hit a three-run home run and a double, going 3-for-5 with three runs and four RBIs, in the 10-2 win over the Reds.
American League Batter of the Day—There is no separate AL Batter of the Day for Friday since a batter (Lorenzo Cain of the Royals) was the overall AL Player of the Day.
Notable—Two players with more than 100 career Box-Toppers points earned Player of the Game honors Friday;
- Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw now has 135.6 career Box-Toppers points and ranks 22nd among all players since Box-Toppers record keeping began in 1995.
Kershaw (6.2IP 3R 10K W in the 6-4 win over the Rockies) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 2.0 for the season. Last year, Kershaw led all players with 31.5 Box-Toppers points, the fourth-highest single-season total since 1995. Still, Kershaw is not far off his 2014 pace—at this time last year, Kershaw had only 3.0 Box-Toppers points, only 1.0 more than he has this season.
Kershaw trails Bartolo Colon (136.4) for 21st place among all players since 1995. His career 135.6 Box-Toppers points puts him at 16th among all pitchers since 1995 and third among all active pitchers currently in the NL (behind Colon and Giants pitcher Tim Hudson—153.0).
- Angels pitcher Jered Weaver now has 118.4 career Box-Toppers points and moves up to 36th place among all players since 1995, passing Justin Verlander (118.2) and Carlos Delgado (117.7) on that list.
Weaver (7.1IP 3H R W in the 3-1 win over the Orioles) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 3.0 for the season.
Weaver’s 118.4 career Box-Toppers points puts him at 24th place among all pitchers since 1995 and fourth among active pitchers currently in the AL—behind CC Sabathia (173.3), Johan Santana (166.6) and Felix Hernandez (152.0).
Debut—Todd Cunningham of the Braves made his Box-Toppers debut Friday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Cunningham (2B 3-4 2R BI in the 5-2 win over the Marlins) made his Major League debut July 30, 2013, and was playing in his ninth career game. He is the 3,468th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Lohse earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Cain earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day. Belt earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being NL 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
| 5/15 | Score | Team | Player | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 13.0 | Brewers | Kyle Lohse (W, 3-4) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | |
| AL | 6.0 | Royals | Lorenzo Cain CF | 4 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| BAT | 5.0 | Giants | Brandon Belt 1B | 5 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 5.0 | Nationals | Jordan Zimmermann (W, 3-2) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | ||
| 4.1 | Angels | Jered Weaver (W, 2-4) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | ||
| 4.0 | Indians | Michael Brantley CF, LF | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.2 | Dodgers | Clayton Kershaw (W, 2-2) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.2 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 10 | ||
| 3.0 | Tigers | Yoenis Cespedes LF | 5 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | Cubs | Kris Bryant 3B | 4 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | Phillies | Freddy Galvis SS | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | Braves | Todd Cunningham LF | 4 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | Astros | Jose Altuve 2B | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | White Sox | Adam LaRoche DH | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | `Mariners | J.A. Happ | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | ||
| 1.0 | Twins | Brian Dozier 2B | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| `Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save. | ||||||||||||||||