Indians pitcher Josh Tomlin is Box-Toppers spring training Player of the Day for Tuesday.
Tomlin pitched six scoreless innings, allowing three hits and striking out 10, in the 4-1 win over the Mariners. Tomlin had 4.7 Box-Toppers points in 2015 with the Indians.
National League Player of the Day—Marlins pitcher Paul Clemens pitched three scoreless innings of middle relief, allowing no hits and striking out two, in the 1-0 win over the Mets. Clemens pitched the fifth, sixth and seventh innings and was not credited with the win. Clemens had no Box-Toppers points in 2015 with the Phillies and Royals. He has 1.0 career Box-Toppers point, earned May 27, 2013, playing with the Astros.
American League Batter of the Day—Mike Moustakas of the Royals hit a three-run homer and doubled, going 2-for-3, scoring three times and driving in five runs, in the 16-10 win over the Giants. Moustakas had 7.7 Box-Toppers points in 2015 with the Royals, 14th among AL batters.
National League Batter of the Day—Nolan Arenado of the Rockies hit two home runs and went 3-for-3, scoring twice and driving in two runs, in the 6-1 win over the Diamondbacks. Arenado had 8.5 Box-Toppers points in 2015 with the Rockies, 10th among NL batters.
Notable—Three others who earned Player of the Game honors Tuesday:
- Carlos Beltran of the Yankees homered and drove in three runs in the 5-4 win over the Pirates. Beltran had 3.5 Box-Toppers points in 2015 with the Yankees, but is the active leader in most consecutive seasons earning at least 1.0 Box-Toppers point with 17. If he earns a point during the regular season in 2016, he will extend that to 18 seasons, one short of the record set by Jason Giambi, who had a streak of 19 seasons from 1995 to 2013. (Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995.)
- Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta, 2015’s Box-Toppers points leader, struck out five over five innings, allowing two hits and one run, in the 9-5 win over the Athletics. Arrieta led all players in 2015 with 29.1 Box-Toppers points.
- White Sox pitcher Chris Sale struck out five over 5 1/3 innings, allowing one run, in the 6-2 win over the Rangers. Sale ranked fourth among AL pitchers in Box-Toppers points in 2015 with 18.8.
Scoring—No Box-Toppers points are awarded in spring training games, but if it were the regular season, Tomlin would earn 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Clemens would earn 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Moustakas and Arenado would each earn 1.5 points for being top batter in their league for the day. All of Tuesday’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—10 are listed below. Four games were cancelled (Yankees vs. Phillies, Blue Jays vs. Tigers, Nationals vs. Cardinals and Rays vs. Blue Jays) and two games are not included because they ended in ties (Braves vs. Orioles and Indians vs. Angels).
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
| 3/29 | Score | Team | Player | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 13.0 | Indians | Josh Tomln (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | |
| BAT | 7.0 | Royals | Mike Moustakas 3B | 3 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| NL | 5.0 | `Marlins | Paul Clemens | - | - | - | - | - | - | 3.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| BAT | 4.0 | Rockies | Nolan Arenado 3B | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | Yankees | Carlos Beltrán RF | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.0 | Padres | Adam Rosales SS | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.0 | Cubs | Jake Arrieta (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | ||
| 3.0 | Twins | Miguel Sano RF | 4 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.1 | White Sox | Chris Sale (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 5.1 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | ||
| 1.1 | Reds | A.J. Morris (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 3.1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | ||
| `Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save. | ||||||||||||||||