(Other duties have put us behind updating Box-Toppers. Playing catch up …)
Jackie Bradley Jr. of the Red Sox is Box-Toppers Player of the Day for Saturday, Aug. 15.
Also, Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander rose to 34th place in Box-Toppers points among all players since 1995.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2015 season as of Aug. 15.| 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 |
Player of the Day—Bradley hit two homers and three doubles, going 5-for-6, scoring five times and driving in seven runs, in the 22-10 win over the Mariners.
National League Player of the Day—Diamondbacks pitcher Patrick Corbin struck out eight over six scoreless innings, allowing three hits, in the 8-4 win over the Braves.
National League Batter of the Day—Matt Duffy of the Giants doubled twice, scored twice and drove in four runs, in the 12-6 win over the Nationals.
American League Batter of the Day—There is no separate AL Batter of the Day for Saturday, Aug. 15, because the overall Player of the Day was AL batter Jackie Bradley Jr. of the Red Sox.
Notable—Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander rose to 34th place in Box-Toppers points among all players since 1995 after earning Player of the Game honors Saturday.
Verlander (7IP 3H 0R 7K ND in the 4-2 win over the Astros) earned 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 120.9 for his career. He passed two players on the “all-time” list (since record keeping began in 1995), Jered Weaver (120.4 Box-Toppers points) and Cole Hamels (120.8 points). Verlander trails 33rd-place player Gary Sheffield (124.1).
Verlander’s 120.9 Box-Toppers points ranks third among active AL pitchers, behind CC Sabathia of the Yankees (178.0 Box-Toppers points) and Felix Hernandez of the Mariners (158.7 points).
Verlander has 2.7 Box-Toppers points for the season.
Also notable—Chris Davis of the Orioles has the highest Box-Toppers season player ranking of all 15 who earned Player of the Game honors Saturday.
Davis (2HR 2-4 2R 3BI in the 4-3 win over the Athletics) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 8.0 for the season. He ranks 41st among all players and third among AL batters.
Debuts—Two players made their Box-Toppers debut Saturday, the first time in their career they earned Player of the Game honors.
- Twins pitcher Tyler Duffey (6IP H 0R 7K W in the 4-1 win over the Indians) made his Major League debut Aug. 5 and was playing in his second career game. He is the 3,558th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
- Addison Russell of the Cubs (2B 2-3 2R in the 6-3 win over the White Sox) made his Major League debut April 21 and was playing in his 98th career game. He is the 3,559th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Bradley earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Corbin earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day. Duffy earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being NL Batter of the Day. All of Saturday’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
| 8/15 | Score | Team | Player | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 11.0 | Red Sox | Jackie Bradley Jr., RF | 6 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 9.0 | `Tigers | Justin Verlander | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | ||
| NL | 8.2 | Dbacks | Patrick Corbin (W,3-3) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 8 | |
| 7.0 | Yankees | Masahiro Tanaka (W,9-5) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 9.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 8 | ||
| 7.0 | Twins | Tyler Duffey (W,1-1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 7 | ||
| 7.0 | Pirates | Joe Blanton (W,4-2) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 3.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | ||
| 5.0 | Rangers | Shin-Soo Choo, RF | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.0 | Royals | Jarrod Dyson, CF | 4 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| BAT | 3.0 | Giants | Matt Duffy, 3B | 5 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 3.0 | Brewers | Scooter Gennett, 2B | 4 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | Orioles | Chris Davis, 1B | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | Cardinals | Mark Reynolds, 1B | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | Dodgers | Yasiel Puig, RF | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | Padres | Kevin Quackenbush (W,2-2) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 2.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 1.0 | Cubs | Addison Russell, SS | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| `Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save. | ||||||||||||||||