Astros pitcher Wandy Rodriguez is Box-Toppers spring training Player of the Day for Friday.
Rodriguez started and pitched two scoreless innings, allowing one hit and striking out four in the 6-3 win over the Cardinals. He earned the win.
Rodriguez had 6.7 Box-Toppers points in 2015 with the Rangers and Royals. His best season was 2009 with the Astros, when he had 18.7 Box-Toppers points, second among National League pitchers.
National League Player of the Day—Maikel Franco of the Phillies hit a three-run homer and went 2-for-3, driving in four total runs, in the 12-11 win over the Braves. Franco had 3.2 Box-Toppers points in 2015.
Franco had a Box-Toppers game score of +4.0, tied with Gabby Guerrero, who was Player of the Game in the Diamondbacks 6-3 win over the Athletics. Franco and Guerrero also had similar batting lines, but Franco wins NL Player of the Day honors on a tiebreaker because he had fewer strikeouts than Guerrero—zero vs. one.
American League Batter of the Day—Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers hit a three-run homer in the 3-0 win over the Yankees.
Cabrera had 4.7 Box-Toppers points in 2015, his lowest total since his rookie year of 2003 with the Marlins, when he had 3.0. Cabrera has twice led AL batters in Box-Toppers points—in 2009 with 16.5 and in 2013, his best season, with 16.9. He has 132.9 career Box-Toppers points, fourth-most among active AL batters (behind Alex Rodriguez, Albert Pujols and David Ortiz).
National League Batter of the Day—There is no separate NL Batter of the Day for Friday because the overall NL Player of the Day was a batter, Maikel Franco.
Scoring—No Box-Toppers points are awarded in spring training games, but if it were the regular season, Rodriguez would earn 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Franco would earn 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Cabrera would earn 1.5 points for being AL Batter of the Day. All of Friday’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 Friday—12 are listed below. Four games are not included because they ended in ties (Indians vs. White Sox, Dodgers vs. Rangers, Twins vs. Pirates and Marlins vs. Mets).
About Box-Toppers—Box-Toppers points are a measure of how much a player provides key contributions to his team’s wins. Specifically, 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
| 3/4 | Score | Team | Player | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 5.0 | Astros | Wandy Rodríguez (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 2.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | |
| NL | 4.0 | Phillies | Maikel Franco 3B | 3 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | Dbacks | Gabby Guerrero RF | 3 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| BAT | 4.0 | Tigers | Miguel Cabrera 1B | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | Athletics | Sean Manaea (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 2.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | ||
| 3.0 | Marlins | Justin Maxwell PR-RF | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | Red Sox | Sam Travis PR-1B | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | Brewers | Andy Wilkins 1B | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | Padres | Tayron Guerrero (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2.0 | Cubs | Addison Russell SS | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | Giants | Ehire Adrianza 1B | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.1 | Blue Jays | Chad Jenkins (SV, 1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 0.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |