Cubs pitcher Jon Lester is Box-Toppers spring training Player of the Day for Wednesday.
Lester struck out 10 over five scoreless innings, allowing one hit, in the 10-0 win over the Rockies. Lester had 12.0 Box-Toppers points in 2015 with the Cubs, ranked 13th among National League pitchers. Lester led American League pitchers in 2010 with 23.4 points when he was with the Red Sox.
American League Player of the Day—Tigers pitcher Shane Greene struck out nine over 5 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing three hits, in the 2-1 win over the Orioles. Greene had 3.0 Box-Toppers points in 2015 with the Tigers.
National League Batter of the Day—Phil Gosselin of the Diamondbacks tripled, doubled and went 3-for-4, scoring once and driving in five runs, in the 12-9 win over the Athletics. Gosselin had 1.0 Box-Toppers point in 2015 with the Diamondbacks. He also played for the Braves in 2015.
American League Batter of the Day—There is no AL Batter of the Day for Wednesday because no AL batter earned Player of the Game honors.
Scoring—No Box-Toppers points are awarded in spring training games, but if it were the regular season, Lester would earn 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, Greene would earn 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day and Gosselin would earn 1.5 points for being NL Batter of the Day. All of Wednesday’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 (Red Sox vs. Pirates) and one other game was not included because it involved a non-Major League team (River Cats vs. Giants).
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
| 3/30 | Score | Team | Player | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 13.0 | Cubs | Jon Lester (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 10 | |
| AL | 10.2 | Tigers | Shane Greene (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 5.2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 9 | |
| 10.0 | Rays | Drew Smyly (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 4.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | ||
| 7.0 | Reds | Josh Smith (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | ||
| 6.0 | Rangers | Cole Hamels (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | ||
| BAT | 5.0 | Dbacks | Phil Gosselin 1B | 4 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 5.0 | `Yankees | Iván Nova | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | ||
| 4.0 | Phillies | Andrés Blanco SS | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.0 | Cardinals | Michael Wacha (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | ||
| 4.0 | `Padres | Brandon Morrow | - | - | - | - | - | - | 3.0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | ||
| 3.0 | Nationals | Reed Johnson LF | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | Twins | Ryan Pressly (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2.1 | Indians | Corey Kluber (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 4.1 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | ||
| 2.0 | Brewers | Ramón Flores LF-1B | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| `Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save. | ||||||||||||||||