Pirates pitcher Gerrit Cole is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2016 season as of May 15:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 9.0 |
| 2 | Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | chi nl | 7.7 |
| 3 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | chi al | 6.7 |
| 4 | Machado, Manny 3087 | 3b ss | bal al | 6.7 |
| 5 | Cueto, Johnny 2400 | pi sp | sf nl | 6.0 |
| 6 | Quintana, Jose 3040 | pi sp | chi al | 5.7 |
| 7 | De La Rosa, Rubby 3342 | pi sp | ari nl | 5.7 |
| 8 | Nola, Aaron 3569 | pi sp | phi nl | 5.7 |
| 9 | Davis, Chris 2478 | 1b | bal al | 5.5 |
| 10 | Santiago, Hector 3109 | pi sp | ana al | 5.4 |
Also Sunday, Carlos Beltran of the Yankees becomes the 69th player with 100 or more career Box-Toppers points (since player tracking began in 1995).
Player of the Day—Cole struck out seven over eight scoreless innings, allowing three hits, in the 2-1 win over the Cubs.
American League Player of the Day—Angels pitcher Hector Santiago pitched eight scoreless innings, allowing two hits and striking out five, in the 3-0 win over the Mariners.
Santiago earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 5.4 for the season, rising to 10th place in season player rankings. He ranks third among AL pitchers.
American League Batter of the Day—Danny Valencia of the Athletics hit three home runs, including a go-ahead two-run homer in the ninth, in the 7-6 win over the Rays. Valencia went 3-for-5 with five total RBIs.
National League Batter of the Day—Jay Bruce of the Reds doubled and went 3-for-3, scoring three times, in the 9-4 win over the Phillies.
Notable—Carlos Beltran of the Yankees becomes the 69th player—and 26th batter—with 100 or more career Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Sunday.
Beltran (HR 1-3 2R 3BI in the 7-5 win over the White Sox) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 100.9 for his career. He rises to 66th place among all players in Box-Toppers points since 1995 (when player tracking began), passing three players on the “all-time” list—Larry Walker (100.1), Jeff Bagwell (100.4) and Paul Konerko (100.7). Beltran now trails 65th-ranked player Jason Schmidt (101.2). Beltran has 2.0 Box-Toppers points for the season.
Debut—Tigers pitcher Warwick Saupold made his Box-Toppers debut Sunday with his first career Player of the Game honor.
Saupold (2.2IP 2H 0R 4K W in the 6-5 win over the Orioles) made his Major League debut May 14 and was playing in his second career game. He is the 3,636th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995. He is the only player among the 3,636 to be named “Warwick.”
Scoring—Cole earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Santiago earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Valencia and Bruce each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Sunday’s other Players of the Game (listed in the chart below) earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point.
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
| 5/15 | Score | Team | Player | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 12.0 | Pirates | Gerrit Cole (W,4-3) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | |
| AL | 10.0 | Angels | Hector Santiago (W,3-2) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | |
| 9.0 | Marlins | Jose Fernandez (W,5-2) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 11 | ||
| BAT | 6.0 | Athletics | Danny Valencia, 3B | 5 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 6.0 | Twins | Tyler Duffey (W,1-2) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | ||
| 5.1 | `Brewers | Zach Davies | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 6 | ||
| 5.0 | Red Sox | Ryan Hanigan, C | 4 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 5.0 | `Royals | Danny Duffy | - | - | - | - | - | - | 3.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | ||
| 3.0 | Rangers | Ian Desmond, CF | 4 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| BAT | 3.0 | Reds | Jay Bruce, RF | 3 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 3.0 | Yankees | Carlos Beltran, DH | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | Rockies | Ryan Raburn, PH | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.2 | Tigers | Warwick Saupold (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 2.2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | ||
| 2.0 | Cardinals | Yadier Molina, PH-C | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | Giants | Hunter Strickland (W,2-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| `Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save. | ||||||||||||||||
Box-Toppers point totals of the day’s top players
Here are Box-Toppers point totals of each of the Players of the Game. Players are ranked by their Box-Toppers point total for the current season (16). Also shown are each players’ Box-Toppers point total for this season and last (15-16), the period 2011-2016 (11-16) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2016 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2015 total (+/-).| Player | Pos | Team | 16 | 15-16 | 11-16 | Career | +/- |
| Santiago, Hector 3109 | pi sp | ana al | 5.4 | 13.4 | 25.8 | 25.8 | -2.6 |
| Fernandez, Jose 3147 | pi sp | fla nl | 5.0 | 9.7 | 35.7 | 35.7 | 0.3 |
| Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | pit nl | 3.0 | 22.0 | 32.4 | 32.4 | -16.0 |
| Desmond, Ian 2673 | cf lf | tex al | 3.0 | 4.0 | 19.7 | 26.2 | 2.0 |
| Valencia, Danny 2772 | 3b | oak al | 2.5 | 6.0 | 8.0 | 11.0 | -1.0 |
| Bruce, Jay 2453 | rf | cin nl | 2.5 | 5.7 | 25.7 | 52.8 | -0.7 |
| Beltran, Carlos 1194 | rf dh | nyy al | 2.0 | 5.5 | 22.9 | 100.9 | -1.5 |
| Duffy, Danny 2915 | pi sp | kc al | 1.0 | 5.0 | 20.0 | 20.0 | -3.0 |
| Duffey, Tyler 3558 | pi sp | min al | 1.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | -3.0 |
| Davies, Zach 3581 | pi sp | mil nl | 1.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | -2.0 |
| Raburn, Ryan 2340 | dh rf ph | col nl | 1.0 | 3.0 | 18.7 | 36.7 | -1.0 |
| Hanigan, Ryan 2708 | ca | bos al | 1.0 | 2.5 | 8.0 | 11.0 | -0.5 |
| Molina, Yadier 1967 | ca | stl nl | 1.0 | 2.0 | 14.7 | 31.7 | 0.0 |
| Strickland, Hunter 3546 | pi mr | sf nl | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 0.0 |
| Saupold, Warwick 3636 | pi mr | det al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |