Angels pitcher Matt Shoemaker is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of May 12:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Santana, Ervin 2005 | pi sp | min al | 7.7 |
| 2 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 7.0 |
| 3 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | bos al | 6.7 |
| 4 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 6.0 |
| 5 | Vargas, Jason 2055 | pi sp | kc al | 6.0 |
| 6 | Carrasco, Carlos 2885 | pi sp | cle al | 5.4 |
| 7 | Keuchel, Dallas 3050 | pi sp | hou al | 5.4 |
| 8 | Triggs, Andrew 3723 | pi sp | oak al | 5.4 |
| 9 | Kimbrel, Craig 2825 | pi cp | bos al | 5.0 |
| 10 | Nova, Ivan 2796 | pi sp | pit nl | 5.0 |
Also Friday, Twins pitcher Ervin Santana regains the lead in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Player of the Day—Shoemaker pitched six scoreless innings, striking out seven and allowing three hits, in the 7-0 win over the Tigers.
Shoemaker had a Box-Toppers game score of +9.0, tied with Astros pitcher Lance McCullers Jr., who was Player of the Game in the 5-1 win over the Yankees (6IP 4H 0R 0BB 7K W). But Shoemaker won overall Player of the Day honors on a tiebreaker—he allowed one fewer hit than McCullers (three vs. four). Yet, because of that one-hit difference, Shoemaker earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day while McCullers earns only 1.0 point for being Player of the Game.
National League Player of the Day—Cubs pitcher Eddie Butler pitched six scoreless innings, striking out five and allowing two hits, in the 3-2 win over the Cardinals.
National League Batter of the Day—Tyler Flowers of the Braves homered and went 2-for-4, scoring twice and driving in four runs, in the 8-4 win over the Marlins.
2017 lead changes
Here are the season’s lead changes among players in Box-Toppers points. Chart shows the date and the player’s Box-Toppers point (BTP) total when they took the lead.| Date | Player | Team | BTP |
| 4/2 | Carlos Martinez | stl nl | 2.0 |
| 4/3 | Clayton Kershaw | lad nl | 2.0 |
| 4/9 | Noah Syndergaard | nym nl | 3.0 |
| 4/14 | Clayton Kershaw | lad nl | 4.0 |
| 4/15 | Ervin Santana | min al | 4.7 |
| 4/19 | Clayton Kershaw | lad nl | 5.0 |
| 5/2 | Chris Sale | bos al | 6.7 |
| 5/6 | Clayton Kershaw | lad nl | 7.0 | 5/12 | Ervin Santana | min al | 7.7 |
American League Batter of the Day—There is no AL Batter of the Day for Friday because no AL batters earned Player of the Game honors.
Rankings—Twins pitcher Ervin Santana rises to first place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Friday in the 1-0 win over the Indians (7IP 2H 0R 4K W).
Santana earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 7.7 for the season, passing previous leader Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (7.0 Box-Toppers points). It is the second time this season Santana has led players in Box-Toppers points; he previously led from April 15 to 18. Santana also takes the lead in Box-Toppers points among AL pitchers, passing previous leader Chris Sale of the Red Sox (6.7).
Santana also now has 105.0 career Box-Toppers points, rising to 65th place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. With his point Friday, he passes Blue Jays pitcher Francisco Liriano (104.2) on the “all-time” list and now trails 64th-ranked player, Dodgers pitcher Scott Kazmir (105.1).
Streak—Giants pitcher Johnny Cueto has now earned Box-Toppers points for 10 straight seasons after earning his first Player of the Game honor of the 2017 season.
Cueto (8IP 5H 2R 3BB 6K ND in the 3-2, 17-inning win over the Reds) earned his first Box-Toppers point in 2008 with the Reds and has 100.8 career Box-Toppers points, becoming the 78th player with 100 or more Box-Toppers points since tracking began in 1995.
Cueto ranks 74th among all players in Box-Toppers points since 1995 and Friday passed four players on the “all-time” list—Larry Walker (100.1), Jeff Bagwell (100.4), Paul Konerko (100.7) and Giants pitcher Matt Cain (100.7). Cueto now trails 73rd-ranked player Matt Holliday of the Yankees (100.8). Though both Cueto and Holliday both have 100.8 career Box-Toppers points, Holliday ranks higher because he has more 2017 Box-Toppers points than Cueto (3.0 vs. 1.0).
Cueto’s best season was 2014 with the Reds, when he had 22.4 Box-Toppers points, fourth among all players. In 2016, he had 16.4 points with the Giants, eighth among all players.
Debuts—Two players made their Box-Toppers debuts Friday, the first time in their careers they earned Player of the Game honors:
- Rangers closer Kela Keone (2IP 0H 0R BB 2K W in the 5-2 win over the Athletics) made his Major League debut April 7, 2015, and was playing in his 115th career game. He is the 3,789th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
- Austin Hedges of the Padres (HR 2B 2-4 R 3BI in the 6-3 win over the White Sox) made his Major League debut May 4, 2015, and was playing in his 98th career game. He is the 3,790th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Shoemaker earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Butler earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Flowers earns 1.5 points for being NL Batter of the Day. All of Friday’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| 5/12 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 9.0 | LAA 7, DET 0 | Matt Shoemaker (W,2-2) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | |
| 9.0 | HOU 5, NYY 1 | Lance McCullers Jr. (W,3-1) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | ||
| NL | 6.0 | CHC 3, STL 2 | Eddie Butler (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | |
| BAT | 4.0 | ATL 8, MIA 4 | Tyler Flowers, C | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | MIN 1, CLE 0 | Ervin Santana (W,6-1) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 4 | ||
| 4.0 | TOR 4, SEA 0 | Joe Biagini (W,1-1) | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 3.0 | MIL 7, NYM 4 | Eric Sogard, SS | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | TEX 5, OAK 2 | Keone Kela (W,1-1) | - | - | - | - | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | ||
| 2.1 | TB 5, BOS 4 | Alex Colome (S,9) | - | - | - | - | 1.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 2.0 | ARI 11, PIT 4 | Brandon Drury, 2B | 5 | 1 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | SD 6, CHW 3 | Austin Hedges, C | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | LAD 6, COL 2 | Chase Utley, 1B | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | `SF 3, CIN 2 (F/17) | Johnny Cueto | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 6 | ||
| 1.0 | KC 3, BAL 2 | Joakim Soria (W,2-1) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
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 | 7.7 | 11.7 | 44.5 | 105.0 | 3.7 |
| McCullers, Lance 3488 | pi sp | hou al | 4.0 | 10.1 | 16.8 | 16.8 | -2.1 |
| Colome, Alex 3189 | pi cp | tb al | 3.0 | 12.0 | 20.7 | 20.7 | -6.0 |
| Shoemaker, Matt 3290 | pi sp | ana al | 2.0 | 9.0 | 27.4 | 27.4 | -5.0 |
| Soria, Joakim 2258 | pi mr cp | kc al | 2.0 | 3.0 | 11.7 | 47.7 | 1.0 |
| Butler, Eddie 3483 | pi sp | chi nl | 1.7 | 2.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 0.7 |
| Flowers, Tyler 3101 | ca | atl nl | 1.5 | 4.0 | 12.5 | 12.5 | -1.0 |
| Cueto, Johnny 2400 | pi sp | sf nl | 1.0 | 17.4 | 71.0 | 100.8 | -15.4 |
| Biagini, Joe 3646 | pi sp | tor al | 1.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | -1.0 |
| Drury, Brandon 3744 | 2b lf | ari nl | 1.0 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | -0.5 |
| Utley, Chase 1861 | 1b 2b | lad nl | 1.0 | 2.0 | 13.0 | 74.1 | 0.0 |
| Sogard, Eric 3174 | ss 2b | mil nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 1.0 |
| Hedges, Austin 3790 | ca | sd nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| Kela, Keone 3789 | pi cp | tex al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |