Twins pitcher Ervin Santana is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to fourth 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. 2:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 22.1 |
| 2 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 20.0 |
| 3 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | bos al | 17.1 |
| 4 | Santana, Ervin 2005 | pi sp | min al | 14.4 |
| 5 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | ari nl | 13.4 |
| 6 | Wood, Alex 3246 | pi sp | lad nl | 13.0 |
| 7 | Paxton, James 3280 | pi sp | sea al | 12.7 |
| 8 | Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 12.4 |
| 9 | Carrasco, Carlos 2885 | pi sp | cle al | 11.4 |
| 10 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 10.7 |
Santana pitched a four-hit complete game, striking out nine and allowing two runs, four hits and one walk, in the 5-2 win over the Padres. He retired the first 10 batters he faced.
Santana earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 14.4 for the season and rises from eighth to fourth place in season player rankings, second among American League pitchers, behind Chris Sale of the Red Sox (17.1). Santana, 2.7 points behind, would need at least two starts to catch Sale.
Santana remains highly ranked in season Box-Toppers points despite not earning Player of the Game honors for more than a month. He last earned Box-Toppers points on June 25, when he was third in player rankings (first among AL pitchers) and gradually fell to eighth place until Wednesday.
Santana now has 111.7 career Box-Toppers points and rises to 54th place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. With his points Wednesday, he passes two players on the “all-time” list—Red Sox pitcher David Price (109.9) and Tom Glavine (110.6). (It should be noted that Glavine began his career before Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995. If his entire career from 1987 were tracked, projections put Glavine’s career Box-Toppers point total at about 170.) Santana now trails 53rd-ranked player Kevin Brown (112.8).
National League Player of the Day—Marlins pitcher Vance Worley pitched seven scoreless innings, allowing two hits, no walks and striking out three, in the 7-0 win over the Nationals.
American League Batter of the Day—Elvis Andrus of the Rangers homered, doubled and went 3-for-4, driving in two runs, in the 5-1 win over the Mariners.
Andrus was the only batter among the 14 who earned Player of the Game honors Wednesday. The other 13 were all pitchers.
National League Batter of the Day—There is no NL Batter of the Day for Wednesday because no NL batters earned Player of the Game honors.
Debuts—Two players made their Box-Toppers debut Wednesday with their first career Player of the Game honors:
- Athletics pitcher Daniel Gossett (7IP 3H R 2BB 5K W in the 6-1 win over the Giants) made his Major League debut June 14 and was playing in his 10th career game. He is the 3,865th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
- Mets pitcher Chasen Bradford (2IP 0H 0R 0BB 2K W in the 10-5 win over the Rockies) made his Major League debut June 25 and was playing in his sixth career game. He is the 3,866th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Santana earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Worley earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Andrus earns 1.5 points for being AL 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| 8/2 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 9.0 | MIN 5, SD 2 | Ervin Santana (W, 12-7) | - | - | - | - | 9.0 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 9 | |
| 8.0 | TOR 5, CHW 1 | J.A. Happ (W, 4-8) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 10 | ||
| NL | 8.0 | MIA 7, WSH 0 | Vance Worley (W, 1-2) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | |
| 7.0 | DET 2, NYY 0 | Jordan Zimmermann (W, 7-8) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | ||
| 6.0 | ARI 3, CHC 0 | Zack Godley (W, 5-4) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | ||
| 5.0 | OAK 6, SF 1 | Daniel Gossett (W, 3-6) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | ||
| 4.0 | BAL 6, KC 0 | Jeremy Hellickson (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | ||
| 4.0 | NYM 10, COL 5 | Chasen Bradford (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 3.2 | `CIN 5, PIT 2 | Robert Stephenson | - | - | - | - | 5.2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | ||
| 3.1 | STL 5, MIL 4 | Luke Weaver (W, 1-1) | - | - | - | - | 6.1 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 8 | ||
| 3.1 | TB 3, HOU 0 | Austin Pruitt (W, 6-2) | - | - | - | - | 6.1 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | ||
| 3.1 | ATL 5, LAD 3 | Rex Brothers (W, 2-2) | - | - | - | - | 1.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 3.0 | LAA 7, PHI 0 | JC Ramirez (W, 10-9) | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | ||
| BAT | 2.0 | TEX 5, SEA 1 | Elvis Andrus (SS) | 4 | 1 | 3 | 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 | +/- |
| Santana, Ervin 2005 | pi sp | min al | 14.4 | 18.4 | 51.2 | 111.7 | 10.4 |
| Godley, Zack 3538 | pi sp | ari nl | 9.0 | 10.0 | 13.7 | 13.7 | 8.0 |
| Andrus, Elvis 2582 | ss | tex al | 6.0 | 15.2 | 20.2 | 25.7 | -3.2 |
| Ramirez, JC 3778 | pi sp | ana al | 6.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 |
| Hellickson, Jeremy 2778 | pi sp | bal al | 4.0 | 17.1 | 38.1 | 48.8 | -9.1 |
| Pruitt, Austin 3773 | pi mr cp sp | tb al | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
| Happ, J.A. 2536 | pi sp | tor al | 3.0 | 17.7 | 43.2 | 54.2 | -11.7 |
| Zimmermann, Jordan 2612 | pi sp | det al | 2.0 | 5.0 | 55.4 | 62.4 | -1.0 |
| Stephenson, Robert 3617 | pi cp sp | cin nl | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 1.0 |
| Worley, Vance 2831 | pi sp | fla nl | 1.7 | 1.7 | 10.4 | 19.1 | 1.7 |
| Weaver, Luke 3719 | pi sp | stl nl | 1.0 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.7 | -0.7 |
| Brothers, Rex 3051 | pi mr | atl nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 | 1.0 |
| Bradford, Chasen 3866 | pi mr | nym nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| Gossett, Daniel 3865 | pi sp | oak al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |