Indians pitcher Carlos Carrasco is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to ninth place in player rankings.
Also Friday, two other players in Box-Toppers top 10 season player rankings earned Player of the Game honors—Pirates pitcher Gerrit Cole maintained his spot in eighth place and Athletics pitcher Sonny Gray rose to 10th place.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2015 season as of Sept. 25.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | chi nl | 25.1 |
| 2 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 22.7 |
| 3 | Price, David 2593 | pi sp | tor al | 21.1 |
| 4 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 20.4 |
| 5 | Keuchel, Dallas 3050 | pi sp | hou al | 20.4 |
| 6 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | lad nl | 19.7 |
| 7 | Hernandez, Felix 2064 | pi sp | sea al | 19.4 |
| 8 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | pit nl | 19.0 |
| 9 | Carrasco, Carlos 2885 | pi sp | cle al | 18.0 |
| 10 | Gray, Sonny 3259 | pi sp | oak al | 17.8 |
Player of the Day—Carrasco pitched a complete-game, one-hit shutout, striking out 15, in the 6-0 win over the Royals. Carrasco had a no-hitter going into the seventh inning before giving up the only hit.
Carrasco earned 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 18.0 for the season. He rises to ninth place among all players and fourth place among AL pitchers.
Carrasco also had the third-highest Box-Toppers game score of 2015, +21. Indians pitcher Corey Kluber had the highest score of +25 on May 13 (8IP H 0R 18K). Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer had the second-highest score of +23 on June 14 (CG H 0R 16K). It is the seventh time this season that a player has achieved a Box-Toppers game score of +20 or more.
National League Player of the Day—Mets pitcher Noah Syndergaard struck out 11 over 7 2/3 innings, allowing two runs and five hits, in the 12-5 win over the Reds.
Syndergaard earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 10.4 for the season. He becomes the 41st player this season with 10 or more Box-Toppers points and ranks 37th among all players, 15th among NL pitchers.
National League Batter of the Day—A.J. Pollock of the Diamondbacks hit a grand slam and went 2-for-4, scoring twice and driving in five runs, in the 6-3 win over the Padres.
American League Batter of the Day—C.J. Cron of the Angels homered, doubled and went 2-for-4, scoring twice and driving in two runs, in the 8-4 win over the Mariners.
Rankings—In addition to Carrasco, two other players in Box-Toppers top 10 season player rankings earned Player of the Game honors Friday:
- Pirates pitcher Gerrit Cole maintained his spot in eighth place in player rankings. Cole (7IP 4H R 8K W in the 3-2 win over the Cubs) earned 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 19.0 for the season. He ranks fifth among NL pitchers.
- Athletics pitcher Sonny Gray rose to 10th place in player rankings. Gray (6IP 5H 2R 7K W in the 5-4 win over the Giants) earned 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 17.8 for the season. He ranks fifth among AL pitchers.
Notable—With the rise of Carrasco and Gray into Box-Toppers top 10 player rankings, two players fell from the top 10—White Sox pitcher Chris Sale (17.1 Box-Toppers points, 11th place) and Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner (17.0 Box-Toppers points, 12th place).
Scoring—Carrasco earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Syndergaard earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day. Pollock and Cron 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
| 9/25 | Score | Team | Player | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 21.0 | Indians | Carlos Carrasco (W,14-11) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 9.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 15 | |
| 16.0 | Red Sox | Rich Hill (W,2-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 9.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 10 | ||
| NL | 9.2 | Mets | Noah Syndergaard (W,9-7) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.2 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 11 | |
| 7.0 | Phillies | Jerad Eickhoff (W,2-3) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 10 | ||
| 7.0 | Pirates | Gerrit Cole (W,18-8) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 8 | ||
| BAT | 5.0 | Dbacks | A.J. Pollock, CF | 4 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | Rockies | Corey Dickerson, LF | 4 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.1 | Rangers | Ross Ohlendorf (MR) (W,3-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 3.0 | Marlins | Justin Bour, 1B | 5 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | `Tigers | Al Alburquerque (MR) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| BAT | 2.0 | Angels | C.J. Cron, 1B | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 2.0 | Blue Jays | Kevin Pillar, CF | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | Athletics | Sonny Gray (W,14-7) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 7 | ||
| 2.0 | Brewers | Will Smith (MR) (W,7-2) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 2.0 | White Sox | David Robertson (S,32) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 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. | ||||||||||||||||