Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Friday, Astros pitcher Charlie Morton rises to third place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning American League Player of the Day honors.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2018 season through the games of May 18:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 11.4 |
| 2 | Severino, Luis 3567 | pi sp | nyy al | 10.7 |
| 3 | Morton, Charlie 2503 | pi sp | hou al | 10.1 |
| 4 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | hou al | 10.0 |
| 5 | Berrios, Jose 3791 | pi sp | min al | 7.7 |
| 6 | Corbin, Patrick 3027 | pi sp | ari nl | 7.0 |
| 7 | Pivetta, Nick 3825 | pi sp | phi nl | 6.7 |
| 8 | Happ, J.A. 2536 | pi sp | tor al | 6.7 |
| 9 | Carrasco, Carlos 2885 | pi sp | cle al | 5.7 |
| 10 | Verlander, Justin 2112 | pi sp | hou al | 5.7 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Player of the Day—deGrom struck out 14 over seven innings, allowing one run, six hits and no walks, in the 3-1 win over the Diamondbacks.
American League Player of the Day—Morton struck out eight over seven innings, allowing one run, four hits and one walk, in the 4-1 win over the Indians.
Morton earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 10.1 for the season, rising from fourth to third place in season player rankings, second among AL pitchers, behind Luis Severino of the Yankees (10.7).
Morton is the fourth player this season with 10.0 or more Box-Toppers points. It is his first season with 10.0 or more points. His previous high season was 2017 with the Astros, when he had 7.7 points.
National League Batter of the Day—Jose Martinez of the Cardinals homered, doubled and went 4-for-5, scoring twice and driving in five runs, in the 12-4 win over the Phillies.
American League Batter of the Day—Shin-Soo Choo of the Rangers hit a grand slam and went 2-for-3, scoring twice and driving in four runs, in the 12-5 win over the White Sox.
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 | 209.8 |
| 4 | CC Sabathia | pi sp | nyy al | 195.7 |
| 5 | Curt Schilling | pi sp | retired | 194.1 |
| 6 | Albert Pujols | 1b dh | ana al | 187.8 |
| 7 | Alex Rodriguez | dh | retired | 187.0 |
| 8 | Zack Greinke | pi sp | ari nl | 179.2 |
| 9 | Felix Hernandez | pi sp | sea al | 172.4 |
| 10 | Roy Halladay | pi sp | retired | 170.7 |
| 11 | Max Scherzer | pi sp | dc nl | 168.1 |
| 12 | Manny Ramirez | lf dh | retired | 167.2 |
| 13 | Johan Santana | pi sp | free agent | 166.6 |
| 14 | Roger Clemens | pi sp | retired | 164.8 |
| 15 | John Smoltz | pi sp | retired | 160.9 |
| 16 | Justin Verlander | pi sp | hou al | 159.7 |
| 17 | Tim Hudson | pi sp | retired | 157.0 |
| 18 | Jon Lester | pi sp | chi nl | 156.9 |
| 19 | Cole Hamels | pi sp | tex al | 156.1 |
| 20 | Bartolo Colon | pi sp | tex al | 155.9 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
List of top 100 players since 1995 at the end of the 2017 season.
Notable—Cubs pitcher Jon Lester rises to 18th place in career Box-Toppers points among all players since 1995 (when player tracking began) after earning Player of the Game honors Friday.
Lester (6IP 2H R BB 8K W in the 8-1 win over the Reds) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 156.9 career points. He passes two players on the “all-time” career points list—Rangers pitcher Bartolo Colon (155.9) and Rangers pitcher Cole Hamels (156.1). Lester now trails 17th-ranked player Tim Hudson (157.0). Passing Colon and Hamels, Lester now ranks eighth in career points among active players.
Lester has 3.0 Box-Toppers points for the season, 27th among NL pitchers.
Debut—Athletics pitcher Josh Lucas made his Box-Toppers debut Friday with his first career Player of the Game honor.
Lucas (3.2IP 2H R BB 7K ND in the 3-1 win over the Blue Jays) made his Major League debut Aug. 19, 2017, and was playing in his seventh career game. He is the 3,967th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—deGrom earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Lester earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Martinez and Choo 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 (BTG)| 5/18 | BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 12.0 | NYM 3, ARI 1 | Jacob deGrom (W, 4‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 13 | |
| 9.0 | CHC 8, CIN 1 | Jon Lester (W, 4‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 | ||
| AL | 8.0 | HOU 4, CLE 1 | Charlie Morton (W, 6‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 | |
| 7.0 | MIA 2, ATL 0 | Dan Straily (W, 2‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 | ||
| BAT | 6.0 | STL 12, PHI 4 | Jose Martinez 1B | 5 | 2 | 4 | 5 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| 5.2 | `OAK 3, TOR 1 | Josh Lucas | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 3.2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | ||
| 5.0 | MIL 8, MIN 3 | Jesus Aguilar 1B | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| BAT | 5.0 | TEX 12, CHW 5 | Shin‑Soo Choo DH | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| 3.2 | TB 8, LAA 3 | Blake Snell (W, 5‑3) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.2 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 8 | ||
| 3.2 | COL 6, SF 1 | Kyle Freeland (W, 4‑4) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.2 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | ||
| 3.0 | KC 5, NYY 2 | Salvador Perez C | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| 2.1 | SD 3, PIT 2 | Brad Hand (S, 13) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2.0 | SEA 5, DET 4 | Dan Altavilla (W, 3‑2) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 1.0 | BAL 7, BOS 4 | Adam Jones CF | 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 (’18). also shown are each players’ Box-Toppers point total for this season and last (’17-18), the period 2013-2018 (’13-18) and each players’ career point total. also shown is how their 2018 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2017 total (+/-).| Player of Game | Pos | Team | ’18 | ’17‑18 | ’13‑18 | Career | +/‑ |
| Morton, Charlie 2503 | pi sp | hou al | 10.1 | 17.8 | 34.5 | 45.5 | 2.4 |
| Snell, Blake 3688 | pi sp | tb al | 5.0 | 10.0 | 14.0 | 14.0 | 0.0 |
| Hand, Brad 2907 | pi cp | sd nl | 5.0 | 9.7 | 18.7 | 19.7 | 0.3 |
| deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 4.0 | 19.7 | 64.8 | 64.8 | -11.7 |
| Martinez, Jose 3830 | 1b | stl nl | 4.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 0.0 |
| Freeland, Kyle 3763 | pi sp | col nl | 3.7 | 9.7 | 9.7 | 9.7 | -2.3 |
| Lester, Jon 2173 | pi sp | chi nl | 3.0 | 13.7 | 76.9 | 156.9 | -7.7 |
| Jones, Adam 2347 | cf | bal al | 2.5 | 8.5 | 34.5 | 58.0 | -3.5 |
| Choo, Shin-Soo 2267 | dh rf | tex al | 2.5 | 8.5 | 25.0 | 56.2 | -3.5 |
| Straily, Dan 3080 | pi sp | fla nl | 1.0 | 10.7 | 26.4 | 28.4 | -8.7 |
| Perez, Salvador 2972 | ca | kc al | 1.0 | 8.5 | 24.2 | 30.2 | -6.5 |
| Aguilar, Jesus 3787 | 1b | mil nl | 1.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | -4.0 |
| Altavilla, Dan 3761 | pi mr | sea al | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 0.0 |
| Lucas, Josh 3967 | pi mr | oak al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Box-Toppers
Tracking who most helps their teams win the most games, based on box score stats. A method to measure & compare baseball's top players.
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. Players earn Box-Toppers points 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.