Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Thursday, Indians pitcher Trevor Bauer rises to lead Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning American League Player of the Day honors.
Player of the Day—Strasburg struck out nine over 6 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing three hits and one walk, in the 4-0 win over the Mets.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2019 season through the games of April 4.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bauer, Trevor 3065 | pi sp | cle al | 3.7 |
| 2 | Shoemaker, Matt 3290 | pi sp | tor al | 3.7 |
| 3 | Bellinger, Cody 3781 | rf 1b | lad nl | 3.7 |
| 4 | Hader, Josh 3881 | pi cp | mil nl | 3.0 |
| 5 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 2.7 |
| 6 | Lucchesi, Joey 3936 | pi sp | sd nl | 2.7 |
| 7 | Snell, Blake 3688 | pi sp | tb al | 2.0 |
| 8 | Berrios, Jose 3791 | pi sp | min al | 2.0 |
| 9 | Marquez, German 3788 | pi sp | col nl | 2.0 |
| 10 | Clevinger, Mike 3707 | pi sp | cle al | 2.0 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Strasburg earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, his first points of the season, and ranks 13th in season player rankings.
Strasburg has also now earned Box-Toppers points for 10 straight seasons. He earned his first points in 2010 with the Nationals and has 114.1 career points, 53rd among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. With his points Thursday, he passes four players on the “all-time” list—Sammy Sosa (113.2), Dan Haren (113.2), Chris Carpenter (113.3) and White Sox pitcher Ervin Santana (113.4). Strasburg now trails 52nd-ranked player, Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner (114.4). Strasburg ranks eighth in career points among active National League pitchers.
Strasburg’s best season was 2017 when he had 22.5 Box-Toppers points, fourth among all players and third among NL pitchers. He had one other season with more than 20 points—2012, when he had 20.4 points, third among all players and second among NL pitchers. He’s had four seasons with 15 or more points (2014—16.7, 2016—15.1, plus the two 20-point seasons). Strasburg barely kept the streak alive in 2011 when he had just 1.0 Box-Toppers point. In 2018, he had 6.7 points, his second worst season, ranking 51st among NL pitchers. His 15.8-point decline in 2018 from his 2017 point total of 22.5 was the second-biggest among all players.
American League Player of the Day—Indians pitcher Trevor Bauer struck out eight over seven hitless and scoreless innings, allowing six walks, in the 4-1 win over the Blue Jays.
Bauer was pulled after 117 pitches despite throwing a no-hitter. The Indians bullpen was not able to complete the combined no-hitter, giving up three hits.
Bauer earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 3.7 for the season, rising to lead season player rankings, passing previous leader, Blue Jays pitcher Matt Shoemaker. Though both Bauer and Shoemaker have 3.7 Box-Toppers points in 2019, Bauer ranks ahead because he had more 2018 Box-Toppers points (14.1 vs. 2.7).
American League Batter of the Day—Stephen Piscotty of the Athletics hit a three-run homer and doubled, going 4-for-4, scoring once and driving in five runs, in the 7-3 win over the Red Sox.
National League Batter of the Day—There is no separate NL Batter of the Day for Thursday because no NL batter earned Player of the Game honors.
Streak—Shin-Soo Choo of the Rangers has now earned Box-Toppers points in 13 straight seasons after earning his first Player of the Game honor of 2019 Thursday.
Choo (2B 2-3 2R 3BI in the 11-4 win over the Angels) earned his first point in 2007 with the Indians and has 61.2 career points, 11th among active AL batters. His best season was 2010 with the Indians, when he had 9.0 Box-Toppers points, seventh among AL batters. In 2018, he had 6.5 Box-Toppers points with the Rangers, sixth among AL designated hitters.
Scoring—Strasburg earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Bauer earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Piscotty earns 1.5 points for being AL Batter of the Day. All of Thursday’s other Players of the Game (listed in the chart below) earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point.
Player and team rankings—On most Fridays, we’ll post about the top 10 leading players in Box-Toppers points and provide team rankings reports. But usually, this early in the season with comparatively little data to provide based on only the first week’s worth of games, we will hold off until at least next Friday to provide a full report.
However, as previously noted, Indians pitcher Trevor Bauer is leading Box-Toppers season player rankings with 3.7 Box-Toppers points. Plus, the Seattle Mariners currently lead all teams, with its players accumulating a combined 9.0 Box-Toppers points so far this season. The Milwaukee Brewers lead all NL teams, ranking second overall, with 7.5 Box-Toppers points.
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)| 4/4 | BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | +11.2 | WSH 4, NYM 0 | Stephen Strasburg (W, 1‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 9 | |
| +10.0 | ATL 9, CHC 4 | Max Fried (W, 1‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | ||
| AL | +9.0 | CLE 4, TOR 1 | Trevor Bauer (W, 1‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 8 | |
| BAT | +6.0 | OAK 7, BOS 3 | Stephen Piscotty RF | 4 | 1 | 4 | 5 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +6.0 | NYY 8, BAL 4 | Gleyber Torres SS | 4 | 2 | 4 | 4 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +4.0 | TEX 11, LAA 4 | Shin‑Soo Choo RF | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +3.0 | PIT 2, CIN 0 | Felipe Vazquez (S, 1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| +3.0 | `DET 5, KC 4 | Spencer Turnbull | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 10 |
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 | +/‑ |
| Bauer, Trevor 3065 | pi sp | cle al | 3.7 | 17.8 | 54.0 | 57.0 | -10.4 |
| Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 2.0 | 8.7 | 77.0 | 114.1 | -4.7 |
| Piscotty, Stephen 3570 | rf | oak al | 1.5 | 7.5 | 17.2 | 17.2 | -4.5 |
| Choo, Shin-Soo 2267 | rf dh | tex al | 1.0 | 7.5 | 23.0 | 61.2 | -5.5 |
| Vazquez, Felipe 3579 | pi cp | pit nl | 1.0 | 7.0 | 12.0 | 12.0 | -5.0 |
| Torres, Gleyber 3972 | ss 2b | nyy al | 1.0 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | -0.5 |
| Fried, Max 4011 | pi sp | atl nl | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 0.0 |
| Turnbull, Spencer 4086 | pi sp | det al | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 0.0 |
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.