Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw is Thursday’s Box-Toppers spring training Player of the Day.
Box-Toppers is tracking several days of spring training during 2017 as a sort of a test and demonstration of the Box-Toppers player tracking metric. Even after 22 seasons of tracking (including sharing those results for the past four seasons on Box-Toppers.com), we need to spend a little time practicing hitting the cut-off man and getting in shape for the 2,430 games to be tracked during the regular season.
Player of the Day—Kershaw struck out 11 over six scoreless innings, allowing two hits and one walk, in the 10-2 win over the Rangers. In 2016, Kershaw ranked second in Box-Toppers points with 24.4, just behind overall leader Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer (25.7). Kershaw leads all players in Box-Toppers points since the start of 2012—he has 124.1 points over that span, ahead of Scherzer’s 103.9.
American League Player of the Day—Mariners pitcher Felix Hernandez pitched six scoreless innings, allowing one hit, no walks and striking out five, in the 9-2 win over the Giants. In 2016, Hernandez had 6.0 Box-Toppers points, which was his lowest point total in his 12 seasons. Hernandez ranks fifth among all players in Box-Toppers points since 2012 (79.7).
American League Batter of the Day—Yonder Alonso of the Athletics homered twice, going 2-for-3, scoring three times and driving in three runs, in the 15-5 win over the Brewers. In 2016, Alonso had 2.0 Box-Toppers points.
National League Batter of the Day—Jamie Romak of the Padres hit a two-run double, going 1-for-1 and scoring once, in the 6-2 win over the Angels. Romak has yet to earn Player of the Game honors in the regular season and has no Box-Toppers points.
Notable—Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright earned Player of the Game honors for batting. Wainwright went 1-for-1, scoring once and driving in one run, in the 5-3 win over the Marlins. In 2016, Wainwright twice earned Player of the Game honors for batting, most of any pitcher. Wainwright had 10.2 Box-Toppers points in 2016, 20th among NL pitchers.
Scoring—No Box-Toppers points are awarded in spring training games, but if it were the regular season, Kershaw would earn 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, Hernandez would earn 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day and Alonso and Romak would 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) would earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point.
Note—Thirteen spring training games were scheduled for Thursday—11 are listed below. Two games are not listed because they ended in ties (Yankees 5, Rays 5 and Cubs 5, Diamondbacks 5).
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.
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Top player from each game
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score
| 3/23 | Score | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 14.0 | LAD 10, TEX 2 | Clayton Kershaw (W, 2-1) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 11 | |
| AL | 10.0 | SEA 9, SF 2 | Felix Hernandez (W, 2-0) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | |
| 8.0 | CHW 4, CIN 2 | Jose Quintana (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 6.0 | WSH 1, NYM 0 | Erick Fedde (W, 2-0) | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| BAT | 5.0 | OAK 15, MIL 5 | Yonder Alonso 1B | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 5.0 | CLE 8, COL 3 | Corey Kluber (W, 1-1) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 8 | ||
| 4.1 | BOS 10, PIT 7 | Steven Wright (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | 4.1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | ||
| BAT | 3.0 | SD 6, LAA 2 | Jamie Romak PR-3B | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 3.0 | `ATL 2, DET 1 | Arodys Vizcaíno | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2.0 | STL 5, MIA 3 | Adam Wainwright P | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | MIN 4, PHI 2 | Buddy Boshers (S, 2) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| `Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save. | ||||||||||||||