Astros pitcher Gerrit Cole is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2019 season through the games of April 30.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Verlander, Justin 2112 | pi sp | hou al | 6.4 |
| 2 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | ari nl | 6.2 |
| 3 | Bellinger, Cody 3781 | rf | lad nl | 6.2 |
| 4 | Bauer, Trevor 3065 | pi sp | cle al | 5.4 |
| 5 | Hader, Josh 3881 | pi cp | mil nl | 5.0 |
| 6 | Paddack, Chris 4093 | pi sp | sd nl | 5.0 |
| 7 | Quintana, Jose 3040 | pi sp | chi nl | 4.7 |
| 8 | Castillo, Luis 3840 | pi sp | cin nl | 4.7 |
| 9 | Glasnow, Tyler 3948 | pi sp | tb al | 4.7 |
| 10 | Yelich, Christian 3334 | rf lf | mil nl | 4.5 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Also Tuesday, Diamondbacks pitcher Zack Greinke rises to second place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning National League Player of the Day honors. Grienke also rises to lead NL pitchers in season player rankings, plus he rises to fifth place in most career Box-Toppers points since 1995.
Player of the Day—Cole struck out 11 over seven scoreless innings, allowing one hit and three walks, in the 11-0 win over the Twins.
Cole earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 3.0 for the season, 29th place among all players, 11th place among American League pitchers.
National League Player of the Day—Diamondbacks pitcher Zack Greinke struck out seven over 7 2/3 innings, allowing one run, five hits and one walk, in the 3-1 win over the Yankees.
Greinke earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 6.2 for the season, rising from ninth to second place in season player rankings. He also rises to first among NL pitchers, passing previous leader Josh Hader of the Brewers (5.0). He also rises to first among all NL players, passing previous leader Cody Bellinger of the Dodgers (6.2). (Though both Greinke and Bellinger have 6.2 points, Greinke holds the tiebreaking edge because he had more 2018 Box-Toppers points—13.0 vs. 0.0.)
All-time leaders
Here are Box-Toppers top 20 players since record keeping began in 1995:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Randy Johnson | pi sp | retired | 278.8 |
| 2 | Pedro Martinez | pi sp | retired | 244.8 |
| 3 | Clayton Kershaw | pi sp | lad nl | 217.5 |
| 4 | CC Sabathia | pi sp | nyy al | 201.4 |
| 5 | Zack Greinke | pi sp | ari nl | 195.4 |
| 6 | Curt Schilling | pi sp | retired | 194.1 |
| 7 | Albert Pujols | 1b dh | ana al | 190.8 |
| 8 | Alex Rodriguez | dh | retired | 187.0 |
| 9 | Justin Verlander | pi sp | hou al | 184.5 |
| 10 | Max Scherzer | pi sp | dc nl | 181.8 |
| 11 | Felix Hernandez | pi sp | sea al | 174.1 |
| 12 | Roy Halladay | pi sp | retired | 170.7 |
| 13 | Cole Hamels | pi sp | chi nl | 168.2 |
| 14 | Manny Ramirez | lf dh | retired | 167.2 |
| 15 | Johan Santana | pi sp | retired | 166.6 |
| 16 | Roger Clemens | pi sp | retired | 164.8 |
| 17 | Jon Lester | pi sp | chi nl | 164.6 |
| 18 | John Smoltz | pi sp | retired | 160.9 |
| 19 | Tim Hudson | pi sp | retired | 157.0 |
| 20 | Bartolo Colon | pi sp | free agent | 155.9 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
List of top 100 players since 1995 at the end of the 2018 season.
Greinke also rises to fifth place in career Box-Toppers points since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. Greinke now has 195.4 career points, passing Curt Schilling (194.1) on the “all-time” list. (It should be noted that Schilling would have an estimated 232 career Box-Toppers points if his entire career from 1988 were tracked.) Greinke now trails fourth-ranked player, Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia (201.4).
Greinke ranks third among active players in career points, behind Sabathia and Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (217.5).
National League Batter of the Day—Franmil Reyes of the Padres hit two homers, doubled and went 3-for-4, scoring twice and driving in three of his team’s four runs, in the 4-3 win over the Braves.
American League Batter of the Day—Carlos Gonzalez of the Indians hit a three-run homer and went 1-3, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 7-4 win over the Marlins.
Gonzalez has now earned Box-Toppers points in 12 straight seasons after earning his first Player of the Game honor of 2019. He earned his first point in 2008 with the Athletics and has 71.2 career points, fifth among active AL batters. His best season was 2015 with the Rockies, when he had 11.5 Box-Toppers points, first among NL batters. In 2018, he had 5.5 points with the Rockies, 10th among NL outfielders. He’s had three seasons with 10.0 or more Box-Toppers points, all with the Rockies—10.0 in 2010, 11.0 in 2013 and 11.5 in 2015.
Streak—Red Sox pitcher Rick Porcello has now earned Box-Toppers points in 11 straight seasons after earning his first Player of the Game honor of 2019 Tuesday.
Porcello (8IP 2H 0R 2BB 8K W in the 5-1 win over the Athletics) earned his first Box-Toppers point in 2009 with the Tigers and has 58.1 career points, 17th among active AL pitchers. His best season was 2018 with the Red Sox when he had 11.4 Box-Toppers points, 17th among AL pitchers. It was his only season with 10 or more points.
Porcello won the AL Cy Young Award in 2016, but had only 8.0 Box-Toppers points, 31st among AL pitchers. While he led all pitchers in wins that season, he simply wasn’t his team’s dominant player in many of those victories.
Notable—Jesus Aguilar of the Brewers earned Player of the Game honors for the second straight day Tuesday.
Aguilar (HR 1-3 R 3BI in the 4-3 win over the Rockies) was also NL Batter of the Day Monday in the 5-1 win over the Rockies (2HR 3-4 2R 4BI). Aguilar now has 2.5 Box-Toppers points for the season (all earned in the past two days), seventh among NL batters.
Debut—Two players made their Box-Toppers debut Tuesday, each with their first career Player of the Game honor:
Mets pitcher Drew Gagnon (1.1IP 0H 0R 0BB 2K W in the 4-3, 10-inning win over the Reds) made his Major League debut July 10, 2018, and was playing in his seventh career game.
Angels pitcher Ty Buttrey (1IP 0H 0R 0BB K W in the 4-3 win over the Blue Jays) made his Major League debut Aug. 16, 2018, and was playing in his 30th career game.
Scoring—Cole earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Greinke earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Reyes and Gonzalez 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.
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Top player from each game
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score (BTG)| 4/30 | BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | +14.0 | HOU 11, MIN 0 | Gerrit Cole (W, 2‑4) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 11 | |
| +12.0 | BOS 5, OAK 1 | Rick Porcello (W, 2‑3) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 8.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8 | ||
| NL | +6.2 | ARI 3, NYY 1 | Zack Greinke (W, 5‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.2 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | |
| BAT | +4.0 | SD 4, ATL 3 | Franmil Reyes RF | 4 | 2 | 3 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +4.0 | DET 3, PHI 1 | Spencer Turnbull (W, 2‑2) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | ||
| +4.0 | `PIT 6, TEX 4 (F/11) | Steven Brault | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 2.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| +3.1 | NYM 4, CIN 3 (F/10) | Drew Gagnon (W, 1‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| +3.0 | LAD 10, SF 3 | David Freese 1B | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| BAT | +3.0 | CLE 7, MIA 4 | Carlos Gonzalez RF | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +2.1 | `STL 3, WSH 2 | John Gant (H, 6) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| +2.0 | CHC 6, SEA 5 | Anthony Rizzo 1B | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +2.0 | MIL 4, COL 3 | Jesus Aguilar 1B | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +2.0 | LAA 4, TOR 3 | Ty Buttrey (W, 2‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 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 (’19). Also shown are each players’ Box-Toppers point total for this season and last (’18-19), the period 2014-2019 (’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 | +/‑ |
| Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | ari nl | 6.2 | 19.2 | 86.2 | 195.4 | -6.8 |
| Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | hou al | 3.0 | 21.0 | 59.2 | 63.9 | -15.0 |
| Reyes, Franmil 4036 | rf | sd nl | 3.0 | 5.7 | 5.7 | 5.7 | +0.3 |
| Aguilar, Jesus 3787 | 1b | mil nl | 2.5 | 8.0 | 13.0 | 13.0 | -3.0 |
| Gant, John 3660 | pi mr sp | stl nl | 2.0 | 9.0 | 10.0 | 10.0 | -5.0 |
| Turnbull, Spencer 4086 | pi sp | det al | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | +1.0 |
| Gonzalez, Carlos 2460 | rf | cle al | 1.5 | 7.0 | 31.0 | 71.2 | -4.0 |
| Porcello, Rick 2573 | pi sp | bos al | 1.0 | 12.4 | 36.1 | 58.1 | -10.4 |
| Rizzo, Anthony 3063 | 1b | chi nl | 1.0 | 11.0 | 44.5 | 53.5 | -9.0 |
| Freese, David 2710 | 3b 1b | lad nl | 1.0 | 5.5 | 10.5 | 31.7 | -3.5 |
| Brault, Steven 3911 | pi mr | pit nl | 1.0 | 2.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 0.0 |
| Buttrey, Ty 4124 | pi mr | ana al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | +1.0 |
| Gagnon, Drew 4123 | pi cp | nym nl | 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.