Marlins' Jose Fernandez tops players in Tuesday, March 22's spring training games

Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez is Box-Toppers spring training Player of the Day for Tuesday.

Fernandez pitched five scoreless, no-hit innings, striking out four and walking one, in the 3-0 win over the Red Sox. Fernandez had 4.7 Box-Toppers points in 2015. His best season was his 2013 rookie year, when he had 19.0 Box-Toppers points, ranking fourth among all players.

American League Player of the Day—Jimmy Rollins of the White Sox hit a three-run homer and went 3-for-4, scoring three times, in the 8-7 win over the Giants. Rollins had 3.0 Box-Toppers points in 2015 with the Dodgers. He has 50.4 career points since 2001, which ranks third among active shortstops. His best year was 2007 with the Phillies when he had 4.7 points, fourth among NL shortstops.

National League Batter of the Day—Derek Norris of the Padres homered, doubled and went 2-for-4, scoring twice and driving in four runs, in the 17-5 win over the Rangers. Norris had 4.5 Box-Toppers points in 2015, his best season, when he ranked fourth among NL catchers.

Notable—James Loney of the Rays was Player of the Game in the 4-1 win over the Cuban National Team, in a game played in Havana, Cuba. Loney homered and went 2-for-2, driving in three runs. Loney had no Box-Toppers points in 2015, but has 32.4 career points since 2006. His best year was 2008 with the Dodgers, when he had 6.0 points.

Scoring—No Box-Toppers points are awarded in spring training games, but if it were the regular season, Fernandez would earn 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, Rollins would earn 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day and Norris would earn 1.5 points for being NL Batter of the Day. All of Tuesday’s other Players of the Game (listed in the chart below) would earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point.

Note—Fifteen spring training games were scheduled for Tuesday—13 are listed below. One game is not included because it ended in a tie (Giants vs. Diamondbacks) and one other game was cancelled (Angels vs. a non-Major League opponent).

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

3/22 Score Team Player AB R H BI BB K IP H R ER BB K
MLB 8.0 Marlins José Fernández (W, 1-0) - - - - - - 5.0 0 0 0 1 4
AL 5.0 White Sox Jimmy Rollins SS 4 3 3 3 0 1 - - - - - -
4.1 Royals Chris Young (W, 1-0) - - - - - - 4.1 0 1 1 3 5
BAT 4.0 Padres Derek Norris C 4 2 2 4 0 0 - - - - - -
4.0 *Rays James Loney 1B 2 1 2 3 0 0 - - - - - -
4.0 Blue Jays Ryan Goins 2B 2 2 2 2 1 0 - - - - - -
4.0 Twins Logan Darnell (W, 1-0) - - - - - - 2.0 0 0 0 0 2
3.0 Astros Carlos Correa SS 3 2 2 2 1 0 - - - - - -
3.0 Twins Daniel Palka DH 3 2 2 2 0 1 - - - - - -
3.0 Angels Geovany Soto PH-DH 1 1 1 2 1 0 - - - - - -
3.0 Rockies Christian Bergman (W, 1-0) - - - - - - 4.0 1 0 0 3 3
3.0 Cubs Trevor Cahill (SV, 1) - - - - - - 2.0 0 0 0 0 1
2.0 Yankees Didi Gregorius SS 3 2 2 1 0 0 - - - - - -
* Game was against a non-Major League opponent, Rays beat Cuban National Team, 4-1