Giants pitcher Jeff Samardzija is Saturday’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 20:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 8.7 |
| 2 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | bos al | 8.4 |
| 3 | Santana, Ervin 2005 | pi sp | min al | 7.7 |
| 4 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 6.0 |
| 5 | Harper, Bryce 3011 | rf | dc nl | 6.0 |
| 6 | Wood, Alex 3246 | pi sp | lad nl | 6.0 |
| 7 | Vargas, Jason 2055 | pi sp | kc al | 6.0 |
| 8 | Holland, Greg 2906 | pi cp | col nl | 6.0 |
| 9 | Carrasco, Carlos 2885 | pi sp | cle al | 5.4 |
| 10 | Keuchel, Dallas 3050 | pi sp | hou al | 5.4 |
Samardzija pitched eight scoreless innings, striking out eight and allowing five hits and no walks, in the 3-1, 13-inning win over the Cardinals. Samardzija picked up a no-decision and did not earn the win because the game was in a scoreless tie when he exited.
Samardzija has the most 2017 Box-Toppers points of any of the 13 who earned Player of the Game honors Saturday. Samardzija earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 4.0 for the season and ranks 23rd among all players, ninth among National League pitchers.
American League Player of the Day—Indians pitcher Mike Clevinger pitched seven scoreless innings, striking out eight and allowing two hits, in the 3-0 win over the Astros.
Clevinger had a Box-Toppers game score Saturday of +11.0, tied with overall Player of the Day Jeff Samardzija. But Samardzija won Player of the Day on a tiebreaker—he had more innings pitched (eight vs. seven).
American League Batter of the Day—Avisail Garcia of the White Sox homered twice and doubled twice, going 4-for-5, scoring three times and driving in six runs, in the 16-1 win over the Mariners.
National League Batter of the Day—JT Riddle of the Marlins homered, doubled and went 3-for-5, scoring twice and driving in four runs, in the 10-6 win over the Dodgers.
This was Riddle’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Riddle made his Major League debut April 11 and was playing in his 19th career game. He is the 3,805th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Debuts—In addition to Riddle, two other players made their Box-Toppers debut Saturday, the first time in their careers they earned Player of the Game honors:
- Athletics pitcher Frankie Montas (3IP 2H 0R 0BB 5K ND in the 8-3 win over the Red Sox) made his Major League debut Sept. 2, 2015, and was playing in his 23rd career game. He is the 3,803rd player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
- Reds pitcher Asher Wojciechowski (3.2IP H 0R 0BB 3K W in the 12-8 win over the Rockies) made his Major League debut Apr 9, 2015, and was playing in his sixth career game. He is the 3,804th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Samardzjia earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Clevinger earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Garcia and Riddle 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| 5/20 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 11.0 | `SF 3, STL 1 (F/13) | Jeff Samardzija | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | |
| AL | 11.0 | CLE 3, HOU 0 | Mike Clevinger (W,2-1) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8 | |
| 8.2 | ARI 9, SD 1 | Robbie Ray (W,3-3) | - | - | - | - | 7.2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 | ||
| BAT | 8.0 | CHW 16, SEA 1 | Avisail Garcia, RF | 5 | 3 | 4 | 6 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 6.0 | TB 9, NYY 5 | Corey Dickerson, DH | 3 | 3 | 2 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 6.0 | `OAK 8, BOS 3 | Frankie Montas | - | - | - | - | 3.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | ||
| 5.2 | CIN 12, COL 8 | Asher Wojciechowski (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | 3.2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 5.0 | DET 9, TEX 3 | Alex Avila, 1B | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| BAT | 4.0 | MIA 10, LAD 6 | JT Riddle, SS | 5 | 2 | 3 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | BAL 7, TOR 5 | Mark Trumbo, DH | 4 | 2 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | PIT 6, PHI 3 | David Freese, 3B | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | NYM 7, LAA 5 | Michael Conforto, LF | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | `ATL 5, WSH 2 | Jose Ramirez (H,6) | - | - | - | - | 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 | +/- |
| Samardzija, Jeff 2495 | pi sp | sf nl | 4.0 | 14.7 | 50.8 | 53.8 | -6.7 |
| Garcia, Avisail 3256 | rf | chi al | 4.0 | 6.5 | 15.0 | 15.0 | 1.5 |
| Ray, Robbie 3502 | pi sp | ari nl | 3.0 | 9.7 | 13.7 | 13.7 | -3.7 |
| Conforto, Michael 3622 | cf lf | nym nl | 3.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 | -2.0 |
| Avila, Alex 2642 | ca 1b | det al | 3.0 | 4.0 | 10.5 | 20.0 | 2.0 |
| Clevinger, Mike 3707 | pi sp mr | cle al | 2.7 | 5.7 | 5.7 | 5.7 | -0.3 |
| Freese, David 2710 | 3b | pit nl | 2.0 | 4.0 | 20.2 | 26.2 | 0.0 |
| Ramirez, Jose A. 3716 | pi mr | atl nl | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 1.0 |
| Riddle, JT 3805 | ss | fla nl | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 |
| Trumbo, Mark 2851 | dh rf | bal al | 1.0 | 9.2 | 28.9 | 34.9 | -7.2 |
| Dickerson, Corey 3222 | dh lf | tb al | 1.0 | 5.5 | 17.5 | 17.5 | -3.5 |
| Montas, Frankie 3803 | pi mr | oak al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| Wojciechowski, Asher 3804 | pi mr | cin nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |