Red Sox pitcher Rick Porcello is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2018 season through the games of Aug. 3:| 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 | Verlander, Justin 2112 | pi sp | hou al | 15.4 |
| 7 | Nola, Aaron 3569 | pi sp | phi nl | 14.4 |
| 8 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | hou al | 14.0 |
| 9 | Morton, Charlie 2503 | pi sp | hou al | 12.8 |
| 10 | Snell, Blake 3688 | pi sp | tb al | 12.7 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Also Friday, Astros pitcher Justin Verlander rises to sixth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Player of the Day—Porcello pitched a complete-game, one-hitter, allowing one run, no walks and striking out nine, in the 4-1 win over the Yankees.
Porcello earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 8.4 for the season, 18th among American League pitchers.
This is just the second time in his career Porcello has earned overall Box-Toppers Player of the Day honors. The only other time he did was Aug. 20, 2014, with the Tigers. In fact, in the 50 times Porcello has earned Player of the Game honors in his career (from 2009 to now), he has only earned Box-Toppers bonus points five times—twice for being Player of the Day (Friday and in the 2014 game previously mentioned) and three times for being American League Player of the Day (earning 1.7 points each time)—Aug. 2, 2014; and twice this season, June 21 and July 23.
Porcello has 54.1 career Box-Toppers points and only 4.1 of those are bonus points.
National League Player of the Day—Phillies pitcher Vince Velasquez struck out seven over 6 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing two hits and one walk, in the 5-1 win over the Marlins.
American League Batter of the Day—Shohei Ohtani of the Angels homered twice and went 4-for-5, scoring three times and driving in three runs, in the 7-4 win over the Indians.
While this is his fourth Player of the Game honor of the season (and for his career) it is his first as a batter. His other three Player of the Game honors came as a pitcher (April 8, May 13 and May 20).
Box-Toppers understands that Ohtani entered the league touted as a dual-threat pitcher and batter. Further, Box-Toppers understands that injury concerns are currently limiting him to just batting. But because he has primarily earned his Player of the Game honors this season as a pitcher, Box-Toppers still classifies him and ranks him as pitcher for the season (with 5.5 Box-Toppers points, he currently ranks 33rd among AL pitchers). Should he earn Player of the Game honors next time this season as a batter, Box-Toppers will classify him as both a pitcher and batter and rank him in both categories.
It is the second time this season that a player who can primarily be considered a pitcher earned Box-Toppers league Batter of the Day honors. On June 30, Michael Lorenzen of the Reds hit a pinch-hit grand slam to earn NL Batter of the Day honors. Lorenzen has earned Player of the Game honors five other times in his career for pitching, his primary position and did not pitch in the June 30 game but appeared only as a pinch hitter.
Three other times this season, a pitcher (who appeared as a pitcher in the game) earned Player of the Game honors for batting.
National League Batter of the Day—David Peralta of the Diamondbacks homered, doubled and went 3-for-4, scoring twice and driving in one run, in the 6-3 win over the Giants.
Rankings—Astros pitcher Justin Verlander rises from seventh to sixth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Friday.
Verlander (7.2IP 4H R BB 14K W in the 2-1 win over the Dodgers) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 15.4 for the season, fifth among AL pitchers.
Verlander reaches 15 Box-Toppers points in a season for the fourth time in his career and the first time since 2012. The other three times he did it came with the Tigers:
2009—15.1 points, sixth among AL pitchers.
2011—24.4 points, first among AL pitchers, third among all players.
2012—24.8 points, first among all players.
Verlander had 14.7 Box-Toppers points in each of the previous two seasons, 2016 and 2017.
Verlander now has 169.4 career Box-Toppers points, 12th-most since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails 11th-ranked player on the “all-time” points list, Roy Halladay (170.7). Verlander ranks seventh among active players in career points.
Notable—Rougned Odor of the Rangers earns Player of the Game honors for the second straight day Friday.
Odor (GS 2-5 2R 4BI in the 11-3 win over the Orioles) was also Player of the Game Thursday in the Rangers’ 17-8 win over the Orioles. Odor now has 5.0 Box-Toppers points for the season, 16th among AL batters.
Debut-Blue Jays pitcher Ryan Borucki made his Box-Toppers debut Friday with his first career Player of the Game honor.
Borucki (8IP 4H R 0BB 3K W in the 7-2 win over the Mariners) made his Major League debut June 26 and was playing in his seventh career game.
Scoring—Porcello earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Velasquez earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Ohtani and Peralta 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)| 8/3 | BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | +15.0 | BOS 4, NYY 1 | Rick Porcello (W, 14‑4) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 9.0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 9 | |
| +14.2 | HOU 2, LAD 1 | Justin Verlander (W, 11‑6) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 14 | ||
| NL | +10.1 | PHI 5, MIA 1 | Vince Velasquez (W, 8‑8) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | |
| +9.0 | ATL 2, NYM 1 | Anibal Sanchez (W, 6‑3) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 9 | ||
| +6.0 | CHC 5, SD 4 | Jose Quintana (W, 10‑7) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | ||
| +6.0 | `CHW 3, TB 2 (F/10) | Lucas Giolito | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 6 | ||
| +6.0 | `OAK 1, DET 0 (F/13) | Brett Anderson | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | ||
| BAT | +5.0 | LAA 7, CLE 4 | Shohei Ohtani DH | 5 | 3 | 4 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +5.0 | TOR 7, SEA 2 | Ryan Borucki (W, 1‑2) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 8.0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| +3.0 | TEX 11, BAL 3 | Rougned Odor 2B | 5 | 2 | 2 | 4 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +3.0 | `MIN 6, KC 4 | Trevor May (H, 1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| BAT | +2.0 | ARI 6, SF 3 | David Peralta LF | 4 | 2 | 3 | 1 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +2.0 | PIT 7, STL 6 | Gregory Polanco RF | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +2.0 | MIL 5, COL 3 | Corbin Burnes (W, 2‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
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 | +/‑ |
| Verlander, Justin 2112 | pi sp | hou al | 15.4 | 30.1 | 65.2 | 169.4 | +0.7 |
| Quintana, Jose 3040 | pi sp | chi nl | 9.1 | 24.1 | 53.9 | 59.3 | -5.9 |
| Porcello, Rick 2573 | pi sp | bos al | 8.4 | 11.4 | 38.1 | 54.1 | +5.4 |
| Velasquez, Vince 3611 | pi sp | phi nl | 8.4 | 9.4 | 17.4 | 17.4 | +7.4 |
| Sanchez, Anibal 2187 | pi sp | atl nl | 7.4 | 9.4 | 34.9 | 74.7 | +5.4 |
| Peralta, David 3370 | lf | ari nl | 7.0 | 9.0 | 20.9 | 20.9 | +5.0 |
| Polanco, Gregory 3361 | rf | pit nl | 6.0 | 11.5 | 24.0 | 24.0 | +0.5 |
| Ohtani, Shohei 3933 | pi sp | ana al | 5.5 | 5.5 | 5.5 | 5.5 | +5.5 |
| Odor, Rougned 3336 | 2b | tex al | 5.0 | 13.7 | 24.7 | 24.7 | -3.7 |
| Giolito, Lucas 3900 | pi sp | chi al | 3.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 0.0 |
| Anderson, Brett 2597 | pi sp | oak al | 2.0 | 3.0 | 13.0 | 30.7 | +1.0 |
| Burnes, Corbin 4029 | pi mr cp | mil nl | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | +2.0 |
| May, Trevor 3417 | pi mr | min al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | +1.0 |
| Borucki, Ryan 4034 | pi sp | tor 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.