Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer is Box-Toppers spring training Player of the Day for Thursday.
Scherzer allowed two runs over five innings, striking out nine and allowing three hits, in the 8-2 win over the Cardinals. Scherzer had 21.0 Box-Toppers points in 2015 with the Nationals, ranked fourth among National League pitchers. In 2014, he had 22.1 points with the Tigers, ranked second among American League pitchers. And in 2013, he had 18.1 points with the Tigers, ranked first among AL pitchers.
American League Player of the Day—Astros pitcher Dallas Keuchel pitched five scoreless innings, allowing three hits and striking out five, in the 8-5 win over the Mets. Keuchel led AL pitchers in Box-Toppers points in 2015 with 21.4, ranked fourth among all players.
Scherzer and Keuchel both had Box-Toppers game scores Thursday of +6.0, but Scherzer won overall Player of the Day on a tiebreaker—he had more strikeouts than Keuchel—9 vs. 5.
American League Batter of the Day—Justin Ruggiano of the Rangers hit a pair of two-run homers, going 2-for-3, in the 12-5 win over the Reds. Ruggiano had 2.0 Box-Toppers points in 2015 with the Dodgers. He also played with the Mariners in 2015.
National League Batter of the Day—Martin Maldonado of the Brewers hit a three-run homer and went 2-for-3, scoring twice, in the 9-2 win over the Royals. Maldonado had 1.5 Box-Toppers points in 2015 with the Brewers.
Maldonado had a Box-Toppers game score Thursday of +4.0, tied with Kris Bryant of the Cubs, who was Player of the Game in the 16-14 win over the Giants. But Maldonado won NL Batter of the Day honors on a tiebreaker because he had more home runs—1 vs. 0.
Scoring—No Box-Toppers points are awarded in spring training games, but if it were the regular season, Scherzer would earn 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Keuchel would earn 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Ruggiano and Maldonado would each earn 1.5 points for being top batter in their league for the day. All of Thursday’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. One game is not included because it ended in a tie (Dodgers vs. Indians) and one other game was postponed (Phillies vs. Braves).
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
| 3/24 | Score | Team | Player | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 6.0 | Nationals | Max Scherzer (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 9 | |
| AL | 6.0 | Astros | Dallas Keuchel (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | |
| BAT | 5.0 | Rangers | Justin Ruggiano LF | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 5.0 | Red Sox | Joe Kelly (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | ||
| BAT | 4.0 | Brewers | Martín Maldonado C | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | Cubs | Kris Bryant LF | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.0 | `Rangers | Cesar Ramos | - | - | - | - | - | - | 3.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | ||
| 3.0 | Twins | Oswaldo Arcia DH | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | Angels | Cam Bedrosian (SV, 1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2.0 | Mariners | Seth Smith DH | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | Orioles | Mark Trumbo RF | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | Blue Jays | Kevin Pillar CF | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | Dbacks | Jason Bourgeois CF | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | Rays | Steve Pearce 1B | 4 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| `Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save. | ||||||||||||||||