Giants pitcher Jeff Samardzija is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Wednesday, Red Sox closing pitcher Craig Kimbrel rises to fourth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of May 3:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | bos al | 6.7 |
| 2 | Santana, Ervin 2005 | pi sp | min al | 6.7 |
| 3 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 6.0 |
| 4 | Kimbrel, Craig 2825 | pi cp | bos al | 5.0 |
| 5 | Nova, Ivan 2796 | pi sp | pit nl | 5.0 |
| 6 | Vargas, Jason 2055 | pi sp | kc al | 5.0 |
| 7 | Holland, Greg 2906 | pi cp | col nl | 5.0 |
| 8 | Judge, Aaron 3767 | rf | nyy al | 5.0 |
| 9 | Keuchel, Dallas 3050 | pi sp | hou al | 4.4 |
| 10 | Triggs, Andrew 3723 | pi sp | oak al | 4.4 |
Player of the Day—Samardzija struck out 11 over eight innings, allowing one run and three hits, in the 4-3, 11-inning win over the Dodgers. Samardzija picked up a no-decision and did not earn the win because the game was tied, 1-1, when he exited.
American League Player of the Day—Royals pitcher Nate Karns pitched six scoreless innings, allowing one hit and striking out seven, in the 6-1 win over the White Sox.
American League Batter of the Day—Kennys Vargas of the Twins homered and went 2-for-4, scoring once and driving in five runs, in the 7-4 win over the Athletics.
National League Batter of the Day—Jose Reyes of the Mets doubled and went 2-for-4, scoring once and driving in five runs, in the 16-5 win over the Braves.
Rankings—Red Sox closing pitcher Craig Kimbrel rises to fourth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Wednesday.
Kimbrel (1IP 0H 0R 0BB 3K Sv in the 4-2 win over the Orioles) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 5.0 for the season. He ranks third among AL pitchers and first among all closing pitchers.
Scoring—Samardzija earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Karns earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Vargas and Reyes 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| 5/3 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 15.0 | `SF 4, LAD 1 (F/11) | Jeff Samardzija | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 11 | |
| AL | 11.0 | KC 6, CHW 1 | Nate Karns (W,1-2) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | |
| 6.0 | WSH 2, ARI 1 | Jacob Turner (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | 4.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | ||
| 5.0 | HOU 10, TEX 1 | Charlie Morton (W,3-2) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 8 | ||
| BAT | 4.0 | MIN 7, OAK 4 | Kennys Vargas, DH | 4 | 1 | 2 | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| BAT | 4.0 | NYM 16, ATL 5 | Jose Reyes, 3B-SS | 4 | 1 | 2 | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | BOS 4, BAL 2 | Craig Kimbrel (S,10) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 3.1 | NYY 8, TOR 6 | Dellin Betances (W,3-1) | - | - | - | - | 1.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 3.0 | COL 11, SD 3 | Ian Desmond, 1B | 5 | 2 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | MIA 10, TB 6 | J.T. Realmuto, C | 5 | 2 | 2 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | CHC 5, PHI 4 | Willson Contreras, PH-C | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | SEA 8, LAA 7 | Jean Segura, SS | 5 | 1 | 2 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | CIN 7, PIT 2 | Eugenio Suarez, 3B | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | CLE 3, DET 2 | Jose Ramirez, 3B | 2 | 1 | 1 | 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 | +/- |
| Kimbrel, Craig 2825 | pi cp | bos al | 5.0 | 13.0 | 57.7 | 63.7 | -3.0 |
| Suarez, Eugenio 3355 | 3b | cin nl | 2.5 | 11.0 | 16.5 | 16.5 | -6.0 |
| Ramirez, Jose 3436 | 3b | cle al | 2.5 | 4.0 | 7.5 | 7.5 | 1.0 |
| Contreras, Willson 3776 | ca ph | chi nl | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 |
| Samardzija, Jeff 2495 | pi sp | sf nl | 2.0 | 12.7 | 48.8 | 51.8 | -8.7 |
| Realmuto, J.T. 3491 | ca | fla nl | 2.0 | 7.5 | 12.5 | 12.5 | -3.5 |
| Betances, Dellin 3333 | pi mr | nyy al | 2.0 | 6.0 | 14.7 | 14.7 | -2.0 |
| Morton, Charlie 2503 | pi sp | hou al | 2.0 | 5.0 | 18.7 | 29.7 | -1.0 |
| Karns, Nathan 3414 | pi sp | kc al | 1.7 | 4.7 | 10.7 | 10.7 | -1.3 |
| Vargas, Kennys 3511 | dh 1b | min al | 1.5 | 4.0 | 5.5 | 5.5 | -1.0 |
| Reyes, Jose 1759 | 3b ss | nym nl | 1.5 | 3.5 | 12.5 | 31.5 | -0.5 |
| Segura, Jean 3173 | ss 2b | sea al | 1.0 | 5.5 | 12.0 | 12.0 | -3.5 |
| Desmond, Ian 2673 | 1b cf lf | col nl | 1.0 | 5.0 | 16.7 | 28.2 | -3.0 |
| Turner, Jacob 3120 | pi cp sp | dc nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 6.7 | 6.7 | 1.0 |