Rangers pitcher Cole Hamels is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Friday, Diamondbacks pitcher Zack Greinke rises to 10th place in career Box-Toppers points among all players since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995 after earning National League Player of the Day honors.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of July 7:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 20.1 |
| 2 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 17.0 |
| 3 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | bos al | 13.1 |
| 4 | Santana, Ervin 2005 | pi sp | min al | 12.4 |
| 5 | Wood, Alex 3246 | pi sp | lad nl | 12.0 |
| 6 | Carrasco, Carlos 2885 | pi sp | cle al | 11.4 |
| 7 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | ari nl | 11.4 |
| 8 | Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 10.4 |
| 9 | Ray, Robbie 3502 | pi sp | ari nl | 10.0 |
| 10 | McCullers, Lance 3488 | pi sp | hou al | 9.4 |
Plus, three players in Box-Toppers top 10 season player rankings earned Player of the Game honors:
- Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer maintained his spot in second place.
- Indians pitcher Carlos Carrasco rose from seventh to sixth place.
- Greinke rose from ninth to seventh place.
Player of the Day—Hamels pitched 7 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing three hits, one walk and striking out six, in the 10-0 win over the Angels.
Hamels earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 147.0 for his career, rising to 24th place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. With his points Friday, he passes three players on the “all-time” list—David Ortiz (145.9), Jim Thome (146.7) and Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers (146.9). Hamels now trails 23rd-ranked player Javier Vazquez (148.3).
Passing Cabrera, Hamels now ranks eighth among active players in career points, trailing the seventh-ranked player, Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer (148.7).
All-time leaders
Here are Box-Toppers top 20 players since record keeping began in 1995:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Randy Johnson | pi sp | retired | 278.8 |
| 2 | Pedro Martinez | pi sp | retired | 244.8 |
| 3 | Clayton Kershaw | pi sp | lad nl | 203.8 |
| 4 | Curt Schilling | pi sp | retired | 194.1 |
| 5 | CC Sabathia | pi sp | nyy al | 190.0 |
| 6 | Alex Rodriguez | dh | released | 187.0 |
| 7 | Albert Pujols | 1b dh | ana al | 184.3 |
| 8 | Roy Halladay | pi sp | retired | 170.7 |
| 9 | Felix Hernandez | pi sp | sea al | 169.7 |
| 10 | Zack Greinke | pi sp | ari nl | 167.5 |
| 11 | Manny Ramirez | lf dh | retired | 167.2 |
| 12 | Johan Santana | pi sp | free agent | 166.6 |
| 13 | Roger Clemens | pi sp | retired | 164.8 |
| 14 | John Smoltz | pi sp | retired | 160.9 |
| 15 | Tim Hudson | pi sp | retired | 157.0 |
| 16 | Mike Mussina | pi sp | retired | 155.6 |
| 17 | Barry Bonds | lf | retired | 153.2 |
| 18 | Greg Maddux | pi sp | retired | 151.7 |
| 19 | Bartolo Colon | pi sp | min al | 151.2 |
| 20 | Jon Lester | pi sp | chi nl | 149.2 |
List of top 100 players since 1995 at the close of the 2016 season.
Hamels has 3.0 Box-Toppers points this season.
National League Player of the Day—Diamondbacks pitcher Zack Greinke struck out seven over seven scoreless innings, allowing four hits and one walk, in the 6-3 win over the Reds.
Greinke earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 11.4 for the season, rising from ninth to seventh place in season player rankings, fourth among NL pitchers.
Greinke also rises to 10th place in career Box-Toppers points among all players since 1995, when player tracking began. He now has 167.5 career Box-Toppers points and with his points Friday, passes two players on the “all-time” list—Johan Santana (166.6) and Manny Ramirez (167.2). Greinke now trails ninth-place player, Mariners pitcher Felix Hernandez (169.7).
American League Batter of the Day—George Springer of the Astros hit two homers, doubled and went 4-for-4, scoring four times and driving in five runs, in the 12-2 win over the Blue Jays.
National League Batter of the Day—Jesus Aguilar of the Brewers hit two home runs, including a grand slam, in the 9-4 win over the Yankees. Aguilar also went 3-for-4 and drove in seven runs.
Rankings—In addition to Greinke, two other players in Box-Toppers top 10 season player rankings earned Player of the Game honors Friday:
- Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer (7.2IP 6H 4R BB 10K ND in the 5-4, 10-inning win over the Braves) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 17.0 for the season, maintaining his second-place spot in season player rankings, behind overall leader, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (20.1). Scherzer now has 148.7 career Box-Toppers points, rising to 22nd among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He passes Javier Vazquez (148.3) on the “all-time” list and now trails 21st-ranked player Chipper Jones (149.0).
- Indians pitcher Carlos Carrasco (7IP 9H 2R BB 11K W in the 11-2 win over the Tigers) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 11.4 for the season, rising from seventh to sixth in season player rankings, third among AL pitchers, behind Chris Sale of the Red Sox (13.1) and Ervin Santana of the Twins (12.4).
Debut—Twins pitcher Trevor Hildenberger made his Box-Toppers debut Friday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors.
Hildenberger (2.1IP 2H 0R 0BB 3K W in the 9-6 win over the Orioles) made his Major League debut June 23 and was playing in his fourth career game. He is the 3,846th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Hamels earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Greinke earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Springer and Aguilar each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Friday’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| 7/7 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 9.2 | TEX 10, LAA 0 | Cole Hamels (W, 4-0) | - | - | - | - | 7.2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | |
| BAT | 9.0 | HOU 12, TOR 2 | George Springer (CF) | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| NL | 9.0 | ARI 6, CIN 3 | Zack Greinke (W, 11-4) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | |
| BAT | 8.0 | MIL 9, NYY 4 | Jesus Aguilar (1B) | 4 | 2 | 3 | 7 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 7.0 | SEA 7, OAK 2 | James Paxton (W, 7-3) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 9 | ||
| 6.0 | CHC 6, PIT 1 | Kris Bryant (3B) | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 5.1 | MIA 6, SF 1 | Dan Straily (W, 7-4) | - | - | - | - | 8.1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 5.0 | COL 12, CHW 4 | Nolan Arenado (3B) | 5 | 2 | 3 | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.0 | SD 4, PHI 3 | Austin Hedges (C) | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.0 | CLE 11, DET 2 | Carlos Carrasco (W, 10-3) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 11 | ||
| 3.1 | MIN 9, BAL 6 | Trevor Hildenberger (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | 2.1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 2.2 | `WSH 5, ATL 4 (F/10) | Max Scherzer | - | - | - | - | 7.2 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 10 | ||
| 2.0 | NYM 6, STL 5 | Jose Reyes (SS) | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | LAD 4, KC 1 | Kenta Maeda (W, 7-4) | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | ||
| 1.0 | BOS 8, TB 3 | Dustin Pedroia (2B) | 5 | 2 | 2 | 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 | +/- |
| Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 17.0 | 42.7 | 120.9 | 148.7 | -8.7 |
| Carrasco, Carlos 2885 | pi sp | cle al | 11.4 | 23.8 | 52.5 | 57.9 | -1.0 |
| Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | ari nl | 11.4 | 21.1 | 90.4 | 167.5 | 1.7 |
| Straily, Dan 3080 | pi sp | fla nl | 8.7 | 15.7 | 26.4 | 26.4 | 1.7 |
| Maeda, Kenta 3609 | pi sp | lad nl | 7.0 | 17.0 | 17.0 | 17.0 | -3.0 |
| Paxton, James 3280 | pi sp | sea al | 7.0 | 11.4 | 18.1 | 18.1 | 2.6 |
| Arenado, Nolan 3306 | 3b | col nl | 5.5 | 16.2 | 26.2 | 26.2 | -5.2 |
| Springer, George 3337 | rf dh cf | hou al | 5.0 | 11.5 | 15.5 | 15.5 | -1.5 |
| Hedges, Austin 3790 | ca | sd nl | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 |
| Hamels, Cole 2135 | pi sp | tex al | 3.0 | 20.8 | 72.0 | 147.0 | -14.8 |
| Bryant, Kris 3465 | 3b lf | chi nl | 2.5 | 13.0 | 21.5 | 21.5 | -8.0 |
| Reyes, Jose 1759 | ss 3b | nym nl | 2.5 | 4.5 | 13.5 | 32.5 | 0.5 |
| Aguilar, Jesus 3787 | 1b | mil nl | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 |
| Pedroia, Dustin 2320 | 2b | bos al | 1.0 | 6.0 | 19.0 | 38.5 | -4.0 |
| Hildenberger, Trevor 3846 | pi mr | min al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |