Brewers pitcher Jimmy Nelson is Sunday’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 28:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 10.7 |
| 2 | Santana, Ervin 2005 | pi sp | min al | 9.4 |
| 3 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | bos al | 8.4 |
| 4 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 8.0 |
| 5 | Wood, Alex 3246 | pi sp | lad nl | 7.0 |
| 6 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | ari nl | 6.7 |
| 7 | Judge, Aaron 3767 | rf | nyy al | 6.5 |
| 8 | Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 6.4 |
| 9 | Keuchel, Dallas 3050 | pi sp | hou al | 6.4 |
| 10 | McCullers, Lance 3488 | pi sp | hou al | 6.0 |
Also Sunday, Aaron Judge of the Yankees rises to seventh place in Box-Toppers season player rankings—first among all batters—after earning American League Batter of the Day honors.
Player of the Day—Nelson struck out 10 over seven innings, allowing one run, seven hits and no walks, in the 9-5 win over the Diamondbacks.
American League Player of the Day—Rays pitcher Tommy Hunter pitched two scoreless innings—the ninth and the 10th—striking out three and allowing no hits, in the 8-6, 15-inning win over the Twins. Hunter picked up a no-decision and did not earn the win because the score was tied 5-5 when he exited.
Normally, middle relievers who pitch fewer than three innings and do not earn the win or save don’t earn Player of the Game honors. But Hunter did because he had a higher Box-Toppers game score and the same or more innings pitched than the player who otherwise would have won. Closer Erasmo Ramirez (1IP 0H 0R 0BB 2K Sv) with a Box-Toppers game score of +3.0 was in line for Player of the Game honors. But Hunter edged him out because he had both a higher Box-Toppers game score (+5.0) and more innings pitched (2.0 vs. 1.0).
Additionally, Hunter, with only two innings pitched, was able to win AL Player of the Day honors because of lower Box-Toppers game scores of AL players who earned Player of the Game honors Sunday, including his runner-up, Indians pitcher Josh Tomlin, who despite a complete game win (CG 6H R 0BB 3K W in the 10-1 win over the Royals) only had a Box-Toppers game score of +4.0.
National League Batter of the Day—Adam Duvall of the Reds homered twice and went 3-for-4, scoring twice and driving in five runs, in the 8-4 win over the Phillies.
American League Batter of the Day—Aaron Judge of the Yankees hit a grand slam and went 2-for-4 in the 9-5 win over the Athletics.
Judge earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day, giving him 6.5 for the season, rising to seventh in season player rankings. He also rises to first among all batters, moving ahead of Bryce Harper of the Nationals (6.0), who falls out of the overall top 10 to 11th place.
Notable—Giants pitcher Johnny Cueto rises to 70th place among all players in career Box-Toppers points (since 1995 when tracking began) after earning Player of the Game honors Sunday.
Cueto (6IP 6H R BB 8K W in the 7-1 win over the Braves) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 101.8 for his career. With his point Sunday, he passes three players on Box-Toppers “all-time” career points list—Jason Schmidt (101.2), Mark Teixeira (101.3) and Tim Wakefield (101.4). Cueto now trails 69th-place player Ken Griffey Jr. (102.2).
Scoring—Nelson earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Hunter earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Duvall and Judge 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| 5/28 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 8.0 | MIL 9, ARI 5 | Jimmy Nelson (W,3-3) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 10 | |
| BAT | 6.0 | CIN 8, PHI 4 | Adam Duvall, LF | 4 | 2 | 3 | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 5.0 | COL 8, STL 4 | Gerardo Parra, RF | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 5.0 | SF 7, ATL 1 | Johnny Cueto (W,5-4) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 | ||
| AL | 5.0 | `TB 8, MIN 6 (F/15) | Tommy Hunter | - | - | - | - | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | |
| 4.0 | CLE 10, KC 1 | Josh Tomlin (W,3-6) | - | - | - | - | 9.0 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 3.2 | SD 5, WSH 3 | Kirby Yates (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | 1.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 3.2 | LAD 9, CHC 4 | Josh Fields (W,2-0) | - | - | - | - | 1.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| BAT | 3.0 | NYY 9, OAK 5 | Aaron Judge, RF | 4 | 1 | 2 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 3.0 | MIA 9, LAA 2 | JT Riddle, SS | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | SEA 5, BOS 0 | Christian Bergman (W,2-2) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | ||
| 2.0 | HOU 8, BAL 4 | Yuli Gurriel, 1B | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.2 | CHW 7, DET 3 | Miguel Gonzalez (W,4-5) | - | - | - | - | 7.2 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 | ||
| 1.0 | NYM 7, PIT 2 | Jay Bruce, RF | 5 | 1 | 3 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 0.0 | TEX 3, TOR 1 | Elvis Andrus, SS | 5 | 2 | 3 | 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 | +/- |
| Judge, Aaron 3767 | rf | nyy al | 6.5 | 6.5 | 6.5 | 6.5 | 6.5 |
| Gonzalez, Miguel 3062 | pi sp | chi al | 4.0 | 13.1 | 41.9 | 41.9 | -5.1 |
| Bruce, Jay 2453 | rf | nym nl | 4.0 | 12.5 | 29.7 | 62.8 | -4.5 |
| Nelson, Jimmy 3299 | pi sp | mil nl | 4.0 | 7.0 | 17.4 | 17.4 | 1.0 |
| Duvall, Adam 3573 | lf | cin nl | 3.5 | 10.0 | 11.5 | 11.5 | -3.0 |
| Bergman, Christian 3799 | pi sp | sea al | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 |
| Gurriel, Yuli 3796 | 1b | hou al | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.7 |
| Parra, Gerardo 2746 | rf | col nl | 2.5 | 5.0 | 17.0 | 23.5 | 0.0 |
| Riddle, JT 3805 | ss | fla nl | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 |
| Cueto, Johnny 2400 | pi sp | sf nl | 2.0 | 18.4 | 72.0 | 101.8 | -14.4 |
| Andrus, Elvis 2582 | ss | tex al | 2.0 | 11.2 | 16.2 | 21.7 | -7.2 |
| Tomlin, Josh 2771 | pi sp | cle al | 2.0 | 7.0 | 20.4 | 26.4 | -3.0 |
| Hunter, Tommy 2623 | pi mr | tb al | 1.7 | 2.7 | 9.7 | 17.7 | 0.7 |
| Yates, Kirby 3628 | pi mr | sd nl | 1.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | -1.0 |
| Fields, Josh 3247 | pi mr | lad nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 1.0 |