Royals pitcher Ian Kennedy is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Kennedy struck out 10 over eight scoreless innings, allowing two hits and two walks, in the 1-0 win over the Angels. Kennedy picked up a no-decision and did not earn the win or save because when he exited, the game was in a scoreless tie.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of April 16:| 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 | Holland, Greg 2906 | pi cp | col nl | 3.0 |
| 9 | Verlander, Justin 2112 | pi sp | det al | 2.7 |
| 10 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | bos al | 2.7 |
National League Player of the Day—Braves pitcher Bartolo Colon allowed one hit and one run in seven innings, striking out six, in the 9-2 win over the Padres.
Colon earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 151.2 for his career. He ranks 19th among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began, trailing 18th-ranked player Greg Maddux (151.7). (It should be noted that Maddux made his debut in 1986 and had seven 15-plus win seasons before Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995 and so, based on very rough extrapolations, would likely have about 250 career Box-Toppers points if his entire career were tracked.)
National League Batter of the Day—Bryce Harper of the Nationals hit two home runs, including a game-winning, walk-off, three-run homer, in the 6-4 win over the Phillies. Harper also hit a two-run homer and went 3-for-5, driving in five total runs.
American League Batter of the Day—Greg Bird of the Yankees homered, doubled and went 3-for-3, scoring twice and driving in two runs, in the 9-3 win over the Cardinals.
Rankings—Rockies closing pitcher Greg Holland rises to eighth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Sunday.
Holland (1IP 0H 0R 0BB K Sv in the 4-3 win over the Giants) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 3.0 for the season.
Debuts—Two players made their Box-Toppers debut Sunday, the first time in their career they earned Player of the Game honors:
- Adam Frazier of the Pirates (3-R HR 2B 3-4 R 3BI in the 6-1 win over the Cubs) made his Major League debut June 24, 2016, and was playing in his 77th career game. He is the 3,771st player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
- Mitch Haniger of the Mariners (3-R HR 1-3 R 4BI in the 8-7 win over the Rangers) made his Major League debut Aug. 16, 2016, and was playing in his 47th career game. He is the 3,772nd player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Kennedy earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Colon earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Harper and Bird each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Sunday’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| 4/16 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 14.0 | `KC 1, LAA 0 | Ian Kennedy | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 10 | |
| NL | 9.0 | ATL 9, SD 2 | Bartolo Colon (W,1-1) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | |
| 6.0 | BAL 11, TOR 4 | Dylan Bundy (W,2-1) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | ||
| 5.1 | `MIA 4, NYM 2 | Dan Straily | - | - | - | - | 5.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 5 | ||
| BAT | 5.0 | WSH 6, PHI 4 | Bryce Harper, RF | 5 | 2 | 3 | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 5.0 | ARI 3, LAD 1 | Taijuan Walker (W,2-1) | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | ||
| BAT | 4.0 | NYY 9, STL 3 | Greg Bird, 1B | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 3.0 | PIT 6, CHC 1 | Adam Frazier, LF | 4 | 1 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | SEA 8, TEX 7 | Mitch Haniger, RF | 3 | 1 | 1 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | DET 4, CLE 1 | Alex Avila, C | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | MIL 4, CIN 2 | Neftali Feliz (S,4) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 3.0 | BOS 7, TB 5 | Craig Kimbrel (S,5) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 3.0 | CHW 3, MIN 1 (F/10) | Nate Jones (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2.0 | COL 4, SF 3 | Greg Holland (S,7) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 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 | +/- |
| Holland, Greg 2906 | pi cp | col nl | 3.0 | 3.0 | 33.0 | 36.0 | 3.0 |
| Colon, Bartolo | pi sp | atl nl | 2.7 | 11.1 | 52.0 | 151.2 | -5.7 |
| Kennedy, Ian 2723 | pi sp | kc al | 2.0 | 12.0 | 43.1 | 68.5 | -8.0 |
| Kimbrel, Craig 2825 | pi cp | bos al | 2.0 | 10.0 | 54.7 | 60.7 | -6.0 |
| Bundy, Dylan 3655 | pi sp | bal al | 2.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 | -4.0 |
| Harper, Bryce 3011 | rf | dc nl | 1.5 | 4.5 | 28.9 | 28.9 | -1.5 |
| Bird, Greg 3562 | 1b | nyy al | 1.5 | 1.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 1.5 |
| Walker, Taijuan 3453 | pi sp | ari nl | 1.0 | 8.7 | 22.4 | 22.4 | -6.7 |
| Straily, Dan 3080 | pi sp | fla nl | 1.0 | 8.0 | 18.7 | 18.7 | -6.0 |
| Jones, Nate 3125 | pi mr | chi al | 1.0 | 5.0 | 13.0 | 13.0 | -3.0 |
| Feliz, Neftali 2651 | pi cp mr | mil nl | 1.0 | 2.0 | 8.0 | 19.7 | 0.0 |
| Avila, Alex 2642 | ca | det al | 1.0 | 2.0 | 8.5 | 18.0 | 0.0 |
| Frazier, Adam 3771 | lf | pit nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| Haniger, MItch 3772 | rf | sea al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |