Indians pitcher Corey Kluber is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to ninth 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 July 23:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 22.1 |
| 2 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 19.0 |
| 3 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | bos al | 15.1 |
| 4 | Wood, Alex 3246 | pi sp | lad nl | 13.0 |
| 5 | Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 12.4 |
| 6 | Santana, Ervin 2005 | pi sp | min al | 12.4 |
| 7 | Carrasco, Carlos 2885 | pi sp | cle al | 11.4 |
| 8 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | ari nl | 11.4 |
| 9 | Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | cle al | 10.0 |
| 10 | Quintana, Jose 3040 | pi sp | chi nl | 10.0 |
Also Sunday, 2017 Box-Toppers points leader, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw, is headed to the 10-day disabled list after pitching only two innings in his start against the Braves.
Player of the Day—Kluber struck out 14 over 7 2/3 innings, allowing one run, five hits and two walks in the 8-1 win over the Blue Jays.
Kluber earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 10.0 for the season. He is the 11th player this season with 10 or more Box-Toppers points. Kluber’s 10.0 Box-Toppers points now ranks fourth among American League pitchers.
National League Player of the Day—Reds pitcher Sal Romano struck out seven over six innings, allowing one run, three hits and one walk, in the 6-3 win over the Marlins.
This was Romano’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Romano made his Major League debut April 16 and was playing in his fourth career game. He is the 3,854th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
National League Batter of the Day—Mark Reynolds of the Rockies hit two homers and went 3-for-5, driving in three runs, in the 13-3 win over the Pirates.
American League Batter of the Day—Jose Iglesias of the Tigers homered and went 3-for-5, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 9-6 win over the Twins.
Kershaw—Box-Toppers season points leader Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers went on the disabled list Sunday after experiencing back tightness after pitching only two innings in his start against the Braves.
Kershaw has 22.1 Box-Toppers points on the season and was on pace to break the single-season record for most Box-Toppers points in a season (33.7), set by Randy Johnson of the Diamondbacks in both 2000 and 2002.
Kershaw leads second-place player, Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer (19.0 Box-Toppers points).
In 2016, Kershaw missed two and a half months with a herniated disk in his back. When he went on the disabled list in late June 2016, he was leading all players with 20.0 Box-Toppers points and was on pace to shatter Johnson’s single-season record. Kershaw had such a commanding lead in 2016 that it took nearly two months of inaction for any player to match his Box-Toppers point total—Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer passed him Aug. 25 and went on to lead all players in Box-Toppers points for 2016.
While Kershaw is apparently heading to the 10-day disabled list, it is too early to tell if his sidelining will be temporary or whether it could match last year’s extended outage. (Even with last year’s time away, Kershaw still finished second to Scherzer in season Box-Toppers points with 24.4.)
Kershaw did not earn Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors in Sunday’s game (2IP 0H 0R BB 2K ND in the 5-4, 10-inning win against the Braves), even though his Box-Toppers game score of +3.0 was better than the +2.0 score of Dodgers’ Player of the Game Austin Barnes (HR 2-4 R 3BI). If Kershaw had pitched at least three innings or earned the win or save, his game score of +3.0 would have beaten Barnes's +2.0 to earn Player of the Game.
Top 10 watch—In addition to Kershaw, three other pitchers among Box-Toppers top 10 players, started Sunday. None earned Player of the Game honors. Here’s how they fared:
- Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg, ranked fifth with 12.4 Box-Toppers points, did not earn Player of the Game honors in the 6-2 win over the Diamondbacks. Strasburg (2IP H 0R 3BB 2K ND) had a Box-Toppers game score of 0.0. Player of the Game was middle reliever Matt Albers (1.1IP 0H 0R BB 3K ND), with a Box-Toppers game score of +1.1.
- Cubs pitcher Jose Quintana, now ranked 10th with 10.0 Box-Toppers points, did not earn Player of the Game honors in the 5-3 win over the Cardinals. Quintana (6IP 5H 3R 2BB 7K W) had a Box-Toppers game score of 0.0. Player of the Game was closer Wade Davis (1IP H 0R 0BB K Sv), with a Box-Toppers game score of +1.0. (Quintana was ranked ninth in season player rankings going into Sunday’s game but was passed by Kluber and fell to 10th.)
- Diamondbacks pitcher Robbie Ray, now ranked 11th with 10.0 Box-Toppers points, did not earn Player of the Game honors in the 6-2 loss to the Nationals. Ray (5IP 6H 5R 4ER 2BB 4K L) had a Box-Toppers game score of -8.0. Player of the Game was Nationals’ middle reliever Matt Albers. (Ray was ranked 10th in season player rankings going into Sunday’s game but was passed by Kluber and fell out of the top 10 to 11th place.)
Debuts—In addition to Romano, two other players made their Box-Toppers debuts Sunday with their first career Player of the Game honors:
- Whit Merrifield of the Royals (2HR 2-3 2R 2BI in the 5-4 win over the White Sox) made his Major League debut May 18, 2016, and was playing in his 161st career game. He is the 3,855th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
- Austin Barnes of the Dodgers (HR 2-4 R 3BI in the 5-4, 10-inning win over the Braves) made his Major League debut May 24, 2015, and was playing in his 95th career game. He is the 3,856th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Kluber earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Romano earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Reynolds and Iglesias 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| 7/23 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 12.2 | CLE 8, TOR 1 | Corey Kluber (W, 8-3) | - | - | - | - | 7.2 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 14 | |
| NL | 7.0 | CIN 6, MIA 3 | Sal Romano (W, 2-2) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | |
| 5.1 | NYY 6, SEA 4 | Chad Green (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | 2.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 3.1 | `WSH 6, ARI 2 | Matt Albers | - | - | - | - | 1.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | ||
| BAT | 3.0 | COL 13, PIT 3 | Mark Reynolds 1B | 5 | 2 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| BAT | 3.0 | DET 9, MIN 6 | Jose Iglesias SS | 5 | 2 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 3.0 | TEX 6, TB 5 | Rougned Odor 2B | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | KC 5, CHW 4 | Whit Merrifield 2B | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | PHI 6, MIL 3 | Jerad Eickhoff (W, 2-7) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 | ||
| 2.0 | LAD 5, ATL 4 (F/10) | Austin Barnes C | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | BAL 9, HOU 7 | Trey Mancini LF | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | SD 5, SF 2 | Brad Hand (S, 3) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 1.0 | OAK 3, NYM 2 | Matt Chapman (3B) | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | LAA 3, BOS 2 | Bud Norris (S, 15) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 1.0 | CHC 5, STL 3 | Wade Davis (S, 20) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 1 | 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 | +/- |
| Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | cle al | 10.0 | 31.2 | 75.4 | 75.4 | -11.2 |
| Mancini, Trey 3766 | lf 1b | bal al | 7.2 | 7.2 | 7.2 | 7.2 | 7.2 |
| Iglesias, Jose 3532 | ss | det al | 6.0 | 6.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 | 6.0 |
| Norris, Bud 2638 | pi cp | ana al | 5.0 | 10.7 | 35.4 | 51.1 | -0.7 |
| Reynolds, Mark 2297 | 1b | col nl | 5.0 | 9.0 | 23.7 | 56.4 | 1.0 |
| Odor, Rougned 3336 | 2b | tex al | 3.7 | 10.2 | 14.7 | 14.7 | -2.8 |
| Eickhoff, Jerad 3566 | pi sp | phi nl | 3.0 | 11.0 | 16.0 | 16.0 | -5.0 |
| Davis, Wade 2681 | pi cp | chi nl | 3.0 | 7.0 | 22.0 | 29.0 | -1.0 |
| Albers, Matt 2274 | pi cp mr | dc nl | 3.0 | 4.0 | 5.0 | 8.0 | 2.0 |
| Chapman, Matt 3849 | 3b | oak al | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 |
| Green, Chad 3675 | pi mr | nyy al | 2.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | -1.0 |
| Romano, Sal 3854 | pi sp | cin nl | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.7 |
| Hand, Brad 2907 | pi cp mr | sd nl | 1.0 | 6.0 | 10.0 | 11.0 | -4.0 |
| Barnes, Austin 3856 | ca | lad nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| Merrifield, Whit 3855 | 2b | kc al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |