| American League | Team | BTP | Rank | Pos | National League | Team | BTP | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pujols, Albert 1438 | ana al | 11.0 | 37 | 1B | Freeman, Freddie 2887 | atl nl | 10.2 | 43 |
| Torres, Gleyber 3972 | nyy al | 12.0 | 30 | 2B | Cabrera, Asdrubal 2362 | dc nl | 9.0 | 64 |
| Semien, Marcus 3302 | oak al | 8.7 | 74 | SS | Story, Trevor 3607 | col nl | 7.0 | 105 |
| Bregman, Alex 3721 | hou al | 10.0 | 48 | 3B | Arenado, Nolan 3306 | col nl | 9.0 | 62 |
| Garver, Mitch 3950 | min al | 7.5 | 97 | CA | Realmuto, J.T. 3491 | phi nl | 7.0 | 106 |
| Betts, Mookie 3404 | bos al | 8.7 | 66 | OF | Ozuna, Marcell 3190 | stl nl | 12.0 | 29 |
| Trout, Mike 2949 | ana al | 8.7 | 68 | OF | Yelich, Christian 3334 | mil nl | 11.7 | 31 |
| Martinez, J.D. 2922 | bos al | 8.5 | 76 | OF | Bellinger, Cody 3781 | lad nl | 11.2 | 35 |
| Cruz, Nelson 2224 | min al | 12.5 | 26 | DH | ||||
| Cole, Gerrit 3232 | hou al | 32.2 | 1 | SP | Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | dc nl | 20.7 | 3 |
| Verlander, Justin 2112 | hou al | 27.5 | 2 | SP | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | nym nl | 19.1 | 4 |
| Morton, Charlie 2503 | tb al | 18.8 | 5 | SP | Ryu, Hyun-Jin 3139 | lad nl | 17.4 | 10 |
| Bieber, Shane 4005 | cle al | 18.1 | 6 | SP | Flaherty, Jack 3971 | stl nl | 16.5 | 11 |
| Hand, Brad 2907 | cle al | 8.0 | 83 | CP | Hader, Josh 3881 | mil nl | 17.7 | 8 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
The Box-Toppers All-Star teams for the 2019 regular season are led by overall Box-Toppers points leader, Astros pitcher Gerrit Cole.
The American League and National League All-Star teams are composed of the players with the highest Box-Toppers point totals by position in each league. In addition to the batters—eight in the NL and nine (including the designated hitter) in the AL—are the top four starting pitchers in each league and the top closing pitcher.
Cole, Box-Toppers Player of the Year for 2019, led all players with 32.2 Box-Toppers points. It is Cole’s first time on Box-Toppers’ year-end All-Star teams. Previously, he has not been among his league’s top four pitchers who are named All-Stars. In 2015, his best previous season, he had 19.0 Box-Toppers points with the Pirates and ranked sixth among NL pitchers. In 2018, he had 18.0 points with the Astros, sixth among AL pitchers.
At July’s All-Star break, Cole ranked third among AL pitchers and sixth overall with 11.4 Box-Toppers points. He first rose to the overall season Box-Toppers points lead on July 22, battling with then-overall leader and teammate Justin Verlander, until finally taking the lead for good on Sept. 8 with 26.2 points.
Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg leads all NL players with 20.7 Box-Toppers points, ranking third among all players.
The top AL batter is Nelson Cruz of the Twins (12.5 Box-Toppers points, ranked 26th among all players). Top NL batter is Marcell Ozuna of the Cardinals (12.0 Box-Toppers points, ranked 29th among all players).
There are eight players who appeared on Box-Toppers’ 2018 year-end All-Star teams who returned for the 2019 team:
Mitch Garver of the Twins is the top-ranked AL catcher (7.5 Box-Toppers points, ranked 97th among all players). In 2018, Garver also led AL catchers with 7.5 points.
J.D. Martinez of the Red Sox is the third-ranked AL outfielder (8.5 points, ranked 76th overall). In 2018, Martinez was the top-ranked AL outfielder with 12.5 points.
Mookie Betts of the Red Sox is the top-ranked AL outfielder (8.7 points, ranked 66th overall). In 2018, Betts was the second-ranked AL outfielder with 10.9 points.
Mike Trout of the Angels is the second-ranked AL outfielder (8.7 points, ranked 68th overall). In 2018, Trout was the third-ranked AL outfielder with 8.0 points.
Astros pitcher Justin Verlander is the second-ranked AL starting pitcher (27.5 points, ranked second overall). In 2018, he was the second-ranked AL starting pitcher with 24.1 points.
Christian Yelich of the Brewers is the second-ranked NL outfielder (11.7 points, ranked 31st overall). In 2018, he was the top-ranked NL outfielder with 11.5 points.
Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom is the second-ranked NL starting pitcher (19.1 points, ranked fourth overall). In 2018, he was the third-ranked NL starting pitcher with 16.8 points.
Brewers pitcher Josh Hader is the top-ranked NL closing pitcher (17.7 points, ranked eighth overall). The last time a closing pitcher ranked among the top 10 overall players was 2004, when Eric Gagne of the Dodgers ranked third overall with 19.7 points, the most points earned in a single season for a relief pitcher since Box-Toppers began tracking relievers in 1998. Hader’s 17.7 points is the third-most in a single season for a reliever in that span. In 2018, Hader was the top-ranked NL closing pitcher with 11.7 points.
No player on 2019 Box-Toppers All-Star teams has been on Box-Toppers All-Star teams longer than two consecutive seasons. Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer had made seven straight Box-Toppers year-end All-Star teams from 2012 to 2018, but fell short in 2019—he ranked ninth among NL pitchers with 15.4 points, outside the top four NL pitchers making the All-Star team.
Indians pitcher Corey Kluber had made three straight Box-Toppers All-Star teams from 2016 to 2018, but had no Box-Toppers points this season.
Four other players had streaks of two years making Box-Toppers year-end All-Star teams (2017 and 2018), but did not make it for a third year—Ryon Healy of the Mariners (AL first base), Rougned Odor of the Rangers (AL second base), Chris Sale of the Red Sox (AL starting pitcher) and Anthony Rizzo of the Cubs (NL first base).
The Houston Astros have three players among the year-end All-Stars, most of any team:
Alex Bregman, who leads AL third basemen with 10.0 points.
Cole, who leads AL starting pitchers with 32.2 points.
Verlander, who ranks second among AL starting pitchers with 27.5 points.
Nine other teams each have two representatives on the All-Star teams—Boston Red Sox (Mookie Betts and J.D. Martinez—AL OFs), Los Angeles Angels (Albert Pujols—AL 1B and Mike Trout—AL OF), Cleveland Indians (Shane Bieber—AL SP and Brad Hand—AL CP), Minnesota Twins (Mitch Garver—AL CA and Nelson Cruz—AL DH), Colorado Rockies (Trevor Story—NL SS and Nolan Arenado—NL 3B), Washington Nationals (Asdrubal Cabrera—NL 2B and Stephen Strasburg—NL SP), Los Angeles Dodgers (Cody Bellinger—NL OF and Hyun-Jin Ryu—NL SP), Milwaukee Brewers (Christian Yelich—NL OF and Josh Hader—NL CP) and St. Louis Cardinals (Marcell Ozuna—NL OF and Jack Flaherty—NL SP).
There are instances on Box-Toppers All-Star teams in which a player who played in more than one position is placed on the team in a spot that wasn’t necessarily his primary position. For example, Gleyber Torres of the Yankees played both shortstop and second base and led in Box-Toppers points at both positions. He earned seven of his 10 Player of the Game honors in 2019 at shortstop, but because he earned more than 25 percent of his Player of the Game honors at second base (3 of 10, 30 percent), he also qualifies as a second basemen.
To decide at which position to place Torres, we look at the second-place player at each position:
At second base, it is Cavan Biggio of the Blue Jays with 6.2 points.
At shortstop, it is Marcus Semien of the Athletics with 8.7 points.
Since Semien has more points, we place him at shortstop on the All-Star team and place Torres at second base.
Notably, Alex Bregman of the Astros also split time between third base and shortstop, but Box-Toppers has him as third basemen since in his nine Player of the Game honors, only two came at shortstop—that is 22.2 percent, less than the 25 percent required to qualify him at shortstop. If he had another Player of the Game honor at shortstop and exceeded the 25 percent threshold, then he would have been the AL All-Star shortstop (bumping Semien) and Rafael Devers of the Red Sox (9.5 Box-Toppers points) would have been the AL All-Star third baseman.
Eight of the 15 AL All-Stars made it to the postseason. Nine of the 14 NL All-Stars made it to the postseason.
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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