Red Sox’ David Price tops players for Saturday, Aug. 11; Nola, Bauer rise in player rankings top 10

Red Sox pitcher David Price is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, becoming the 21st player this season to reach 10 Box-Toppers points.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2018 season through the games of Aug. 11:  
 

Player Pos Team BTP
1 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 20.1
2 Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp bos al 17.1
3 Severino, Luis 3567 pi sp nyy al 16.7
4 Berrios, Jose 3791 pi sp min al 16.1
5 Paxton, James 3280 pi sp sea al 16.0
6 Nola, Aaron 3569 pi sp phi nl 15.4
7 Verlander, Justin 2112 pi sp hou al 15.4
8 Snell, Blake 3688 pi sp tb al 14.4
9 Bauer, Trevor 3065 pi sp cle al 14.1
10 Corbin, Patrick 3027 pi sp ari nl 14.0
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About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations

Also Saturday, two players rise in Box-Toppers season player rankings top 10 after earning Player of the Game honors—Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola rises to sixth place and Indians pitcher Trevor Bauer rises to ninth place.

In addition, J.D. Martinez of the Red Sox extends his Box-Toppers points lead among American League batters after earning AL Batter of the Day honors.

Player of the Day—Price struck out 10 over six scoreless innings, allowing five hits and no walks, in the 5-0 win over the Orioles.

Price earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 10.4 for the season. He ranks 21st among all players and 14th among AL pitchers.

This is Price’s seventh season with 10 or more Box-Toppers points. His best season was 2015 with the Tigers and the Blue Jays when he had 21.1 Box-Toppers points, fifth among all players and second among AL pitchers. In 2017, he had 4.7 points with the Red Sox.

Price now has 121.3 career Box-Toppers points, 41st among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails 40th-ranked player Gary Sheffield (124.1). (It should be noted Sheffield would have an estimated 155 points if his entire career from 1988 were tracked.)

National League Player of the Day—Ryan Zimmerman of the Nationals hit two home runs and went 2-for-3, scoring twice and driving in six runs, in the 9-4 win over the Cubs.

American League Batter of the Day—J.D. Martinez of the Red Sox hit two home runs, including an eighth-inning, tiebreaking, two-run shot, in the 6-4 win over the Orioles, in the second game of a doubleheader. Martinez went 2-for-2, scoring twice and driving in three runs.

Martinez earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day, giving him 11.5 points for the season, extending his lead among AL batters over second-place Francisco Lindor of the Indians (7.9). Martinez ranks 17th among all players in season rankings.

National League Batter of the Day—There is no separate NL Batter of the Day for Saturday because the overall NL Player of the Day is batter Ryan Zimmerman.

Rankings—Two players rose into Box-Toppers season player rankings top 10 Saturday after earning Player of the Game honors:

  • Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola (6IP 4H 0R 3BB 5K W in the 5-1 win over the Padres) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 15.4 for the season, rising to sixth place, second among NL pitchers, behind overall leader Max Scherzer of the Nationals (20.1). Nola becomes the seventh player to reach 15 Box-Toppers points this season. It is his second season with 15 points—he had 15.8 in 2017 with the Phillies, sixth among NL pitchers.

  • Indians pitcher Trevor Bauer (6.1IP 2H R 0BB 8K W in the 3-1 win over the White Sox) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 14.1 for the season, rising to ninth place, seventh place among AL pitchers.

Notable—Mariners closing pitcher Edwin Diaz earns Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors for the second straight day Saturday.

Diaz (1IP 0R 0R 0BB 2K Sv in the 3-2 win over the Astros) was also Player of the Game Friday in the Mariners’ 5-2 win over the Astros. Diaz has 7.0 Box-Toppers points on the season and rises to first place among AL closers, moving ahead of Brad Hand of the Indians. Hand also has 7.0 points on the season, but Diaz ranks ahead because he has more 2017 points—9.0 vs. 4.7.

Scoring—Price earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Zimmerman earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Martinez earn 1.5 points for being AL 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 (BTG)

8/11 BTG Game Player AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB +11.0 BOS 5, BAL 0 David Price (W, 12‑6) 6.0 5 0 0 0 10
+10.1 CLE 3, CHW 1 Trevor Bauer (W, 12‑6) 6.1 2 1 1 0 8
+7.1 OAK 7, LAA 0 Edwin Jackson (W, 4‑2) 7.1 3 0 0 3 6
NL +7.0 WSH 9, CHC 4 Ryan Zimmerman 1B 3 2 2 6
+6.0 STL 8, KC 3 Jack Flaherty (W, 6‑6) 7.0 3 2 2 3 9
BAT +5.0 BOS 6, BAL 4 J.D. Martinez LF 2 2 2 3
+5.0 MIL 4, ATL 2 Josh Hader (S, 9) 2.0 0 0 0 0 3
+5.0 `COL 3, LAD 2 Kyle Freeland 7.0 6 2 2 2 10
+4.0 PHI 5, SD 1 Aaron Nola (W, 13‑3) 6.0 4 0 0 3 5
+4.0 `CIN 6, ARI 3 Matt Harvey 7.0 5 2 2 1 7
+3.1 NYY 5, TEX 3 Dellin Betances (W, 3‑3) (BS, 1) 1.1 0 0 0 0 2
+3.0 PIT 4, SF 0 Trevor Williams (W, 10‑8) 7.0 5 0 0 1 2
+3.0 SEA 3, HOU 2 Edwin Diaz (S, 45) 1.0 0 0 0 0 2
+2.2 TB 3, TOR 1 Diego Castillo (W, 3‑2) 2.2 1 0 0 1 2
+1.0 MIA 4, NYM 3 (F/11) Bryan Holaday PH 1 0 1 1
0.0 MIN 4, DET 3 Tyler Austin DH 4 1 1 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.

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 +/‑
Nola, Aaron 3569 pi sp phi nl 15.4 31.2 39.9 39.9 -0.4
Bauer, Trevor 3065 pi sp cle al 14.1 23.8 51.3 53.3 +4.4
Martinez, J.D. 2922 lf dh rf bos al 11.5 17.0 30.2 34.2 +6.0
Price, David 2593 pi sp bos al 10.4 15.1 75.4 121.3 +5.7
Hader, Josh 3881 pi cp mr mil nl 8.7 11.7 11.7 11.7 +5.7
Freeland, Kyle 3763 pi sp col nl 8.4 14.4 14.4 14.4 +2.4
Flaherty, Jack 3971 pi sp stl nl 8.4 8.4 8.4 8.4 +8.4
Diaz, Edwin 3690 pi cp sea al 7.0 16.0 23.0 23.0 -2.0
Williams, Trevor 3792 pi sp pit nl 5.0 10.0 10.0 10.0 0.0
Jackson, Edwin 1812 pi sp oak al 5.0 7.0 17.0 50.8 +3.0
Harvey, Matt 3075 pi sp cin nl 5.0 6.0 39.4 42.4 +4.0
Zimmerman, Ryan 2180 1b dc nl 2.7 9.9 27.1 66.2 -4.5
Betances, Dellin 3333 pi cp mr nyy al 2.0 7.0 19.7 19.7 -3.0
Holaday, Bryan 3332 ca ph fla nl 2.0 2.0 4.0 4.0 +2.0
Castillo, Diego 3995 pi cp mr tb al 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 +2.0
Austin, Tyler 3732 dh 1b min al 1.0 1.0 3.0 3.0 +1.0
What are those numbers after players' names?
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations