Rangers pitcher Cole Hamels is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to take the season Box-Toppers points lead among American League pitchers.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2016 season as of July 28:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 20.0 |
| 2 | Fernandez, Jose 3147 | pi sp | fla nl | 16.4 |
| 3 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 16.0 |
| 4 | Cueto, Johnny 2400 | pi sp | sf nl | 14.4 |
| 5 | Hamels, Cole 2135 | pi sp | tex al | 14.1 |
| 6 | Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | cle al | 12.5 |
| 7 | Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 12.4 |
| 8 | Bumgarner, Madison 2753 | pi sp | sf nl | 11.0 |
| 9 | Syndergaard, Noah 3472 | pi sp | nym nl | 11.0 |
| 10 | Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | chi nl | 10.7 |
Hamels struck out 12 over eight innings, allowing two runs, six hits and one walk, in the 3-2 win over the Royals.
Hamels earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 14.1 for the season, rising from seventh to fifth in overall season player rankings. He rises to first among AL pitchers, passing previous leader Corey Kluber of the Indians (12.5).
Hamels also takes the lead among AL pitchers in Box-Toppers points since the start of 2015. He has 29.5 Box-Toppers points in the span, the same totals as Chris Sale of the White Sox and David Price of the Red Sox, but Hamels holds the tiebreaker and ranks higher because he has more points in 2016.
Hamels also now has 140.3 career Box-Toppers points and rises to 25th place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. With his points Thursday, Hamels passes two players on the “all-time” list—Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers (138.4) and Andy Pettitte (138.5). Hamels now trails 24th-ranked player, Giants pitcher Jake Peavy (141.8). Hamels also now ranks 10th in career Box-Toppers points among active players.
National League Player of the Day—Cubs closing pitcher Aroldis Chapman pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing no hits or walks and striking out two, in the 3-1 win over the White Sox. It is his first Player of the Game honor he has earned since being traded from the Yankees earlier this week.
Chapman earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 6.4 for the season, rising to first among all closing pitchers, passing previous leader David Robertson of the White Sox (5.0).
National League Batter of the Day—Aaron Altherr of the Phillies hit a two-run homer and went 2-for-5, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 5-4 win over the Marlins.
American League Batter of the Day—Max Kepler of the Twins homered, tripled and went 2-for-3, scoring twice and driving in two runs, in the 6-2 win over the Orioles.
Debut—Angels closing pitcher Cam Bedrosian made his Box-Toppers debut Thursday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors.
Bedrosian (1IP 0H 0R 0BB 2K in the 2-1 win over the Red Sox) made his Major League debut June 3, 2014, and was playing in his 93rd career game. He is the 3,694th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Hamels earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Chapman earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Altherr and Kepler each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s 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
| 7/28 | Score | Game | Player of Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 9.0 | TEX 3, KC 2 | Cole Hamels (W,12-2) | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 12 | |
| NL | 3.1 | CHC 3, CHW 1 | Aroldis Chapman (S,21) | - | - | - | - | 1.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| BAT | 3.0 | PHI 7, ATL 5 | Aaron Altherr, RF | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| BAT | 3.0 | MIN 6, BAL 2 | Max Kepler, RF | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 3.0 | LAA 2, BOS 1 | Cam Bedrosian (W,2-0) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2.0 | STL 5, MIA 4 | Aledmys Diaz, SS | 5 | 2 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | MIL 6, ARI 4 | Hernan Perez, SS | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | COL 2, NYM 1 | Carlos Estevez (S,11) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 1.1 | WSH 4, SF 2 | Shawn Kelley (S,5) | - | - | - | - | 0.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
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 | +/- |
| Hamels, Cole 2135 | pi sp | tex al | 14.1 | 29.5 | 81.1 | 140.3 | -1.3 |
| Chapman, Aroldis 2826 | pi cp | chi nl | 6.4 | 14.4 | 44.4 | 45.4 | -1.6 |
| Diaz, Aledmys 3612 | ss | stl nl | 5.5 | 5.5 | 5.5 | 5.5 | 5.5 |
| Estevez, Carlos 3641 | pi cp | col nl | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 |
| Kepler, Max 3664 | rf | min al | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 |
| Perez, Hernan 3577 | 3b ss ph | mil nl | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 1.0 |
| Altherr, Aaron 3563 | rf | phi nl | 1.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 0.5 |
| Kelley, Shawn 2630 | pi cp mr | dc nl | 1.0 | 3.0 | 7.0 | 10.0 | -1.0 |
| Bedrosian, Cam 3694 | pi cp | ana al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |