Diamondbacks pitcher Zack Greinke is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to fourth 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 May 22:| 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 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | ari nl | 6.7 |
| 5 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 6.0 |
| 6 | Harper, Bryce 3011 | rf | dc nl | 6.0 |
| 7 | Wood, Alex 3246 | pi sp | lad nl | 6.0 |
| 8 | Vargas, Jason 2055 | pi sp | kc al | 6.0 |
| 9 | Holland, Greg 2906 | pi cp | col nl | 6.0 |
| 10 | Sano, Miguel 3527 | 3b | min al | 5.5 |
Greinke also rises to 13th place in career points among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began.
Also Monday, Miguel Sano of the Twins rises to 10th place in season player rankings, first among American League batters, after earning Player of the Game honors.
Player of the Day—Greinke struck out 12 over 8 2/3 innings, allowing one run and four hits, in the 5-1 win over the White Sox.
Greinke earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 6.7 for the season, rising to fourth in season player rankings, second among National League pitchers, behind overall leader Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers (8.7 Box-Toppers points).
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 | 192.4 |
| 5 | CC Sabathia | pi sp | nyy al | 188.0 |
| 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 | Zack Greinke | pi sp | ari nl | 162.8 |
| 14 | John Smoltz | pi sp | retired | 160.9 |
| 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 | 151.2 |
| 20 | Chipper Jones | 3b | retired | 149.0 |
List of top 100 players since 1995 at the close of the 2016 season.
Greinke also now has 162.8 career Box-Toppers points, rising to 13th place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He passes John Smoltz (160.9) on the “all-time” list and now trails 12th-ranked player Roger Clemens (164.8). It should be noted that both Smoltz and Clemens began their careers before Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995 and so their career totals would likely be higher. Rough Box-Toppers projected estimates put Smoltz’s actual career total at 255 and Clemens’s at 320. (A look at projected Box-Toppers points totals for pitchers who began their careers before 1995.)
American League Player of the Day—Astros pitcher Brad Peacock struck out eight over 4 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing one hit, in the 1-0 win over the Tigers. Peacock did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because he did not pitch the requisite five innings to earn the win. But he did pitch at least three innings to automatically qualify to be considered as Player of the Game.
American League Batter of the Day—Miguel Sano of the Twins homered and went 4-for-6, scoring three times and driving in three runs, in the 14-7 win over the Orioles.
Sano earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day, giving him 5.5 for the season. He rises to 10th place in Box-Toppers seasonplayer rankings and first among AL batters, passing previous leader Aaron Judge of the Yankees (5.0 Box-Toppers points).
National League Batter of the Day—Joe Panik of the Giants homered and doubled twice in the 6-4 win over the Cubs. Panik went 3-for-4, scoring twice and driving in two runs.
Debut—Rockies pitcher Jeff Hoffman made his Box-Toppers debut Monday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors.
Hoffman (7IP 3H R 0BB 7K W in the 8-1 win over the Phillies) made his Major League debut Aug. 20, 2016, and was playing in his 11th career game. He is the 3,806th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Greinke earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Peacock earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Sano and Panik each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Monday’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| 5/22 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 13.2 | ARI 5, CHW 1 | Zack Greinke (W,6-2) | - | - | - | - | 8.2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 12 | |
| AL | 9.1 | `HOU 1, DET 0 | Brad Peacock | - | - | - | - | 4.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8 | |
| 9.0 | COL 8, PHI 1 | Jeff Hoffman (W,2-0) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 7 | ||
| 7.0 | CIN 5, CLE 1 | Scott Feldman (W,3-4) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 9 | ||
| BAT | 4.0 | MIN 14, BAL 7 | Miguel Sano, 3B | 6 | 3 | 4 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| BAT | 3.0 | SF 6, CHC 4 | Joe Panik, 2B | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 2.1 | LAA 3, TB 2 | Bud Norris (S,9) | - | - | - | - | 1.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | ||
| 2.0 | ATL 5, PIT 2 | Ender Inciarte, CF | 5 | 1 | 5 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | NYY 4, KC 2 | Didi Gregorius, SS | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
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 | +/- |
| Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | ari nl | 6.7 | 16.4 | 85.7 | 162.8 | -3.0 |
| Sano, Miguel 3527 | 3b | min al | 5.5 | 8.5 | 14.5 | 14.5 | 2.5 |
| Feldman, Scott 2632 | pi sp | cin nl | 4.0 | 4.0 | 20.7 | 28.7 | 4.0 |
| Norris, Bud 2638 | pi cp | ana al | 3.0 | 8.7 | 33.4 | 49.1 | -2.7 |
| Inciarte, Ender 3360 | cf | atl nl | 3.0 | 5.0 | 9.0 | 9.0 | 1.0 |
| Peacock, Brad 2968 | pi sp | hou al | 2.7 | 2.7 | 9.4 | 12.1 | 2.7 |
| Panik, Joe 3401 | 2b | sf nl | 1.5 | 7.0 | 12.0 | 12.0 | -4.0 |
| Gregorius, Didi 3184 | ss | nyy al | 1.0 | 3.0 | 7.5 | 7.5 | -1.0 |
| Hoffman, Jeff 3806 | pi sp | col nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |