Royals’ Danny Duffy tops players for Saturday, June 9; Cubs’ Lester tops NL players

Royals pitcher Danny Duffy is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Duffy struck out 10 over seven scoreless innings, allowing three hits and three walks, in the 2-0 win over the Athletics.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2018 season through the games of June 9:  
 

 Player Pos Team BTP
1 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 15.4
2 Severino, Luis 3567 pi sp nyy al 13.7
3 Berrios, Jose 3791 pi sp min al 11.4
4 Cole, Gerrit 3232 pi sp hou al 11.0
5 Morton, Charlie 2503 pi sp hou al 10.1
6 Paxton, James 3280 pi sp sea al 10.0
7 Corbin, Patrick 3027 pi sp ari nl 9.0
8 Happ, J.A. 2536 pi sp tor al 8.7
9 Kluber, Corey 3200 pi sp cle al 7.7
10 Nola, Aaron 3569 pi sp phi nl 7.7
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Duffy earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 3.0 for the season, 37th among American League pitchers.

National League Player of the Day—Cubs pitcher Jon Lester struck out five over seven scoreless innings, allowing one hit and two walks, in the 2-0 win over the Pirates.

Lester earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 5.7 for the season, most among the 15 who earned Player of the Game honors Saturday. He ranks 30th among all players and 12th among NL pitchers.

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 196.7
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 180.2
9 Felix Hernandez pi sp sea al 174.1
10 Max Scherzer pi sp dc nl 172.1
11 Roy Halladay pi sp retired 170.7
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 Justin Verlander pi sp hou al 161.7
16 John Smoltz pi sp retired 160.9
17 Jon Lester pi sp chi nl 159.6
18 Cole Hamels pi sp tex al 158.8
19 Tim Hudson pi sp retired 157.0
20 Bartolo Colon pi sp tex al 155.9
BTP: Box-Toppers points
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
List of top 100 players since 1995 at the end of the 2017 season.

Lester also now has 159.6 career Box-Toppers points, rising to 17th place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. With his points Saturday, he passes Rangers pitcher Cole Hamels (158.8) on the “all-time” list and now trails John Smoltz (160.9). (It should be noted Smoltz would have an estimated 255 career points if his entire career from 1988 were tracked.) Passing Hamels, Lester now ranks eighth among active players in career points.

National League Batter of the Day—Paul Goldschmidt of the Diamondbacks hit two home runs and went 3-for-4, scoring three times and driving in four runs, in the 12-7 win over the Rockies.

This is the second straight day Goldschmidt has earned Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors. He was also Player of the Game Friday in the 9-4 win over the Rockies. Goldschmidt has 3.5 Box-Toppers points for the season, eighth among NL batters.

American League Batter of the Day—Mallex Smith of the Rays tripled and went 3-for-4, scoring twice and driving in one run, in the 7-3 win over the Mariners.

Debut—Two players made their Box-Toppers debut Saturday with their first career Player of the Game honors:

  • Ji-Man Choi of the Brewers (HR 1-1 R 4BI in the 12-3 win over the Phillies) made his Major League debut April 5, 2016, and was playing in his 72nd career game. He is the 3,990th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

  • Cardinals pitcher Jordan Hicks (1IP H 0R 0BB 3K Sv in the 6-4 win over the Reds) made his Major League debut March 29 and was playing in his 30th career game. He is the 3,991st player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Duffy 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. Goldschmidt and Smith each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s 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.

Box-Toppers strives for accuracy. See a mistake in a post? A wrong name, wrong team, grammar error, spelling goof, etc.? Thanks for pointing it out! Contact Box-Toppers here. Let's fix it and make it right.

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score (BTG)

6/9 BTG Game Player AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB 11.0 KC 2, OAK 0 Danny Duffy (W, 3‑6) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 7.0 3 0 0 3 10
NL 9.0 CHC 2, PIT 0 Jon Lester (W, 7‑2) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 7.0 1 0 0 2 5
7.0 LAA 2, MIN 1 Tyler Skaggs (W, 5‑4) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 7.0 5 1 1 1 8
7.0 `DET 4, CLE 2 (F/12) Mike Fiers ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 7.0 5 1 1 1 8
BAT 6.0 ARI 12, COL 7 Paul Goldschmidt 1B 4 3 3 4 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
5.0 MIL 12, PHI 3 Ji‑Man Choi PH 1 1 1 4 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
4.2 WSH 7, SF 5 Justin Miller (W, 3‑0) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 1.2 0 0 0 0 3
4.0 `NYY 4, NYM 3 Domingo German ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 6.0 5 3 3 0 9
3.0 HOU 4, TEX 3 Tony Sipp (W, 1‑0) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 1.0 0 0 0 1 3
3.0 STL 6, CIN 4 Jordan Hicks (S, 1) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 1.0 1 0 0 0 3
3.0 BOS 4, CHW 2 Craig Kimbrel (S, 20) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 1.0 0 0 0 0 2
2.2 SD 5, MIA 4 Craig Stammen (W, 4‑0) (BS, 3) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 1.2 1 0 0 0 2
BAT 2.0 TB 7, SEA 3 Mallex Smith CF 4 2 3 1 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
1.1 ATL 5, LAD 3 Anibal Sanchez (W, 2‑0) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 5.1 3 2 2 2 5
0.0 TOR 4, BAL 3 (F/10) John Axford (W, 1‑0) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 2.0 1 0 0 2 1
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.

Box-Toppers point totals of the day’s top players

Here are Box-Toppers point totals of each of the Player of the Game winners. 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 the Game Pos Team ’18 ’17‑18 ’13‑18 Career +/‑
Lester, Jon 2173 pi sp chi nl 5.7 16.4 79.6 159.6 -5.0
Kimbrel, Craig 2825 pi cp bos al 4.0 12.7 50.4 71.4 -4.7
Skaggs, Tyler 3183 pi sp ana al 4.0 7.0 19.4 19.4 +1.0
Smith, Mallex 3819 cf rf tb al 4.0 6.5 6.5 6.5 +1.5
German, Domingo 3957 pi mr nyy al 4.0 4.0 4.0 4.0 +4.0
Sanchez, Anibal 2187 pi sp atl nl 3.7 5.7 31.2 71.0 +1.7
Goldschmidt, Paul 2935 1b ari nl 3.5 10.9 42.3 50.8 -3.9
Duffy, Danny 2915 pi sp kc al 3.0 7.0 33.7 36.7 -1.0
Stammen, Craig 2506 pi mr sd nl 3.0 4.0 8.0 16.0 +2.0
Fiers, Michael 3029 pi sp det al 2.0 8.4 26.8 34.5 -4.4
Miller, Justin 1604 pi mr dc nl 2.0 2.0 5.0 10.0 +2.0
Axford, John 2726 pi cp tor al 1.0 1.0 6.0 19.0 +1.0
Sipp, Tony 2852 pi mr hou al 1.0 1.0 7.0 10.0 +1.0
Choi, Ji-Man 3990 ph mil nl 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 +1.0
Hicks, Jordan 3991 pi cp stl nl 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 +1.0
What are those numbers after players' names?
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations