Indians pitcher Carlos Carrasco is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to sixth in season player rankings.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of Aug. 11:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 22.1 |
| 2 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 21.0 |
| 3 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | bos al | 19.1 |
| 4 | Santana, Ervin 2005 | pi sp | min al | 14.4 |
| 5 | Paxton, James 3280 | pi sp | sea al | 13.7 |
| 6 | Carrasco, Carlos 2885 | pi sp | cle al | 13.4 |
| 7 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | ari nl | 13.4 |
| 8 | Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | cle al | 13.0 |
| 9 | Wood, Alex 3246 | pi sp | lad nl | 13.0 |
| 10 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 12.7 |
Carrasco struck out 10 over eight scoreless innings, allowing two hits and two walks, in the 5-0 win over the Rays. Carrasco had a no-hitter going into the seventh inning.
Carrasco earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 13.4 for the season, rising into the top 10 into sixth place, fourth among American League pitchers. With his rise into the top 10, he pushes Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg (12.4 Box-Toppers points) out of the top 10, into 11th place.
National League Player of the Day—Padres closing pitcher Brad Hand struck out three over 1 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing no hits, no walks and earning the save, in the 4-3 win over the Dodgers.
National League Batter of the Day—Zack Cozart of the Reds homered and went 3-for-5, scoring three times and driving in two runs, in the 11-10 win over the Brewers.
American League Batter of the Day—There is no AL Batter of the Day for Friday because no AL batter earned Player of the Game honors.
Notable—Rangers pitcher Cole Hamels now has 151.4 career Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Friday.
Hamels (7IP 3H 0R 2BB 5K in the 6-4 win over the Astros) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point and ranks 22nd among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails 21st-ranked player Greg Maddux (151.7). (It should be noted that Maddux made his debut in 1986 and had seven 15-plus win seasons before Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995 and so, based on very rough extrapolations, would likely have about 250 career Box-Toppers points if his entire career were tracked.)
Hamels has 7.4 Box-Toppers points in 2017, 12th among AL pitchers.
Debuts—Two players made their Box-Toppers debuts Friday with their first career Player of the Game honors:
- Amed Rosario of the Mets (HR 3-4 3R BI in the 7-6 win over the Phillies) made his Major League debut Aug. 1 and was playing in his 10th career game. He is the 3,879th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
- White Sox pitcher Aaron Bummer (2IP H 0R 0BB 2K W in the 6-3 win over the Royals) made his Major League debut July 27 and was playing in his seventh career game. He is the 3,880th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Carrasco earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Hand earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Cozart earns 1.5 points for being NL Batter of the Day. All of Saturday’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| 8/11 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 14.0 | CLE 5, TB 0 | Carlos Carrasco (W, 11-5) | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 10 | |
| 7.0 | TEX 6, HOU 4 | Cole Hamels (W, 7-1) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | ||
| NL | 4.1 | SD 4, LAD 3 | Brad Hand (S, 9) | - | - | - | - | 1.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | |
| 3.1 | NYY 5, BOS 4 | Adam Warren (W, 3-2) | - | - | - | - | 2.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| BAT | 3.0 | CIN 11, MIL 10 | Zack Cozart SS | 5 | 3 | 3 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 3.0 | NYM 7, PHI 6 | Amed Rosario SS | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | CHW 6, KC 3 | Aaron Bummer (W, 1-2) | - | - | - | - | 2.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 3.0 | LAA 6, SEA 5 | Yusmeiro Petit (S, 2) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2.1 | MIN 9, DET 4 | Ryan Pressly (W, 2-2) | - | - | - | - | 1.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 2.0 | STL 8, ATL 5 | Randal Grichuk RF | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | CHC 8, ARI 3 | Kris Bryant 3B | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | MIA 6, COL 3 | Derek Dietrich 3B | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | PIT 4, TOR 2 | Jameson Taillon (W, 7-5) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 7 | ||
| 2.0 | OAK 5, BAL 4 | Santiago Casilla (W, 3-5) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 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 | +/- |
| Carrasco, Carlos 2885 | pi sp | cle al | 13.4 | 25.8 | 54.5 | 59.9 | 1.0 |
| Hamels, Cole 2135 | pi sp | tex al | 7.4 | 25.2 | 76.4 | 151.4 | -10.4 |
| Taillon, Jameson 3658 | pi sp | pit nl | 6.0 | 11.0 | 11.0 | 11.0 | 1.0 |
| Grichuk, Randal 3474 | rf | stl nl | 6.0 | 7.0 | 16.5 | 16.5 | 5.0 |
| Bryant, Kris 3465 | 3b | chi nl | 3.5 | 14.0 | 22.5 | 22.5 | -7.0 |
| Cozart, Zack 3012 | ss ph | cin nl | 3.5 | 5.5 | 14.5 | 14.5 | 1.5 |
| Dietrich, Derek 3199 | 3b | fla nl | 3.0 | 5.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 1.0 |
| Petit, Yusmeiro 2337 | pi mr sp cp | ana al | 3.0 | 5.0 | 12.0 | 21.7 | 1.0 |
| Hand, Brad 2907 | pi cp mr | sd nl | 2.7 | 7.7 | 11.7 | 12.7 | -2.3 |
| Casilla, Santiago 2301 | pi cp mr | oak al | 2.0 | 5.0 | 20.7 | 25.7 | -1.0 |
| Warren, Adam 3169 | pi mr | nyy al | 1.0 | 4.0 | 11.7 | 11.7 | -2.0 |
| Pressly, Ryan 3186 | pi mr | min al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 1.0 |
| Bummer, Aaron 3880 | pi mr | chi al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| Rosario, Amed 3879 | ss | nym nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |