Diamondbacks pitcher Braden Shipley 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 Aug. 11:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 20.0 |
| 2 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 18.7 |
| 3 | Fernandez, Jose 3147 | pi sp | fla nl | 16.4 |
| 4 | Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | cle al | 16.2 |
| 5 | Cueto, Johnny 2400 | pi sp | sf nl | 14.4 |
| 6 | Hamels, Cole 2135 | pi sp | tex al | 14.1 |
| 7 | Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 14.1 |
| 8 | Lester, Jon 2173 | pi sp | chi nl | 13.4 |
| 9 | Happ, J.A. 2536 | pi sp | tor al | 12.7 |
| 10 | Altuve, Jose 3007 | 2b | hou al | 12.5 |
Also Thursday, Jose Altuve of the Astros became the first batter in nearly two months to land a spot among Box-Toppers top 10 season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors. Altuve, the Box-Toppers points leader among American League batters, rises to 10th place among all players.
Player of the Day—Shipley pitched seven scoreless innings, striking out seven and allowing three hits and one walk, in the 9-0 win over the Mets.
American League Player of the Day—Astros pitcher Chris Devenski pitched five scoreless innings, allowing two hits, no walks and striking out five, in the 10-2 win over the Twins.
This was Devenski’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Devenski made his Major League debut April 8 and was playing in his 32nd career game. He is the 3,702nd player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
American League Batter of the Day—Mike Napoli of the Indians hit a three-run homer and two doubles, going 4-for-4, scoring three times and driving in four runs, in the 14-4 win over the Angels.
National League Batter of the Day—Hernan Perez of the Brewers homered and went 3-for-4, scoring twice and driving in two runs, in the 11-3 win over the Braves.
Rankings—Jose Altuve of the Astros rises to 10th place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Thursday.
Altuve (2B 4-5 3R 3BI in the 15-7 win over the Twins) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 12.5 for the season. He extends his Box-Toppers points lead among AL batters (second place Manny Machado of the Orioles has 10.2 points).
Altuve is the first batter in the overall top 10 in Box-Toppers points since June 14, when Machado was among the top 10 with 8.7 points. Altuve’s 12.5 points for the season also matches the 12.5 points Adrian Beltre of the Rangers had in 2015 to lead AL batters at the end of the season.
Debut—Yankees pitcher Luis Cessa made his Box-Toppers debut Thursday with his first career Player of the Game honor.
Cessa (2IP 0H 0R 0BB 2K W in the 4-2 win over the Red Sox) made his Major League debut April 8 and was playing in his seventh career game. He is the 3,703rd player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Shipley earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Devenski earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Napoli 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.
Top player from each game
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score
| 8/11 | Score | Game | Player of Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 10.0 | ARI 9, NYM 0 | Braden Shipley (W,2-1) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | |
| AL | 8.0 | HOU 10, MIN 2 | Chris Devenski (W,1-4) | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | |
| BAT | 7.0 | CLE 14, LAA 4 | Mike Napoli, 1B | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 7.0 | PIT 4, SD 0 | Jameson Taillon (W,3-2) | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | ||
| 6.0 | KC 2, CHW 1 | Danny Duffy (W,9-1) | - | - | - | - | 9.0 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | ||
| 5.0 | HOU 15, MIN 7 | Jose Altuve, 2B | 5 | 3 | 4 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 5.0 | BAL 9, OAK 6 | Mark Trumbo, RF | 4 | 2 | 2 | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.0 | NYY 4, BOS 2 | Luis Cessa (W,2-0) | - | - | - | - | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 4.0 | COL 12, TEX 9 | Adam Ottavino (S,1) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| BAT | 3.0 | MIL 11, ATL 3 | Hernan Perez, 3B | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 3.0 | CHC 4, STL 3 (11) | Mike Montgomery (W,4-5) | - | - | - | - | 2.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
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 | +/- |
| Altuve, Jose 3007 | 2b | hou al | 12.5 | 19.5 | 29.0 | 29.0 | 5.5 |
| Duffy, Danny 2915 | pi sp | kc al | 9.7 | 13.7 | 28.7 | 28.7 | 5.7 |
| Trumbo, Mark 2851 | rf | bal al | 8.2 | 10.7 | 33.9 | 33.9 | 5.7 |
| Napoli, Mike 2161 | 1b | cle al | 5.0 | 9.5 | 37.2 | 56.2 | 0.5 |
| Taillon, Jameson 3658 | pi sp | pit nl | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 |
| Montgomery, Mike 3513 | pi cp mr sp | chi nl | 4.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 0.0 |
| Perez, Hernan 3577 | 3b ss ph | mil nl | 3.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 2.5 |
| Shipley, Braden 3695 | pi sp | ari nl | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 |
| Devenski, Chris 3702 | pi sp | hou nl | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.7 |
| Ottavino, Adam 3054 | pi cp | col nl | 1.0 | 3.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | -1.0 |
| Cessa, Luis 3703 | pi mr | nyy al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |