Rays middle relief pitcher Andrew Kittredge is Thursday’s Box-Toppers spring training Player of the Day.

Box-Toppers is tracking several days of spring training during 2018 as a test and demonstration of the Box-Toppers player tracking metric. Even after 23 seasons of tracking (including sharing those results for the past five seasons on Box-Toppers.com), we need to spend a little time shagging ground balls and getting in shape for the 2,430 games to be tracked during the regular season.

Kittredge struck out five over 2 2/3 scoreless innings of middle relief, allowing one hit, no walks and picking up the win, in the 5-3 win over the Blue Jays. Kittredge has yet to make his regular season Box-Toppers debut, having yet to earn Player of the Game honors for the first time in his career. He appeared in 15 games in 2017 and his rookie status is intact for 2018.

National League Player of the Day—Yoenis Cespedes of the Mets hit two homers and doubled, going 3-for-3, scoring twice and driving in four runs, in the 12-5 win over the Nationals. Cespedes had 4.0 Box-Toppers points in 2017.

American League Batter of the Day—Chance Sisco of the Orioles homered, doubled and went 2-for-3, scoring twice and driving in four runs, in the 10-7 win over the Red Sox. Sisco has yet to make his regular season Box-Toppers debut, having yet to earn Player of the Game honors for the first time in his career. He appeared in 10 games in 2017 and his rookie status is intact for 2018.

National League Batter of the Day—There is no separate NL Batter of the Day for Thursday because the overall NL Player of the Day is batter Yoenis Cespedes.

Scoring—No Box-Toppers points are awarded in spring training games, but if it were the regular season, Kittredge would earn 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, Cespedes would earn 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day and Sisco would earn 1.5 points for being AL Batter of the Day. All of Thursday’s other Players of the Game (listed in the chart below) would 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 (BTG)



 



  
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
  

    3/22
    BTG
    Game
    Player of the Game
    AB
    R
    H
    BI
    
    IP
    H
    R
    ER
    BB
    K
  

    MLB
    6.2
    TB 5, TOR 3
    Andrew Kittredge (W, 2‑1)
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    
    2.2
    1
    0
    0
    0
    5
  

    NL
    6.0
    NYM 12, WSH 5
    Yoenis Cespedes (LF)
    3
    2
    3
    4
    
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
  

    BAT
    5.0
    BAL 10, BOS 7
    Chance Sisco (C)
    3
    2
    2
    4
    
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
  

    
    5.0
    NYY 2, MIN 1
    Domingo German (S, 1)
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    
    3.0
    0
    0
    0
    0
    2.0
  

    
    4.2
    TOR 5, PIT 4
    Deck McGuire (W, 2‑0)
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    
    2.2
    1
    0
    0
    0
    3
  

    
    4.0
    MIA 15, HOU 7
    Lewis Brinson (CF)
    4
    2
    3
    3
    
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
  

    
    4.0
    STL 8, ATL 2
    Marcell Ozuna (LF)
    2
    1
    1
    4
    
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
  

    
    4.0
    SD 7, CLE 6
    Craig Stammen (W, 1‑0)
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    
    1.0
    0
    0
    0
    0
    3
  

    
    3.0
    CIN 7, TEX 6
    Adam Duvall (LF)
    3
    2
    2
    2
    
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
  

    
    3.0
    SEA 5, TEX 4
    Kirk Nieuwenhuis (RF)
    2
    2
    2
    1
    
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
  

    
    3.0
    LAD 4, LAA 3
    Hyun‑Jin Ryu (W, 2‑1)
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    
    5.0
    5
    1
    1
    1
    6
  

    
    3.0
    MIL 1, KC 0
    Zach Davies (W, 2‑0)
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    
    5.0
    4
    0
    0
    1
    3
  

    
    2.1
    CHW 3, ARI 1
    Miguel Gonzalez (W, 2‑0)
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    
    5.1
    4
    1
    1
    2
    5
  

    
    2.0
    COL 4, OAK 2
    Chris Iannetta (C)
    3
    1
    2
    2
    
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
  

    
    2.0
    SF 4, CHC 3
    Buster Posey (C)
    3
    1
    1
    3
    
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
  

    
    2.0
    DET 6, PHI 2
    Jose Iglesias (SS)
    2
    0
    2
    2
    
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
  


MLB—Overall Box-Toppers Player of the Day, worth 2.0 total Box-Toppers points.

  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.