Rays pitcher Blake Snell is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Tuesday, Cody Bellinger of the Dodgers extends his lead in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors for the third time already in the first week of the season.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2019 season through the games of April 2.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bellinger, Cody 3781 | rf 1b | lad nl | 3.7 |
| 2 | Hader, Josh 3881 | pi cp | mil nl | 3.0 |
| 3 | Snell, Blake 3688 | pi sp | tb al | 2.0 |
| 4 | Berrios, Jose 3791 | pi sp | min al | 2.0 |
| 5 | Bauer, Trevor 3065 | pi sp | cle al | 2.0 |
| 6 | Clevinger, Mike 3707 | pi sp | cle al | 2.0 |
| 7 | Fiers, Mike 3029 | pi sp | oak al | 2.0 |
| 8 | Zimmermann, Jordan 2612 | pi sp | det al | 2.0 |
| 9 | Strickland, Hunter 3546 | pi cp | sea al | 2.0 |
| 10 | Shoemaker, Matt 3290 | pi sp | tor al | 2.0 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Snell struck out 13 over seven scoreless innings, allowing two hits and one walk, in the 4-0 win over the Rockies.
Snell earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, his first points of the season and ranks third in Box-Toppers season player rankings. Snell led all players in 2018 with 27.2 Box-Toppers points, a season in which he earned overall Player of the Day honors just twice, June 25 and Sept. 23.
National League Player of the Day—Phillies pitcher Zach Eflin struck out nine over five scoreless innings, allowing three hits and one walk, in the 8-2 win over the Nationals.
Max Scherzer, who led NL players in Box-Toppers points in 2018 (25.1), started for the Nationals and had a Box-Toppers game score of +3.0 in the loss, his second already in the first week of the season (5IP 7H 2R ER BB 9K L).
Bryce Harper made his return to Washington for the first time after signing a free-agent deal with the Phillies and fared well, though did not earn Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors. Harper (HR 2B 3-5 R 3BI) had a Box-Toppers game score of +2.0. Player of the Game Eflin had a game score of +10.0.
National League Batter of the Day—Zack Greinke of the Diamondbacks hit two home runs, including a three-run shot, in the 8-5 win over the Padres. Greinke went 2-for-4, scoring twice and driving in four runs.
This is the second time in his career the pitcher Greinke has earned Player of the Game honors for batting. He also did it Aug. 6, 2015. Greinke had a Box-Toppers game score of +4.0 for batting and also had a game score of +4.0 for pitching (6IP 6H 3R 0BB 10K W). Since in cases of game score ties, batters beat pitchers, Greinke the batter beat Greinke the pitcher in this instance.
This is the first time this season a pitcher has earned Player of the Game honors for batting. It was done three times in 2018.
Greinke has now also earned Box-Toppers points in 13 straight seasons with his first Player of the Game honor of the season. He earned his first Box-Toppers points in 2004 with the Royals. However, he earned no points in 2006, so his 13-season streak began in 2007 with the Royals.
He has 190.7 career Box-Toppers points, seventh among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails sixth-ranked Albert Pujols of the Angels (190.8) on the “all-time” list by just 0.1 point. Greinke ranks fourth among active players in career points.
Greinke’s best season was 2009 with the Royals when he had 21.5 Box-Toppers points, first among all players. He’s had three seasons with 20 or more Box-Toppers points, including 2009, 2015 with the Dodgers (20.7) and 2017 with the Diamondbacks (20.1). In 2018, he had 13.0 points, 10th among NL pitchers.
American League Batter of the Day—Joey Gallo of the Rangers went 1-for-2, scoring once and driving in two runs, in the 6-4 win over the Astros.
Notable—Two players Tuesday each earned Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors for the third time already this season.
Cody Bellinger of the Dodgers (HR 1-4 R 4BI in the 6-5 win over the Giants) extended his lead in Box-Toppers season player rankings with 3.7 points. He was also Player of the Game in the Dodgers’ wins Saturday (earning NL Player of the Day) and Sunday.
Josh Hader of the Brewers (1IP 0H 0R BB 2K Sv in the 4-3 win over the Reds) now has 3.0 Box-Toppers points and rises to second in season player rankings. He was also Player of the Game Thursday and Saturday.
Streak—Orioles pitcher Andrew Cashner has now earned Box-Toppers points in 10 consecutive seasons after earning his first Player of the Game honor of 2019.
Cashner (6IP 4H 0R 3BB 3K W in the 2-1 win over the Blue Jays) earned his first Box-Toppers points in 2010 with the Cubs and now has 34.4 career points, 51st among active AL pitchers. Cashner’s best season was 2014 with the Padres when he had 9.0 Box-Toppers points, 32nd among NL pitchers. He had 2.0 points in 2018 with the Orioles.
Scoring—Snell earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Eflin earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Greinke and Gallo each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Tuesday’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)| 4/2 | BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | +17.0 | TB 4, COL 0 | Blake Snell (W, 1‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 13 | |
| NL | +10.0 | PHI 8, WSH 2 | Zach Eflin (W, 1‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 9 | |
| +4.1 | SEA 2, LAA 1 | Marco Gonzales (W, 3‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 8.1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | ||
| BAT | +4.0 | ARI 8, SD 5 | Zack Greinke P | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +4.0 | OAK 1, BOS 0 | Mike Fiers (W, 2‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| +3.2 | ` DET 3, NYY 1 | Jordan Zimmermann | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.2 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | ||
| +2.0 | LAD 6, SF 5 | Cody Bellinger RF | 4 | 1 | 1 | 4 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| BAT | +2.0 | TEX 6, HOU 4 | Joey Gallo DH | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +2.0 | BAL 2, TOR 1 | Andrew Cashner (W, 1‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | ||
| +2.0 | MIL 4, CIN 3 | Josh Hader (S, 4) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | ||
| +1.2 | NYM 6, MIA 5 | Justin Wilson (S, 1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| +1.1 | MIN 5, KC 4 (F/10) | Trevor Hildenberger (W, 1‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 0.1 | 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 (’19). Also shown are each players’ Box-Toppers point total for this season and last (’18-19), the period 2013-2018 (’14-19) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2019 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2018 total (+/-).| Player of the Game | Pos | Team | ’19 | ’18‑19 | ’14‑19 | Career | +/‑ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bellinger, Cody 3781 | rf 1b | lad nl | 3.7 | 3.7 | 12.4 | 12.4 | +3.7 |
| Hader, Josh 3881 | pi cp | mil nl | 3.0 | 14.7 | 17.7 | 17.7 | -8.7 |
| Snell, Blake 3688 | pi sp | tb al | 2.0 | 29.2 | 38.2 | 38.2 | -25.2 |
| Fiers, Mike 3029 | pi sp | oak al | 2.0 | 12.7 | 37.5 | 45.2 | -8.7 |
| Zimmermann, Jordan 2612 | pi sp | det al | 2.0 | 8.0 | 35.0 | 70.4 | -4.0 |
| Eflin, Zach 3679 | pi sp | phi nl | 1.7 | 9.4 | 14.4 | 14.4 | -6.0 |
| Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | ari nl | 1.5 | 14.5 | 81.5 | 190.7 | -11.5 |
| Gallo, Joey 3485 | dh 1b rf lf | tex al | 1.5 | 6.5 | 14.5 | 14.5 | -3.5 |
| Gonzales, Marco 3408 | pi sp | sea al | 1.0 | 11.4 | 15.4 | 15.4 | -9.4 |
| Cashner, Andrew 2807 | pi sp | bal al | 1.0 | 3.0 | 20.7 | 34.4 | -1.0 |
| Wilson, Justin 3140 | pi cp mr | nym nl | 1.0 | 2.0 | 9.0 | 12.0 | 0.0 |
| Hildenberger, Trevor 3846 | pi mr cp | min al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | +1.0 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations