Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to third place in season player rankings.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2016 season as of June 17:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 18.0 |
| 2 | Fernandez, Jose 3147 | pi sp | fla nl | 11.7 |
| 3 | Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | chi nl | 10.7 |
| 4 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 10.0 |
| 5 | Cueto, Johnny 2400 | pi sp | sf nl | 10.0 |
| 6 | Syndergaard, Noah 3472 | pi sp | nym nl | 10.0 |
| 7 | Lackey, John 1640 | pi sp | chi nl | 9.4 |
| 8 | Bumgarner, Madison 2753 | pi sp | sf nl | 9.0 |
| 9 | Salazar, Danny 3223 | pi sp | cle al | 8.8 |
| 10 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | chi al | 8.7 |
Arrieta pitched six scoreless innings, striking out 11 and allowing two hits, in the 6-0 win over the Pirates.
Arrieta earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 10.7 for the season, rising from ninth to third place among all players. He becomes the sixth player this season with 10 or more Box-Toppers points and has now earned 10 or more points for three straight years. He had 14.7 in 2014 and 29.1 in 2015, when he led all players in Box-Toppers points.
American League Player of the Day—Michael Saunders of the Blue Jays hit three homers and went 3-for-5, driving in eight runs, in the 13-3 win over the Orioles.
National League Batter of the Day—Peter O’Brien of the Diamondbacks hit two home runs and went 2-for-5, driving in four runs, in the 10-2 win over the Phillies.
This was O’Brien’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. O’Brien made his Major League debut Sept. 11, 2015, and was playing in his 14th career game. He is the 3,661st player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
American League Batter of the Day—There is no separate AL Batter of the Day for Friday because the overall AL Player of the Day is batter Michael Saunders.
Notable—Rangers pitcher Cole Hamels now has 134.6 career Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Friday.
Hamels (7.2IP 3H 0R 3BB 6K W in the 1-0 win over the Cardinals) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point for being Player of the Game and ranks 27th in career Box-Toppers points among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails 26th-ranked player Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers (136.9).
Hamels has 8.4 Box-Toppers points on the season, 13th among all players and third among AL pitchers.
Debut—Braves pitcher John Gant made his Box-Toppers debut Friday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors.
Gant (6.2IP 2H R 2BB 5K W in the 5-1 win over the Mets) made his Major League debut April 6 and was playing in his ninth career game. He is the 3,660th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Arrieta earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Saunders earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. O’Brien earns 1.5 points for being NL Batter of the Day. All of Friday’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
| 6/17 | Score | Game | Player of Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 12.0 | CHC 6/PIT 0 | Jake Arrieta (W,11-1) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 11 | |
| AL | 9.0 | TOR 13/BAL 3 | Michael Saunders, LF | 5 | 3 | 3 | 8 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 7.2 | TEX 1/STL 0 | Cole Hamels (W,7-1) | - | - | - | - | 7.2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 | ||
| 7.0 | SEA 8/BOS 4 | Franklin Gutierrez, RF | 5 | 3 | 3 | 6 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 7.0 | SF 5/TB 1 | Jeff Samardzija (W,8-4) | - | - | - | - | 9.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | ||
| 7.0 | `CLE 3/CHW 2 | Trevor Bauer | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 9 | ||
| 7.0 | `LAD 3/MIL 2 | Julio Urias | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | ||
| 5.2 | ATL 5/NYM 1 | John Gant (W,1-1) | - | - | - | - | 6.2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | ||
| 5.1 | KC 10/DET 3 | Yordano Ventura (W,6-4) | - | - | - | - | 6.1 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | ||
| 5.0 | `OAK 3/LAA 2 | Kendall Graveman | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | ||
| 4.1 | `CIN 4/HOU 2 | John Lamb | - | - | - | - | 5.1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 8 | ||
| 4.0 | NYY 8/MIN 2 | Masahiro Tanaka (W,4-2) | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | ||
| BAT | 3.0 | ARI 10/PHI 2 | Peter O'Brien, LF | 5 | 2 | 2 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 3.0 | DC 7/SD 5 | Daniel Murphy, 2B | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.2 | `MIA 5/COL 1 | Adam Conley | - | - | - | - | 5.2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 5 | ||
| `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 of Game | Pos | Team | 16 | 15-16 | 11-16 | Career | +/- |
| Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | chi nl | 10.7 | 39.8 | 67.5 | 70.5 | -18.4 |
| Hamels, Cole 2135 | pi sp | tex al | 8.4 | 23.8 | 75.4 | 134.6 | -7.0 |
| Tanaka, Masahiro 3305 | pi sp | nyy al | 5.0 | 13.0 | 25.7 | 25.7 | -3.0 |
| Murphy, Daniel 2589 | 2b | dc nl | 5.0 | 6.5 | 28.5 | 30.0 | 3.5 |
| Samardzija, Jeff 2495 | pi sp | sf nl | 4.7 | 14.1 | 42.8 | 43.8 | -4.7 |
| Bauer, Trevor 3065 | pi sp | cle al | 4.7 | 14.1 | 22.8 | 22.8 | -4.7 |
| Ventura, Yordano 3294 | pi sp | kc al | 4.0 | 15.7 | 25.4 | 25.4 | -7.7 |
| Conley, Adam 3594 | pi sp | fla nl | 4.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 | 1.0 |
| Saunders, Michael 2768 | lf | tor al | 2.3 | 2.3 | 12.0 | 13.0 | 2.3 |
| Graveman, Kendall 3444 | pi sp | oak al | 2.0 | 6.7 | 6.7 | 6.7 | -2.7 |
| Lamb, John 3654 | pi sp | cin nl | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| Urias, Julio 3652 | pi sp | lad nl | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| O’Brien, Peter 3661 | lf | ari nl | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 |
| Gutierrez, Franklin 2242 | rf | sea al | 1.0 | 2.0 | 6.0 | 21.0 | 0.0 |
| Gant, John 3660 | pi sp | atl nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |