Royals pitcher Jason Vargas is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to second place in season player rankings.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of April 19:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 5.0 |
| 2 | Vargas, Jason 2055 | pi sp | kc al | 5.0 |
| 3 | Santana, Ervin 2005 | pi sp | min al | 4.7 |
| 4 | Chacin, Jhoulys 2711 | pi mr sp | sd nl | 3.7 |
| 5 | Keuchel, Dallas 3050 | pi sp | hou al | 3.4 |
| 6 | Morrison, Logan 2794 | 1b | tb al | 3.2 |
| 7 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 3.0 |
| 8 | Syndergaard, Noah 3472 | pi sp | nym nl | 3.0 |
| 9 | Kimbrel, Craig 2825 | pi cp | bos al | 3.0 |
| 10 | Devenski, Chris 3702 | pi mr cp | hou al | 3.0 |
Also Wednesday, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw regains first place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Player of the Day—Vargas pitched seven scoreless innings, striking out nine and allowing four hits, in the 2-0 win over the Giants.
Vargas earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 5.0 for the season, rising to second in Box-Toppers season player rankings. He trails Kershaw, who also now has 5.0 Box-Toppers points, but ranks ahead on a tiebreaker because he had more 2016 points than Vargas—24.4 vs. 1.0.
National League Player of the Day—Padres pitcher Jhoulys Chacin pitched eight scoreless innings, striking out five and allowing three hits, in the 1-0 win over the Diamondbacks.
Chacin earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 3.7 for the season, rising to fourth place in season player rankings.
National League Batter of the Day—Bryce Harper of the Nationals hit two home runs, including a grand slam, in the 14-4 win over the Braves. Harper also doubled and went 4-for-4, scoring three times and driving in five total runs.
American League Batter of the Day—Mitch Haniger of the Mariners doubled and went 3-for-4, scoring three times and driving in four runs, in the 10-5 win over the Marlins.
Rankings—Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw regained the lead in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Wednesday.
Kershaw (7IP 5H 2R BB 10K W in the 4-2 win over the Rockies) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 5.0 for the season, regaining the season points lead for the third time this season. Kershaw passes previous leader, Twins pitcher Ervin Santana (4.7 points), who drops to third place.
Kershaw also now has 188.7 career Box-Toppers points, fourth among all players since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995, trailing third-place player Curt Schilling (194.1). Kershaw is the active leader in career Box-Toppers points, ahead of Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia (187.0).
Streaks—Two players extended their streaksearning Box-Toppers points for 10 or more consecutive seasons after earning Player of the Game honors Wednesday:
- Blue Jays pitcher Francisco Liriano (5.1IP 4H 0R BB 6K W in the 3-0 win over the Red Sox) has now earned Box-Toppers points for 10 straight seasons. Liriano earned his first Box-Toppers points in 2005 with the Twins, but his consecutive seasons streak earning points began in 2008 with the Twins. He has 104.2 career Box-Toppers points, 65th-most among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. With his point Wednesday, he passes Jamie Moyer (104.0) on the “all-time” list and now trails 64th-ranked player Carlos Beltran of the Astros (104.9). Liriano’s best season was 2013 with the Pirates when he had 16.7 Box-Toppers points, sixth among NL pitchers.
- Orioles pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez (7.2IP 2H 0R 4BB 3K W in the 2-0 win over the Reds) has now earned Box-Toppers points for 11 straight seasons and has 80.5 career points, 12th among active AL pitchers. His best year was 2013, when he had 14.5 Box-Toppers points with the Indians, ninth among AL pitchers.
Debut—Rays closing pitcher Austin Pruitt made his Box-Toppers debut Wednesday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors.
Pruitt (3.1IP H 0R 0BB 5K W in the 8-7 win over the Tigers) made his Major League debut April 2 and was playing in his seventh career game. He is the 3,773rd player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Vargas earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Chacin earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Harper and Haniger each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Wednesday’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| 4/19 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 12.0 | KC 2, SF 0 | Jason Vargas (W,3-0) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | |
| NL | 9.0 | SD 1, ARI 0 | Jhoulys Chacin (W,2-2) | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | |
| BAT | 8.0 | WSH 14, ATL 4 | Bryce Harper, RF | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 7.1 | TB 8, DET 7 | Austin Pruitt (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | 3.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | ||
| 7.0 | LAD 4, COL 2 | Clayton Kershaw (W,3-1) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 10 | ||
| 6.1 | TOR 3, BOS 0 | Francisco Liriano (W,1-1) | - | - | - | - | 5.1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | ||
| 6.0 | NYM 5, PHI 4 | Jay Bruce, RF | 4 | 2 | 3 | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| BAT | 6.0 | SEA 10, MIA 5 | Mitch Haniger, RF | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.2 | BAL 2, CIN 0 | Ubaldo Jimenez (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | 7.2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 | ||
| 4.0 | HOU 5, LAA 1 | Josh Reddick, RF-LF | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | STL 2, PIT 1 | Dexter Fowler, CF | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | CHC 7, MIL 4 | Addison Russell, SS | 4 | 1 | 2 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | OAK 9, TEX 1 | Khris Davis, LF | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | NYY 9, CHW 1 | Starlin Castro, 2B | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
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 | +/- |
| Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 5.0 | 29.4 | 129.1 | 188.7 | -19.4 |
| Vargas, Jason 2055 | pi sp | kc al | 5.0 | 6.0 | 31.4 | 52.2 | 4.0 |
| Chacin, Jhoulys 2711 | pi mr sp | sd nl | 3.7 | 9.4 | 16.1 | 31.5 | -2.0 |
| Harper, Bryce 3011 | rf | dc nl | 3.0 | 6.0 | 30.4 | 30.4 | 0.0 |
| Davis, Khris 3242 | lf | oak al | 2.5 | 9.2 | 19.2 | 19.2 | -4.2 |
| Haniger, MItch 3772 | rf | sea al | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 |
| Bruce, Jay 2453 | rf | nym nl | 2.0 | 10.5 | 27.7 | 60.8 | -6.5 |
| Castro, Starlin 2767 | 2b | nyy al | 2.0 | 9.0 | 17.5 | 27.5 | -5.0 |
| Reddick, Josh 2936 | rf lf | hou al | 2.0 | 5.5 | 25.4 | 26.4 | -1.5 |
| Liriano, Francisco 2104 | pi sp | tor al | 1.0 | 9.0 | 58.7 | 104.2 | -7.0 |
| Jimenez, Ubaldo 2349 | pi sp | bal al | 1.0 | 5.7 | 37.6 | 80.5 | -3.7 |
| Russell, Addison 3559 | ss | chi nl | 1.0 | 4.5 | 7.0 | 7.0 | -2.5 |
| Fowler, Dexter 2698 | cf | stl nl | 1.0 | 2.5 | 16.5 | 19.0 | -0.5 |
| Pruitt, Austin 3773 | pi cp | tb al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |