Twins pitcher Ervin Santana is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to take the lead in season Box-Toppers player rankings.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of April 15:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Santana, Ervin 2005 | pi sp | min al | 4.7 |
| 2 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 4.0 |
| 3 | Keuchel, Dallas 3050 | pi sp | hou al | 3.4 |
| 4 | Morrison, Logan 2794 | 1b | tb al | 3.2 |
| 5 | Syndergaard, Noah 3472 | pi sp | nym nl | 3.0 |
| 6 | Marte, Starling 3122 | lf cf | pit nl | 3.0 |
| 7 | Vargas, Jason 2055 | pi sp | kc al | 3.0 |
| 8 | Verlander, Justin 2112 | pi sp | det al | 2.7 |
| 9 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | bos al | 2.7 |
| 10 | Garcia, Avisail 3256 | rf | chi al | 2.5 |
Also Saturday, Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia rises to fifth place on the “all-time” Box-Toppers points list (since record keeping began in 1995), moving ahead of Alex Rodriguez.
Player of the Day—Santana pitched a one-hit shutout, striking out eight and walking one, in the 6-0 win over the White Sox.
Santana earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 4.7 for the season and rising to first place in Box-Toppers season player rankings. He passes previous leader, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (4.0).
Santana also now has 102.0 career Box-Toppers points, rising to 69th place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. With his points Saturday, he passes six players on the “all-time” list: Larry Walker (100.1), Jeff Bagwell (100.4), Paul Konerko (100.7), Jason Schmidt (101.2), Mark Teixiera (101.3) and Tim Wakefield (101.4). Santana now trails 68th-ranked player Ken Griffey Jr. (102.2).
National League Player of the Day—Rockies pitcher Tyler Chatwood pitched a two-hit shutout, striking out four and walking one, in the 5-0 win over the Giants.
American League Batter of the Day—Jose Ramirez of the Indians hit a pair of three-run homers and went 4-for-4, scoring three times and driving in six, in the 13-6 win over the Tigers.
National League Batter of the Day—Starling Marte of the Pirates homered and went 2-for-4, scoring twice and driving in two runs, in the 8-7 win over the Cubs.
Marte earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being NL Batter of the Day, giving him 3.0 for the season and rises to sixth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings, first among NL batters.
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 | Clayton Kershaw | pi sp | lad nl | 187.7 |
| 5 | CC Sabathia | pi sp | nyy al | 187.0 |
| 6 | Alex Rodriguez | dh | released | 187.0 |
| 7 | Albert Pujols | 1b dh | ana al | 182.3 |
| 8 | Roy Halladay | pi sp | retired | 170.7 |
| 9 | Felix Hernandez | pi sp | sea al | 169.7 |
| 10 | Manny Ramirez | lf dh | retired | 167.2 |
| 11 | Johan Santana | pi sp | free agent | 166.6 |
| 12 | Roger Clemens | pi sp | retired | 164.8 |
| 13 | John Smoltz | pi sp | retired | 160.9 |
| 14 | Zack Greinke | pi sp | ari nl | 157.1 |
| 15 | Tim Hudson | pi sp | retired | 157.0 |
| 16 | Mike Mussina | pi sp | retired | 155.6 |
| 17 | Barry Bonds | lf | retired | 153.2 |
| 18 | Greg Maddux | pi sp | retired | 151.7 |
| 19 | Bartolo Colon | pi sp | atl nl | 149.5 |
| 20 | Chipper Jones | 3b | retired | 149.0 |
List of top 100 players since 1995 at the close of the 2016 season.
Notable—Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia rises to fifth place in Box-Toppers points since 1995 (when tracking began) after earning Player of the Game honors Saturday. Santana (7.1IP 3H R BB 6K W in the 3-2 win over the Cardinals) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 187.0 for his career. With the point, he passes former teammate Alex Rodriguez, who also has 187.0 career points, but Sabathia ranks ahead because he has more 2017 points—2.0 vs. 0.0.
Sabathia now trails fourth-ranked player on the “all-time” list, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (187.7), who only passed Sabathia on Friday. Sabathia had briefly been the highest-ranked active player in career Box-Toppers points until being passed by Kershaw Friday. He now only trails Kershaw by 0.7 points.
In two days, Rodriguez has moved from fourth place to sixth place on the “all-time” list after being passed by Kershaw on Friday and Sabathia on Saturday. He had been in fourth place since April 2, 2011.
Rankings—Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale rises to ninth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Saturday. Sale (7IP 3H R 3BB 12K W in the 2-1 win over the Rays) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 2.7 for the season.
For the first time this season, all players in the season top 10 list have earned Player of the Game honors more than once in 2017.
Debut—Cesar Hernandez of the Phillies made his Box-Toppers debut Saturday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Hernandez (HR 2-4 2R 2BI in the 4-2 win over the Nationals) made his Major League debut May 29, 2013, and was playing in his 393rd career game. He is the 3,770th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Hernandez and Marte both had Box-Toppers game scores Saturday of +2.0, but Marte won NL Batter of the Day honors over Hernandez on a tiebreaker—he had one stolen base in his game and Hernandez had none.
Scoring—Santana earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Chatwood earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Ramirez and Marte each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Saturday’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.
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Top player from each game
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score| 4/15 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 15.0 | MIN 6, CHW 0 | Ervin Santana (W,3-0) | - | - | - | - | 9.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | |
| 14.0 | SEA 5, TEX 0 | James Paxton (W,2-0) | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 9 | ||
| 11.0 | BOS 2, TB 1 | Chris Sale (W,1-1) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 12 | ||
| NL | 10.0 | COL 5, SF 0 | Tyler Chatwood (W,1-2) | - | - | - | - | 9.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | |
| BAT | 9.0 | CLE 13, DET 6 | Jose Ramirez, 2B | 4 | 3 | 4 | 6 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 8.0 | `TOR 2, BAL 1 | Marco Estrada | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 8 | ||
| 7.1 | NYY 3, STL 2 | CC Sabathia (W,2-0) | - | - | - | - | 7.1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | ||
| 6.1 | LAD 8, ARI 4 | Alex Wood (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | 3.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 3.0 | HOU 10, OAK 6 | Will Harris (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 3.0 | ATL 4, SD 2 | Jim Johnson (S,3) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 3.0 | MIA 5, NYM 4 | AJ Ramos (S,2) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2.2 | KC 3, LAA 2 | Joakim Soria (W,1-0; BS,1) | - | - | - | - | 1.2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | ||
| BAT | 2.0 | PIT 8, CHC 7 | Starling Marte, CF | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 2.0 | PHI 4, WSH 2 | Cesar Hernandez, 2B | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | CIN 7, MIL 5 | Zack Cozart, SS | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
AL—Overall American League Player of the Day, worth 1.7 total Box-Toppers points.
NL—Overall National League Player of the Day, worth 1.7 total Box-Toppers points.
BAT—Top AL or NL Batter of the Day, worth 1.5 total Box-Toppers points.
All other players listed here earn Player of the Game honors, worth 1.0 Box-Toppers point.
` 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 (’17). Also shown are each players’ Box-Toppers point total for this season and last (’16-17), the period 2012-2017 (’12-17) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2017 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2016 total (+/-).| Player of the Game | Pos | Team | ’17 | ’16-17 | ’12-17 | Career | +/- |
| Santana, Ervin 2005 | pi sp | min al | 4.7 | 8.7 | 41.5 | 102.0 | 0.7 |
| Marte, Starling 3122 | lf cf | pit nl | 3.0 | 5.5 | 15.0 | 15.0 | 0.5 |
| Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | bos al | 2.7 | 16.1 | 84.1 | 89.1 | -10.7 |
| Sabathia, C.C. 1492 | pi sp | nyy al | 2.0 | 8.0 | 34.5 | 187.0 | -4.0 |
| Paxton, James 3280 | pi sp | sea al | 2.0 | 6.4 | 13.1 | 13.1 | -2.4 |
| Chatwood, Tyler 2856 | pi sp | col nl | 1.7 | 8.7 | 15.4 | 18.4 | -5.3 |
| Ramirez, Jose 3436 | 3b | cle al | 1.5 | 3.0 | 6.5 | 6.5 | 0.0 |
| Estrada, Marco 2847 | pi sp | tor al | 1.0 | 12.0 | 41.1 | 44.1 | -10.0 |
| Johnson, Jim 2417 | pi cp | atl nl | 1.0 | 5.0 | 16.0 | 22.7 | -3.0 |
| Ramos, A.J. 3210 | pi cp | fla nl | 1.0 | 3.0 | 13.0 | 13.0 | -1.0 |
| Cozart, Zack 3012 | ss | cin nl | 1.0 | 3.0 | 12.0 | 12.0 | -1.0 |
| Wood, Alex 3246 | pi mr sp | lad nl | 1.0 | 2.0 | 20.4 | 20.4 | 0.0 |
| Soria, Joakim 2258 | pi mr cp | kc al | 1.0 | 2.0 | 10.7 | 46.7 | 0.0 |
| Harris, Will 3093 | pi mr cp | hou al | 1.0 | 2.0 | 7.7 | 7.7 | 0.0 |
| Hernandez, Cesar 3770 | 2b | phi nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |