(Other duties have put us behind updating Box-Toppers. Playing catch up …)
Indians pitcher Corey Kluber, throwing a one-hitter, is Box-Toppers Player of the Day for Friday, Aug. 14.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2015 season as of Aug. 14.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 18.4 |
| 2 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 16.7 |
| 3 | Price, David 2593 | pi sp | tor al | 16.1 |
| 4 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 16.0 |
| 5 | Gray, Sonny 3259 | pi sp | oak al | 15.8 |
| 6 | Hernandez, Felix 2064 | pi sp | sea al | 15.4 |
| 7 | Harvey, Matt 3075 | pi sp | nym nl | 15.4 |
| 8 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | lad nl | 15.0 |
| 9 | Keuchel, Dallas 3050 | pi sp | hou al | 14.7 |
| 10 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | chi al | 14.4 |
Also, Astros pitcher Dallas Keuchel rose to ninth place in Box-Toppers player rankings and Carlos Beltran of the Yankees earned Box-Toppers points in his 17th straight season, tying the record for the longest-active season streak.
Player of the Day—Kluber pitched a complete-game, one-hitter, allowing one run and striking out seven, in the 6-1 win over the Twins.
Kluber earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 11.7 for the season. He becomes the 26th player this season with 10.0 or more Box-Toppers points. He ranks 17th among all players and ninth among AL pitchers.
National League Player of the Day—Cardinals pitcher Jaime Garcia allowed one run over eight innings, striking out six and allowing six hits, in the 3-1 win over the Marlins.
National League Batter of the Day—Matt Kemp of the Padres hit for the cycle (homer, triple, double and single) and went 4-for-5, scoring twice and driving in four runs, in the 9-5 win over the Rockies.
American League Batter of the Day—Carlos Beltran of the Yankees hit a three-run, pinch-hit homer in the 4-3 win over the Blue Jays.
Beltran earned 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day, his first points of the season, and has now earned Box-Toppers points for 17 straight seasons, tied with two other players for the longest active streak of seasons with at least 1.0 Box-Toppers point.
Giants pitcher Tim Hudson and Torii Hunter of the Twins also have active streaks of 17 straight seasons with at least 1.0 Box-Toppers point. The longest streak of seasons with at least 1.0 Box-Toppers point is 19, by Jason Giambi from 1995 to 2013. (Box-Toppers record keeping began in 1995.)
Beltran earned his first Box-Toppers points in 1999 with the Royals. His best year was 2003 with the Royals, when he had 13.9 Box-Toppers points, second among AL batters. In 2014, he had 1.0 Box-Toppers point with the Yankees.
Beltran has 96.9 career Box-Toppers points and ranks 73rd among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers record keeping began. He ranks second among active AL outfielders, behind Torii Hunter of the Twins (115.9 Box-Toppers points).
Rankings—Astros pitcher Dallas Keuchel rose to ninth place in Box-Toppers player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors. Keuchel (7IP 6H R 8K W in the 5-1 win over the Tigers) earned 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 14.7 for the season. He ranks fourth among AL pitchers.
Debut—Delino DeShields of the Rangers made his Box-Toppers debut Friday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. DeShields (HR 1-2 2R BI in the 5-3 win over the Rays) made his Major League debut April 8 and was playing in his 78th career game. He is the 3,557th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Kluber earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Garcia earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day. Kemp and Beltran 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
| 8/14 | Score | Team | Player | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 12.0 | Indians | Corey Kluber (W,8-12) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 9.0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | |
| NL | 6.1 | Cardinals | Jaime Garcia (W,5-4) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6 | |
| 6.0 | Astros | Dallas Keuchel (W,14-6) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 | ||
| 6.0 | Braves | Julio Teheran (W,8-6) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 | ||
| BAT | 5.0 | Padres | Matt Kemp, RF | 5 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | Cubs | Chris Coghlan, LF | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.0 | Giants | Matt Duffy, 3B | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| BAT | 4.0 | Yankees | Carlos Beltran, PH-RF | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | Red Sox | Joe Kelly (W,5-6) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | ||
| 3.0 | Orioles | Adam Jones, CF | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | Royals | Greg Holland (S,26) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 3.0 | Dodgers | Kenley Jansen (S,23) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2.1 | `Pirates | J.A. Happ | - | - | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | ||
| 2.0 | Rangers | Delino DeShields, CF | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | Brewers | Wily Peralta (W,3-7) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | ||
| `Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save. | ||||||||||||||||