Braves pitcher Mike Foltynewicz is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of Aug. 5:| 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 | Paxton, James 3280 | pi sp | sea al | 13.7 |
| 6 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | ari nl | 13.4 |
| 7 | Wood, Alex 3246 | pi sp | lad nl | 13.0 |
| 8 | Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 12.4 |
| 9 | Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | cle al | 12.0 |
| 10 | Carrasco, Carlos 2885 | pi sp | cle al | 11.4 |
Also Saturday, Rangers pitcher Cole Hamels became the 22nd player since 1995 to reach 150 career Box-Toppers points after earning American League Player of the Day honors.
Player of the Day—Foltynewicz struck out 11 over 6 1/3 innings, allowing one run, four hits and no walks, in the 7-2 win over the Marlins.
American League Player of the Day—Rangers pitcher Cole Hamels pitched a complete game, allowing one run, four hits, one walk and striking out five, in the 4-1 win over the Twins.
Hamels earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 150.4 career points. He rises to 22nd place among all players in career points since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. With this points Saturday, he passes Chipper Jones (149.0) on the “all-time” list and now trails 21st-ranked player Twins pitcher Bartolo Colon (151.2). Hamels has 6.4 Box-Toppers points on the season, 14th among AL pitchers.
Hamels is the fourth player this season to reach 150 career Box-Toppers points and the third in the past three weeks. The others:
- Colon, then with the Braves, became the 19th player since 1995 to reach 150 career points on April 16.
- Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer became the 20th player since 1995 to reach 150 career points on July 15. He has 151.7 career Box-Toppers points and ranks 19th on the “all-time” list.
- Cubs pitcher Jon Lester became the 21st player since 1995 to reach 150 career points on July 17. He has 151.9 career Box-Toppers points and ranks 18th on the “all-time” list.
National League Batter of the Day—Gerardo Parra of the Rockies doubled and went 3-for-4, scoring once and driving in two runs, in the 8-5 win over the Phillies.
American League Batter of the Day—There is no AL Batter of the Day for Saturday because no AL batters earned Player of the Game honors.
Notable—Cardinals pitcher Lance Lynn has the most 2017 Box-Toppers points of any of the 14 who earned Player of the Game honors Saturday.
Lynn (6IP 3H R 3BB 4K W in the 4-1 win over the Reds) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 8.7 for the season, 28th-most among all players and 17th among NL pitchers.
Debut—Athletics pitcher Paul Blackburn made his Box-Toppers debut Saturday with his first career Player of the Game honor.
Blackburn (6.2IP 5H 0R 0BB K W in the 5-0 win over the Angels) made his Major League debut July 1 and was playing in his seventh career game. He is the 3,869th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Foltynewicz earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Hamels earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Parra 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| 8/5 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 11.1 | ATL 7, MIA 2 | Mike Foltynewicz (W, 10-6) | - | - | - | - | 6.1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 11 | |
| AL | 8.0 | TEX 4, MIN 1 | Cole Hamels (W, 6-1) | - | - | - | - | 9.0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | |
| 7.0 | `NYY 2, CLE 1 | Jordan Montgomery | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 7 | ||
| 6.2 | SD 5, PIT 2 | Dinelson Lamet (W, 6-4) | - | - | - | - | 5.2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | ||
| 6.0 | MIL 3, TB 0 | Zach Davies, W (13-5) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | ||
| 4.1 | BOS 4, CHW 1 | Drew Pomeranz, W (11-4) | - | - | - | - | 6.1 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 | ||
| 3.2 | BAL 5, DET 2 | Brad Brach (W, 3-2) | - | - | - | - | 1.2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 3.0 | TOR 4, HOU 3 (F/10) | Ryan Tepera (W, 6-1) | - | - | - | - | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | ||
| 3.0 | `LAD 7, NYM 4 | Tony Watson (H, 8) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2.2 | OAK 5, LAA 0 | Paul Blackburn (W, 3-1) | - | - | - | - | 6.2 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| BAT | 2.0 | COL 8, PHI 5 | Gerardo Parra (LF) | 4 | 1 | 3 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 2.0 | CHC 7, WSH 4 | Willson Contreras (LF) | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | STL 4, CIN 1 | Lance Lynn (W, 10-6) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | ||
| 1.0 | SF 5, ARI 4 (F/10) | Kelby Tomlinson (PH-3B) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
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 | +/- |
| Lynn, Lance 2992 | pi sp | stl nl | 8.7 | 8.7 | 64.6 | 64.6 | 8.7 |
| Parra, Gerardo 2746 | rf lf | col nl | 8.0 | 10.5 | 22.5 | 29.0 | 5.5 |
| Hamels, Cole 2135 | pi sp | tex al | 6.4 | 24.2 | 75.4 | 150.4 | -11.4 |
| Lamet, Dinelson 3808 | pi sp | sd nl | 5.7 | 5.7 | 5.7 | 5.7 | 5.7 |
| Contreras, Willson 3776 | ca | chi nl | 5.5 | 5.5 | 5.5 | 5.5 | 5.5 |
| Montgomery, Jordan 3814 | pi sp | nyy al | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 |
| Tepera, Ryan 3774 | pi mr | tor al | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 |
| Pomeranz, Drew 3061 | pi sp | bos al | 4.7 | 17.1 | 28.1 | 28.1 | -7.7 |
| Foltynewicz, Mike 3455 | pi sp | atl nl | 4.0 | 8.0 | 10.7 | 10.7 | 0.0 |
| Davies, Zach 3581 | pi sp | mil nl | 3.7 | 9.7 | 12.7 | 12.7 | -2.3 |
| Brach, Brad 3374 | pi cp mr | bal al | 2.0 | 5.0 | 9.0 | 9.0 | -1.0 |
| Watson, Tony 3215 | pi mr cp | lad nl | 1.0 | 5.0 | 9.0 | 9.0 | -3.0 |
| Tomlinson, Kelby 3619 | 3b ph | sf nl | 1.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | -2.0 |
| Blackburn, Paul 3869 | pi sp | oak al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |