Giants' Bumgarner tops players for Tuesday, May 17; Kershaw extends Box-Toppers points lead

Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner is Tuesday’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 17:  


Player Pos Team BTP
1 Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 10.0
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 Salazar, Danny 3223 pi sp cle al 6.1
6 Cueto, Johnny 2400 pi sp sf nl 6.0
7 Velasquez, Vince 3611 pi sp phi nl 6.0
8 Quintana, Jose 3040 pi sp chi al 5.7
9 De La Rosa, Rubby 3342 pi sp ari nl 5.7
10 Nola, Aaron 3569 pi sp phi nl 5.7
What are those numbers after players' names?

Also Tuesday, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw extended his lead in Box-Toppers player rankings and Diamondbacks pitcher Zack Greinke became the 18th player since 1995 with 150 or more career Box-Toppers points.

Player of the Day—Bumgarner pitched a complete game five-hitter, allowing one run and striking out 11, in the 5-1 win over the Padres.

Bumgarner had a Box-Toppers game score of +13.0, tied with Kershaw’s Tuesday game score, but Bumgarner won overall Player of the Game honors on a tiebreaker because he had more innings pitched—9 vs. 8.

American League Player of the Day—Indians pitcher Danny Salazar struck out eight over 7 1/3 innings, allowing one run and five hits, in the 13-1 win over the Reds.

Salazar earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 6.1 for the season, rising to fifth in season player rankings, second among AL pitchers, behind Chris Sale of the White Sox (6.7).

American League Batter of the Day—Khris Davis of the Athletics hit three home runs, including a walk-off grand slam, in the 8-5 win over the Rangers. Davis went 3-for-5 with six total RBIs.

National League Batter of the Day—John Jaso of the Pirates doubled and went 3-for-3, scoring once and driving in two runs, in the 12-9 win over the Braves.

All-time leaders

Here are Box-Toppers top 20 players since record keeping began in 1995:


Player Pos Team BTP
1 Randy Johnson pi sp retired 278.8
2 Pedro Martinez pi sp retired 244.8
3 Curt Schilling pi sp retired 194.1
4 Alex Rodriguez dh nyy al 187.0
5 CC Sabathia pi sp nyy al 180.0
6 Albert Pujols 1b dh ana al 176.3
7 Roy Halladay pi sp retired 170.7
8 Clayton Kershaw pi sp lad nl 169.3
9 Manny Ramirez lf dh retired 167.2
10 Johan Santana pi sp free agent 166.6
11 Roger Clemens pi sp retired 164.8
12 Felix Hernandez pi sp sea al 163.7
13 John Smoltz pi sp retired 160.9
14 Tim Hudson pi sp retired 157.0
15 Mike Mussina pi sp retired 155.6
16 Barry Bonds lf retired 153.2
17 Greg Maddux pi sp retired 151.7
18 Zack Greinke pi sp ari nl 150.4
19 Chipper Jones 3b retired 149.0
20 Javier Vazquez pi sp retired 148.3
List of top 100 players since 1995 (through the 2015 season)

Kershaw—Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw extended his lead in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Tuesday.

Kershaw (8IP 4H R 11K W in the 5-1 win over the Angels) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 10.0 for the season. Kershaw is the first player this season with 10 or more Box-Toppers points and it is the eighth straight season in which he has earned 10 or more points.

Kershaw also now has 169.3 career Box-Toppers points, maintaining his rank of eighth place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails seventh-place player Roy Halladay (170.7).

Greinke—Diamondbacks pitcher Zack Greinke becomes the 18th player with 150 or more Box-Toppers points since 1995, when player tracking began, after earning Player of the Game honors Tuesday.

Greinke (7IP 5H 3R 7K W in the 5-3 win over the Yankees) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 150.4 career points. He maintains his rank of 18th place on the “all-time” Box-Toppers points list, trailing 17th-ranked player Greg Maddux (151.7). Greinke has 4.0 Box-Toppers points for the season.

Rankings—Phillies pitcher Vince Velasquez rose to eighth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Tuesday.

Velasquez (5IP 3H 0R 10K W in the 3-1 win over the Marlins) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 6.0 for the season. He ranks fourth among NL pitchers.

Debuts—Two players made their Box-Toppers debut Tuesday, the first time in their career they earned Player of the Game honors:

  • Tyler White of the Astros (2HR 2B 3-4 2R 2BI in the 6-5, 11-inning win over the White Sox) made his Major League debut April 5 and was playing in his 35th career game. He is the 3,638th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
  • Kyle Ryan of the Tigers (1.2IP 0H 0R K W in the 7-2 win over the Twins) made his Major League debut Aug. 30, 2014, and was playing in his 38th career game. He is the 3,639th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Bumgarner earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Salazar earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Davis and Jaso each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Tuesday’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

5/17 Score Team Player AB R H BI BB K IP H R ER BB K
MLB 13.0 Giants Madison Bumgarner (W,5-2) - - - - - - 9.0 5 1 1 0 11
13.0 Dodgers Clayton Kershaw (W,6-1) - - - - - - 8.0 4 1 1 0 11
12.0 Mets Noah Syndergaard (W,4-2) - - - - - - 7.0 5 0 0 0 10
10.0 Phillies Vince Velasquez (W,5-1) - - - - - - 5.0 3 0 0 2 10
AL 7.1 Indians Danny Salazar (W,4-2) - - - - - - 7.1 5 1 1 1 8
BAT 7.0 Athletics Khris Davis, LF 5 3 3 6 0 2 - - - - - -
7.0 Mariners Nelson Cruz, DH 3 2 3 5 1 0 - - - - - -
6.2 Brewers Chase Anderson (W,2-5) - - - - - - 8.2 3 2 2 1 6
5.0 Royals Paulo Orlando, RF 4 2 3 4 0 0 - - - - - -
3.0 Astros Tyler White, 1B 4 2 3 2 0 1 - - - - - -
3.0 Rays Kevin Kiermaier, CF 4 3 3 1 1 0 - - - - - -
BAT 3.0 Pirates John Jaso, 1B 3 1 3 2 0 0 - - - - - -
3.0 Dbacks Zack Greinke (W,4-3) - - - - - - 7.0 5 3 3 0 7
2.2 Tigers Kyle Ryan (W,1-1) - - - - - - 1.2 0 0 0 0 1
1.2 Rockies Chad Bettis (W,4-2) - - - - - - 6.2 5 1 1 2 4

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 +/-
Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 10.0 35.7 135.8 169.3 -15.7
Salazar, Danny 3223 pi sp cle al 6.1 19.5 28.9 28.9 -7.3
Velasquez, Vince 3611 pi sp phi nl 6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0
Bumgarner, Madison 2753 pi sp sf nl 5.0 22.0 92.0 97.7 -12.0
Syndergaard, Noah 3472 pi sp nym nl 5.0 15.4 15.4 15.4 -5.4
Greinke, Zack 1871 pi sp ari nl 4.0 24.7 89.8 150.4 -16.7
Bettis, Chad 3481 pi sp col nl 3.7 9.1 9.1 9.1 -1.7
Anderson, Chase 3328 pi sp mil nl 3.0 7.0 12.0 12.0 -1.0
Jaso, John 2705 1b ca pit nl 3.0 3.0 8.0 14.0 3.0
Cruz, Nelson 2224 dh rf sea al 2.0 4.0 29.7 49.2 0.0
Davis, Khris 3242 lf oak al 1.5 5.5 11.5 11.5 -2.5
Kiermaier, Kevin 3373 cf tb al 1.0 2.0 4.5 4.5 0.0
Orlando, Paulo 3526 rf kc al 1.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 0.0
Ryan, Kyle 3639 pi mr det al 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
White, Tyler 3638 1b hou al 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
What are those numbers after players' names?