Mariners pitcher James Paxton is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to ninth place in season player rankings.
Also Monday, two other players rise in Box-Toppers season player ranking after earning Player of the Game honors—Diamondbacks pitcher Zack Greinke rises to sixth and Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom rises to 10th.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of July 24:| 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 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | ari nl | 12.4 |
| 7 | Santana, Ervin 2005 | pi sp | min al | 12.4 |
| 8 | Carrasco, Carlos 2885 | pi sp | cle al | 11.4 |
| 9 | Paxton, James 3280 | pi sp | sea al | 11.0 |
| 10 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 10.7 |
Player of the Day—Paxton struck out 10 over seven scoreless innings, allowing four hits and no walks, in the 4-0 win over the Red Sox.
Paxton earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 11.0 for the season, rising to ninth in season player rankings, fourth among American League pitchers. Paxton is the 12th player this season with 10 or more Box-Toppers points. It is the first season Paxton has earned 10 or more points; his previous high was 4.4 in 2016 with the Mariners.
National League Player of the Day—Cardinals pitcher Mike Leake pitched seven scoreless innings, striking out six and allowing four hits and no walks, in the 8-2 win over the Rockies.
American League Batter of the Day—Jose Altuve of the Astros hit two doubles and went 4-for-4, scoring three times and driving in three runs, in the 13-4 win over the Phillies.
National League Batter of the Day—Jordy Mercer of the Pirates hit a three-run homer and went 3-for-5, scoring twice, in the 10-3 win over the Giants.
Rankings—In addition to Paxton, two other players rose in Box-Toppers 2017 player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Monday:
- Diamondbacks pitcher Zack Greinke (8IP 5H 2R 0BB 6K W in the 10-2 win over the Braves) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 12.4 for the season, rising from eighth to sixth place in season player rankings, fifth among NL pitchers. Greinke also now has 168.5 career Box-Toppers points, 10th-most among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails ninth-place player Roy Halladay (170.7).
- Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom (8IP 5H 2R 2BB 8K W in the 5-3 win over the Padres) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 10.7 for the season, rising to 10th place in season player rankings, sixth among NL pitchers. deGrom also became the 13th player this season with 10 or more Box-Toppers points. deGrom has earned at least 10 points in three of the four seasons he has earned Box-Toppers points—in 2016 he had 9.7.
Debut—Royals pitcher Jake Junis made his Box-Toppers debut Monday with his first career Player of the Game honor.
Junis (1IP 0H 0R 0BB 2K W in the 5-3, 12-inning win over the Tigers) made his Major League debut April 12 and was playing in his ninth career game. He is the 3,857th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Paxton earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Leake earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Altuve and Mercer 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| 7/24 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 13.0 | SEA 4, BOS 0 | James Paxton (W, 10-3) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | |
| NL | 9.0 | STL 8, COL 2 | Mike Leake (W, 7-8) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |
| BAT | 6.0 | HOU 13, PHI 4 | Jose Altuve (2B) | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 6.0 | BAL 5, TB 0 | Kevin Gausman (W, 7-7) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 8 | ||
| 5.0 | NYM 5, SD 3 | Jacob deGrom (W, 12-3) | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 8 | ||
| 5.0 | ARI 10, ATL 2 | Zack Greinke (W, 12-4) | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 6 | ||
| 5.0 | MIA 4, TEX 0 | Adam Conley (W, 3-3) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | ||
| 4.0 | CLE 6, CIN 2 | Carlos Santana (1B) | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.0 | TOR 4, OAK 2 | Roberto Osuna (S, 25) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| BAT | 3.0 | PIT 10, SF 3 | Jordy Mercer (SS) | 5 | 2 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | 0 | |
| 3.0 | KC 5, DET 3 (F/12) | Jake Junis (W, 3-2) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 1.1 | CHW 3, CHC 1 | Anthony Swarzak (S, 1) | - | - | - | - | 1.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | ||
| 1.0 | LAD 6, MIN 4 | Chris Taylor (LF) | 4 | 1 | 3 | 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 | +/- |
| Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | ari nl | 12.4 | 22.1 | 91.4 | 168.5 | 2.7 |
| Paxton, James 3280 | pi sp | sea al | 11.0 | 15.4 | 22.1 | 22.1 | 6.6 |
| deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 10.7 | 20.4 | 55.8 | 55.8 | 1.0 |
| Gausman, Kevin 3191 | pi sp | bal al | 6.4 | 17.2 | 30.6 | 30.6 | -4.4 |
| Leake, Mike 2709 | pi sp | stl nl | 5.7 | 10.7 | 41.1 | 50.3 | 0.7 |
| Swarzak, Anthony 2603 | pi mr | chi al | 4.0 | 4.0 | 8.0 | 11.7 | 4.0 |
| Taylor, Chris 3684 | lf cf | lad nl | 3.5 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 2.0 |
| Conley, Adam 3594 | pi sp | fla nl | 2.0 | 8.7 | 11.7 | 11.7 | -4.7 |
| Osuna, Roberto 3512 | pi cp | tor al | 2.0 | 5.0 | 9.0 | 9.0 | -1.0 |
| Altuve, Jose 3007 | 2b | hou al | 1.5 | 14.0 | 30.5 | 30.5 | -11.0 |
| Mercer, Jordy 3206 | ss | pit nl | 1.5 | 4.5 | 10.5 | 10.5 | -1.5 |
| Santana, Carlos 2757 | 1b dh | cle al | 1.0 | 3.5 | 20.2 | 23.7 | -1.5 |
| Junis, Jake 3857 | pi mr | kc al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |