Kendrys Morales of the Royals is Saturday’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 June 18:| 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 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | ari nl | 9.7 |
| 8 | Lackey, John 1640 | pi sp | chi nl | 9.4 |
| 9 | Bumgarner, Madison 2753 | pi sp | sf nl | 9.0 |
| 10 | Salazar, Danny 3223 | pi sp | cle al | 8.8 |
Also Saturday, Diamondbacks pitcher Zack Greinke rises to seventh place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning NL Player of the Day honors.
Player of the Day—Morales hit two doubles, going 4-for-5, scoring four times and driving in five runs, in the 16-5 win over the Tigers.
Morales had a Box-Toppers game score of +8.0, tied with Greinke, who was Player of the Game in the Diamondbacks’ 4-1 win over the Phillies. But when batters and pitchers have the same Box-Toppers game score, batters win the tiebreaker, giving Morales overall Player of the Day honors.
National League Player of the Day—Greinke allowed one run and three hits over eight innings, striking out six and walking one, in the 4-1 win over the Phillies.
Greinke earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 9.7 for the season, rising to seventh among all player and among NL pitchers.
Greinke also now has 156.1 career Box-Toppers points, rising to 15th place in career points among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. With his points Saturday, Greinke passes Mike Mussina (155.6) and now trails 14th-ranked player Tim Hudson (157.0).
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 | 182.0 |
| 6 | Clayton Kershaw | pi sp | lad nl | 177.3 |
| 7 | Albert Pujols | 1b dh | ana al | 176.3 |
| 8 | Roy Halladay | pi sp | retired | 170.7 |
| 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 | 164.7 |
| 13 | John Smoltz | pi sp | retired | 160.9 |
| 14 | Tim Hudson | pi sp | retired | 157.0 |
| 15 | Zack Greinke | pi sp | ari nl | 156.1 |
| 16 | Mike Mussina | pi sp | retired | 155.6 |
| 17 | Barry Bonds | lf | retired | 153.2 |
| 18 | Greg Maddux | pi sp | retired | 151.7 |
| 19 | Chipper Jones | 3b | retired | 149.0 |
| 20 | Javier Vazquez | pi sp | retired | 148.3 |
National League Batter of the Day—J.T. Realmuto of the Marlins hit a three-run homer, doubled and went 4-for-5, in the 9-6 win over the Rockies.
American League Batter of the Day—There is no separate AL Batter of the Day for Saturday because the overall Player of the Day was AL batter Kendrys Morales.
Notable—Carlos Beltran of the Yankees rises to 64th place in Box-Toppers among all players since 1995 (when Box-Toppers tracking began) after earning Player of the Game honors Saturday.
Beltran (HR 3-5 2R 2BI in the 7-6 win over the Twins) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 101.9 for his career. With his point Saturday, he passes four players on the “all-time” list—Jason Schmidt (101.2), Tim Wakefield (101.4), Dodgers pitcher Scott Kazmir (101.4) and Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner (101.7). Beltran now trails 63rd-ranked player Ken Griffey Jr. (102.2).
Beltran has 3.0 Box-Toppers points on the season.
Debuts—Two players made their Box-Toppers debuts Saturday, the first time in their careers they earned Player of the Game honors:
- Tyler Naquin of the Indians (HR 3B 3-3 R 4BI in the 13-2 win over the White Sox) made his Major League debut April 5 and was playing in his 41st career game. He is the 3,662nd player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
- Braves pitcher Dario Alvarez (0.2IP 0H 0R 0BB K W in the 4-3 win over the Mets) made his Major League debut Sept. 3, 2014, and was playing in his 12th career game. He is the 3,663rd player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Morales earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Greinke earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Realmuto earns 1.5 points for being NL Batter of the Day. All of Saturday’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
| 6/18 | Score | Game | Player of Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 8.0 | KC 16/DET 5 | Kendrys Morales, DH | 5 | 4 | 4 | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| NL | 8.0 | ARI 4/PHI 1 | Zack Greinke (W,10-3) | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | |
| 5.0 | CLE 13/CHW 2 | Tyler Naquin, CF | 3 | 1 | 3 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.0 | SD 7/DC 3 | Wil Myers, 1B | 4 | 2 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.0 | `HOU 5/CIN 4 | Dallas Keuchel | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 6 | ||
| 3.2 | `TEX 4/STL 3 | Cesar Ramos | - | - | - | - | 2.2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| BAT | 3.0 | MIA 9/COL 6 | J.T. Realmuto, C | 5 | 1 | 4 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 3.0 | BAL 4/TOR 2 | Jonathan Schoop, 2B | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | LAD 10/MIL 6 | Justin Turner, 3B | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | CHC 4/PIT 3 | David Ross, C | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | NYY 7/MIN 6 | Carlos Beltran, RF | 5 | 2 | 3 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | SF 6/TB 4 | Joe Panik, 2B | 4 | 1 | 1 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.2 | ATL 4/NYM 3 | Dario Alvarez (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | 0.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 1.0 | LAA 7/OAK 1 | Mike Trout, CF | 5 | 1 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | BOS 6/SEA 2 | Christian Vazquez, C | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| `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 | +/- |
| Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | ari nl | 9.7 | 30.4 | 95.5 | 156.1 | -11.0 |
| Trout, Mike 2949 | cf | ana al | 5.5 | 17.5 | 42.0 | 42.0 | -6.5 |
| Panik, Joe 3401 | 2b | sf nl | 4.0 | 8.0 | 9.0 | 9.0 | 0.0 |
| Myers, Wil 3228 | 1b | sd nl | 4.0 | 7.0 | 12.5 | 12.5 | 1.0 |
| Keuchel, Dallas 3050 | pi sp | hou al | 3.0 | 24.4 | 38.8 | 38.8 | -18.4 |
| Beltran, Carlos 1194 | rf dh | nyy al | 3.0 | 6.5 | 23.9 | 101.9 | -0.5 |
| Realmuto, J.T. 3491 | ca | fla nl | 2.5 | 7.5 | 7.5 | 7.5 | -2.5 |
| Schoop, Jonathan 3307 | 2b | bal al | 2.5 | 5.0 | 7.5 | 7.5 | 0.0 |
| Ross, David 1729 | ca | chi nl | 2.5 | 2.5 | 11.0 | 27.1 | 2.5 |
| Morales, Kendrys 2142 | dh | kc al | 2.0 | 6.7 | 16.7 | 32.7 | -2.7 |
| Ramos, Cesar 3168 | pi sp mr | tex al | 2.0 | 2.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 2.0 |
| Turner, Justin 2865 | 3b 2b | lad nl | 1.0 | 5.0 | 10.5 | 10.5 | -3.0 |
| Vazquez, Christian 3380 | ca | bos al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 1.0 |
| Alvarez, Dario 3663 | pi mr | atl nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| Naquin, Tyler 3662 | cf | cle al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |