Diamondbacks pitcher Zack Greinke is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to 10th 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 2:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 14.0 |
| 2 | Fernandez, Jose 3147 | pi sp | fla nl | 9.7 |
| 3 | Cueto, Johnny 2400 | pi sp | sf nl | 9.0 |
| 4 | Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | chi nl | 8.7 |
| 5 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | chi al | 8.7 |
| 6 | Machado, Manny 3087 | ss 3b | bal al | 8.7 |
| 7 | Matz, Steven 3516 | pi sp | nym nl | 8.7 |
| 8 | Hill, Rich 2215 | pi sp | oak al | 8.4 |
| 9 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc al | 7.0 |
| 10 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | ari nl | 7.0 |
Greinke also rises two spots to 16th place in career Box-Toppers points among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began.
Greinke pitched seven scoreless innings, striking out 11 and allowing four hits, in the 3-0 win over the Astros.
Greinke earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points, giving him 7.0 for the season, rising to 10th in season player rankings, seventh among National League pitchers.
Greinke also now has 153.4 career Box-Toppers points, rising to 16th in “all-time” rankings, passing two players—Greg Maddux (151.7) and Barry Bonds (153.2). (It should be noted that both Bonds and Maddux began their careers before 1995 when tracking began and so both would likely have many more Box-Toppers points if their entire careers were tracked.) Greinke now trails 15th-ranked player Mike Mussina (155.6).
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 | 181.0 |
| 6 | Albert Pujols | 1b dh | ana al | 176.3 |
| 7 | Clayton Kershaw | pi sp | lad nl | 173.3 |
| 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 | Mike Mussina | pi sp | retired | 155.6 |
| 16 | Zack Greinke | pi sp | ari nl | 153.4 |
| 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 |
American League Player of the Day—Dae-Ho Lee of the Mariners homered and went 3-for-3, scoring twice and driving in four runs, in the 16-13 win over the Padres.
National League Batter of the Day—Eugenio Suarez of the Reds hit two homers, including a three-run shot, in the 11-4 win over the Rockies. Suarez also doubled and went 3-for-5, scoring three times and driving in four total runs.
Suarez earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being NL Batter of the Day, giving him 6.0 for the season and now ranks second among NL batters in season Box-Toppers points.
American League Batter of the Day—There is no separate AL Batter of the Day for Thursday because the AL Player of the Day was batter Dae-Ho Lee.
Debuts—Two players made their Box-Toppers debut Thursday, the first time in their career they earned Player of the Game honors:
- Marlins pitcher Nick Wittgren (3IP 0H 0R 3K W in the 4-3 win over the Pirates) made his Major League debut April 19 and was playing in his seventh career game. He is the 3,647th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
- Twins pitcher Taylor Rogers (2IP 0H 0R 2K W in the 6-4 win over the Rays) made his Major League debut April 14 and was playing in his ninth career game. He is the 3,648th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Greinke earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Lee earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Suarez earns 1.5 points for being NL Batter of the Day. All of Thursday’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
| 6/2 | Score | Game | Player of Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 14.0 | ARI 3/HOU 0 | Zack Greinke (W,7-3) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | |
| 12.2 | SF 6/ATL 0 | Madison Bumgarner (W,7-2) | - | - | - | - | 7.2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 11 | ||
| 6.2 | MIL 4/PHI 1 | Chase Anderson (W,3-6) | - | - | - | - | 5.2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | ||
| AL | 6.0 | SEA 16/SD 13 | Dae-Ho Lee, PH-1B | 3 | 2 | 3 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 6.0 | CHC 7/LAD 2 | Kyle Hendricks (W,4-4) | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 6 | ||
| 6.0 | MIA 4/PIT 3 | Nick Wittgren (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | 3.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| BAT | 5.0 | CIN 11/COL 4 | Eugenio Suarez, 3B | 5 | 3 | 3 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.2 | `NYY 5/DET 4 | Michael Pineda | - | - | - | - | 5.2 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 8 | ||
| 4.0 | MIN 6/TB 4 | Taylor Rogers (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 3.0 | BAL 12/BOS 7 | Mark Trumbo, RF | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.2 | CLE 5/KC 4 | Tommy Hunter (W,2-1) | - | - | - | - | 1.2 | 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 of Game | Pos | Team | 16 | 15-16 | 11-16 | Career | +/- |
| Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | ari nl | 7.0 | 27.7 | 92.8 | 153.4 | -13.7 |
| Bumgarner, Madison 2753 | pi sp | sf nl | 7.0 | 24.0 | 94.0 | 99.7 | -10.0 |
| Suarez, Eugenio 3355 | 3b | cin nl | 6.0 | 9.0 | 11.5 | 11.5 | 3.0 |
| Lee, Dae-Ho 3627 | 1b ph | sea al | 4.2 | 4.2 | 4.2 | 4.2 | 4.2 |
| Hendricks, Kyle 3386 | pi sp | chi nl | 4.0 | 13.7 | 18.7 | 18.7 | -5.7 |
| Anderson, Chase 3328 | pi sp | mil nl | 4.0 | 8.0 | 13.0 | 13.0 | 0.0 |
| Trumbo, Mark 2851 | dh rf | bal al | 2.5 | 5.0 | 28.2 | 28.2 | 0.0 |
| Pineda, Michael 2841 | pi sp | nyy al | 1.0 | 11.7 | 29.1 | 29.1 | -9.7 |
| Hunter, Tommy 2623 | pi cp | cle al | 1.0 | 2.0 | 9.0 | 16.0 | 0.0 |
| Rogers, Taylor 3648 | pi mr | min al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| Wittgren, Nick 3647 | pi cp | fla nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |