Angels pitcher Hector Santiago is Thursday’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 July 7:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 20.0 |
| 2 | Cueto, Johnny 2400 | pi sp | sf nl | 13.4 |
| 3 | Fernandez, Jose 3147 | pi sp | fla nl | 13.4 |
| 4 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 12.0 |
| 5 | Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | cle al | 10.8 |
| 6 | Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | chi nl | 10.7 |
| 7 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | chi al | 10.7 |
| 8 | Salazar, Danny 3223 | pi sp | cle al | 10.5 |
| 9 | Hamels, Cole 2135 | pi sp | tex al | 10.4 |
| 10 | Pomeranz, Drew 3061 | pi sp | sd nl | 10.4 |
Also Thursday, Padres pitcher Drew Pomeranz rises to 10th place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Player of the Day—Santiago pitched seven scoreless innings, striking out nine and allowing three hits and four walks, in the 5-1 win over the Rays.
National League Player of the Day—Padres pitcher Drew Pomeranz pitched seven scoreless innings, allowing two hits and two walks, striking out six, in the 6-0 win over the Dodgers.
Pomeranz earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 10.4 for the season, rising to 10th place among all players. He ranks sixth among NL pitchers. Pomeranz also becomes the 11th player this season with 10 or more Box-Toppers points.
Four pitchers among Thursday’s Players of the Game were tied for highest Box-Toppers game score of the day (+9.0)—Santiago, Pomeranz, plus Athletics pitcher Rich Hill and Twins pitcher Tyler Duffey. Santiago and Pomeranz ranked ahead of Hill and Duffey because they had more innings pitched (7 vs. 6). Santiago ranked ahead of Pomeranz to earn overall Player of the Day honors because he had more strikeouts (9 vs. 6).
National League Batter of the Day—Trevor Story of the Rockies hit two homers and went 2-for-3, scoring three times and driving in four runs, in the 11-2 win over the Phillies.
American League Batter of the Day—Salvador Perez of the Royals hit a ninth-inning, walk-off, two-run double in the 4-3 win over the Mariners. Perez went 3-for-4, scoring once.
Notable—Wilmer Flores of the Mets has earned Box-Toppers points two days in a row and three times in the past five days after earning Player of the Game honors Thursday.
Flores (HR 1-2 R 3BI in the 9-7 win Thursday over the Nationals) was also Player of the Game Wednesday and was NL Batter of the Day in the Mets’ win Sunday, July 3. Flores has 3.5 Box-Toppers points for the season, all earned in the past five days.
Also notable—Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright now has 107.3 career Box-Toppers points—57th-most among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began—after earning Player of the Game honors Thursday.
Wainwright (7IP 5H R BB 9K W in the 5-1 win over the Pirates) now trails 56th-ranked player on the “all-time” list, Lance Berkman (108.1). Wainwright has 5.5 Box-Toppers points for the season, 25th among NL pitchers.
Scoring—Santiago earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Pomeranz earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Story and Perez 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.
Note—Friday’s usual Box-Toppers team power rankings report and player rankings report will be delayed until the All-Star break on Monday.
Top player from each game
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score
| 7/7 | Score | Game | Player of Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 9.0 | LAA 5/TB 1 | Hector Santiago (W,6-4) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 9 | |
| NL | 9.0 | SD 6/LAD 0 | Drew Pomeranz (W,8-7) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | |
| 9.0 | OAK 3/HOU 1 | Rich Hill (W,9-3) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 10 | ||
| 9.0 | MIN 10/TEX 1 | Tyler Duffey (W,5-6) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 9 | ||
| 8.0 | STL 5/PIT 1 | Adam Wainwright (W,8-5) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 9 | ||
| BAT | 6.0 | COL 11/PHI 2 | Trevor Story, SS | 3 | 3 | 2 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.2 | `ATL 4/CHC 3 | Lucas Harrell | - | - | - | - | 7.2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | ||
| 3.0 | NYM 9/DC 7 | Wilmer Flores, 1B-3B | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| BAT | 2.0 | KC 4/SEA 3 | Salvador Perez, C | 4 | 1 | 3 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 2.0 | TOR 5/DET 4 | Michael Saunders, LF | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | NYY 5/CLE 4 | Chase Headley, 3B | 3 | 2 | 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 | +/- |
| Pomeranz, Drew 3061 | pi sp | sd nl | 10.4 | 13.4 | 21.4 | 21.4 | 7.4 |
| Hill, Rich 2215 | pi sp | oak al | 9.4 | 13.4 | 13.4 | 33.1 | 5.4 |
| Santiago, Hector 3109 | pi sp | ana al | 8.4 | 16.4 | 28.8 | 28.8 | 0.4 |
| Wainwright, Adam 2150 | pi sp | stl nl | 5.5 | 8.5 | 56.6 | 107.3 | 2.5 |
| Saunders, Michael 2768 | lf | tor al | 4.2 | 4.2 | 13.9 | 14.9 | 4.2 |
| Perez, Salvador 2972 | ca | kc al | 4.0 | 8.5 | 21.7 | 21.7 | -0.5 |
| Duffey, Tyler 3558 | pi sp | min al | 4.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 0.0 |
| Story, Trevor 3607 | ss | col nl | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
| Flores, Wilmer 3345 | 3b 1b | nym nl | 3.5 | 6.0 | 8.5 | 8.5 | 1.0 |
| Headley, Chase 2552 | 3b | nyy al | 3.5 | 5.5 | 17.0 | 27.5 | 1.5 |
| Harrell, Lucas 2988 | pi sp | atl nl | 2.0 | 2.0 | 6.7 | 6.7 | 2.0 |