Giants pitcher Chris Heston is Box-Toppers spring training Player of the Day for Sunday.
Heston pitched four scoreless innings, allowing one hit and striking out four, in the 8-1 win over the Padres. Heston had 11.4 Box-Toppers points in 2015, 15th among National League pitchers.
American League Player of the Day—Blue Jays pitcher Aaron Sanchez pitched four scoreless innings, allowing one hit and one walk and striking out four, in the 6-1 win over the Rays. Sanchez had 2.0 Box-Toppers points in 2015.
American League Batter of the Day—Trevor Plouffe of the Twins hit a three-run homer and went 2-for-2, driving in four runs, in the 14-6 win over the Orioles. Plouffe had 3.0 Box-Toppers points in 2015.
National League Batter of the Day—Starling Marte of the Pirates hit a three-run homer and went 2-for-3, in the 9-5 win over the Tigers. Marte had 5.0 Box-Toppers points in 2015, 16th among NL outfielders.
Notable—Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw was Player of the Game in the 6-4 win over the Rockies. Kershaw pitched five scoreless innings, allowing two hits and striking out three. Kershaw finished second in Box-Toppers points in 2015 with 25.7 (Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta finished first with 29.1). Kershaw led NL pitchers in Box-Toppers points from 2011-2014 and led all players in 2011, 2013 and 2014.
Scoring—No Box-Toppers points are awarded in spring training games, but if it were the regular season, Heston would earn 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Sanchez would earn 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Plouffe and Marte would earn 1.5 points for being top batter in their league for the day. All of Sunday’s other Players of the Game (listed in the chart below) would earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point.
Note—Sixteen spring training games were scheduled for Thursday—14 are listed below. Two games are not included because they ended in ties (Cardinals vs. Nationals and Cubs vs. Athletics).
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
| 3/13 | Score | Team | Player | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 7.0 | Giants | Chris Heston (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 4.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | |
| AL | 6.0 | Blue Jays | Aaron Sanchez (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 4.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | |
| BAT | 5.0 | Twins | Trevor Plouffe 3B | 2 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 5.0 | Dodgers | Clayton Kershaw (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | ||
| 5.0 | Mets | Matt Harvey (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 4.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | ||
| 5.0 | Brewers | Zach Davies (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 3.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 4.0 | Rays | Hank Conger C | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.0 | Phillies | Adam Morgan (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 4.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | ||
| 3.0 | Astros | José Altuve DH | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| BAT | 3.0 | Pirates | Starling Marte LF | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 3.0 | Indians | Trevor Bauer (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 4.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 2.0 | Angels | Johnny Giavotella 2B | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | Reds | Zack Cozart SS | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | Dbacks | Michael Freeman LF | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - |