Red Sox' Mookie Betts tops players for Wednesday, June 14; Mets' Blevins tops NL players

Mookie Betts of the Red Sox is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Betts homered twice and doubled in the 7-3 win over the Phillies. Betts also went 4-for-5, scoring four times and driving in three runs.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of June 14:  


Player Pos Team BTP
1 Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 14.4
2 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 12.0
3 Santana, Ervin 2005 pi sp min al 11.4
4 Ray, Robbie 3502 pi sp ari nl 10.0
5 Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp bos al 8.4
6 Judge, Aaron 3767 rf nyy al 8.2
7 Vargas, Jason 2055 pi sp kc al 8.0
8 Greinke, Zack 1871 pi sp ari nl 7.7
9 McCullers, Lance 3488 pi sp hou al 7.7
10 Martinez, Carlos 3371 pi sp stl nl 7.5
What are those numbers after players' names?

National League Player of the Day—Mets pitcher Jerry Blevins pitched 1 1/3 innings of scoreless middle relief, striking out three, allowing no hits and no walks and earning the win in the 9-4 win over the Cubs.

National League Batter of the Day—Brandon Phillips of the Braves hit two doubles and went 4-for-6, scoring three times and driving in three runs, in the 13-2 win over the Nationals.

Phillips has now earned Box-Toppers points for 12 straight seasons with his first Player of the Game honor for 2017. He earned his first Box-Toppers point in 2002 with the Indians, but began his current 12-season streak in 2006 with the Reds. He has 65.6 career Box-Toppers points, fifth among all second basemen since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He ranks third in career points among active second basemen, behind Robinson Cano of the Mariners (78.4) and Chase Utley of the Dodgers (75.1).

Phillips’ best season was 2012 with the Reds when he had 9.5 Box-Toppers points, seventh among NL batters. He had 2.0 Box-Toppers points in 2016 with the Reds.

American League Batter of the Day—There is no separate AL Batter of the Day for Wednesday because the overall Player of the Day is AL batter Mookie Betts.

Notable—Trey Mancini of the Orioles has the most 2017 Box-Toppers points of any of the 15 who earned Player of the Game honors Wednesday.

Mancini (2B 3-4 3R BI in the 10-6 win over the White Sox) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 5.2 for the season and ranks 30th among all players in 2017 season player rankings, fifth among AL batters.

Also notable—Blue Jays pitcher Francisco Liriano now has 105.2 career Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Wednesday.

Liriano (7IP 5H 3R 2ER 2BB 9K ND in the 7-6 win over the Rays) rises to 65th place among all players in Box-Toppers points since 1995, when tracking began. He passes Dodgers pitcher Scott Kazmir (105.1) on the “all-time” list and now trails 64th-ranked player Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner (105.7).

Debut—Three players made their Box-Toppers debut Wednesday, the first time in their careers they earned Player of the Game honors:

  • Astros pitcher Francis Martes (5IP 3H R 2B 7K W in the 13-2 win over the Rangers) made his Major League debut June 9 and was playing in his second career game. He is the 3,822nd player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
  • Angels pitcher Blake Parker (1.1IP 0H 0R 0BB 2K W in the 7-5 win over the Yankees) made his Major League debut May 17, 2012, and was playing in his 124th career game. He is the 3,823rd player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
  • Raimel Tapia of the Rockies (2B 4-4 3R 0BI in the 5-1 win over the Pirates) made his Major League debut Sept. 2, 2016, and was playing in his 36th career game. He is the 3,824th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Betts earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Blevins earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Phillips earns 1.5 points for being NL 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 

6/14 Score Game Player of the Game AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB 6.0 BOS 7, PHI 3 Mookie Betts, RF 5 4 4 3 - - - - - -
5.0 HOU 13, TEX 2 Francis Martes (W,1-0) - - - - 5.0 3 1 1 2 7
NL 4.1 NYM 9, CHC 4 Jerry Blevins (W,4-0) - - - - 1.1 0 0 0 0 3
BAT 4.0 ATL 13, WSH 2 Brandon Phillips, 2B 6 3 4 3 - - - - - -
4.0 ARI 2, DET 1 Fernando Rodney (S,18) - - - - 1.0 0 0 0 0 3
4.0 `TOR 7, TB 6 Francisco Liriano - - - - 7.0 5 3 2 2 9
3.1 LAA 7, NYY 5 Blake Parker (W,2-2) - - - - 1.1 0 0 0 0 2
3.0 COL 5, PIT 1 Raimel Tapia, RF 4 3 4 0 - - - - - -
3.0 KC 7, SF 2 Lorenzo Cain, CF 4 2 3 2 - - - - - -
3.0 BAL 10, CHW 6 Trey Mancini, 1B 4 3 3 1 - - - - - -
2.0 MIL 7, STL 6 Eric Thames, 1B 5 2 2 3 - - - - - -
2.0 MIA 11, OAK 6 Dee Gordon, 2B 4 2 2 2 - - - - - -
2.0 LAD 6, CLE 4 Enrique Hernandez, PH-2B 2 1 2 1 - - - - - -
2.0 SD 4, CIN 2 Brandon Maurer (S,12) - - - - 1.0 0 0 0 0 1
1.2 `SEA 6, MIN 4 James Pazos (H,5) - - - - 1.2 1 0 0 1 2
MLB—Overall Box-Toppers Player of the Day, worth 2.0 total Box-Toppers points.
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 +/-
Mancini, Trey 3766 lf 1b ph bal al 5.2 5.2 5.2 5.2 5.2
Thames, Eric 2909 1b lf mil nl 4.0 4.0 5.0 6.5 4.0
Cain, Lorenzo 3171 cf kc al 3.5 10.0 24.2 24.2 -3.0
Betts, Mookie 3404 rf bos al 3.5 9.7 14.7 14.7 -2.7
Rodney, Fernando 1803 pi cp ari nl 3.0 8.0 26.0 38.0 -2.0
Liriano, Francisco 2104 pi sp tor al 2.0 10.0 59.7 105.2 -6.0
Pazos, James 3786 pi mr sea al 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0
Blevins, Jerry 2788 pi mr nym nl 1.7 1.7 6.7 7.7 1.7
Phillips, Brandon 1691 2b atl nl 1.5 3.5 25.2 65.6 -0.5
Maurer, Brandon 3157 pi cp sd nl 1.0 3.0 6.0 6.0 -1.0
Hernandez, Enrique 3541 2b ph lad nl 1.0 2.0 3.0 3.0 0.0
Gordon, Dee 2990 2b fla nl 1.0 1.0 8.5 8.5 1.0
Martes, Francis 3822 pi sp hou al 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
Parker, Blake 3823 pi mr ana al 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
Tapia, Raimel 3824 rf col nl 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
What are those numbers after players' names?