Astros’ Justin Verlander tops Box-Toppers season player rankings report for third week

Here are the top 10 players by category (AL & NL pitching & batting) in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2019 season through the games of May 30.

	AL PITCHERS	POS	TEAM	BTP			NL PITCHERS	POS	TEAM	BTP
1	Verlander, Justin 2112	pi sp	hou al	12.1		1	Hader, Josh 3881	pi cp	mil nl	10.0
2	Morton, Charlie 2503	pi sp	tb al	8.8		2	Ryu, Hyun-Jin 3139	pi sp	lad nl	8.7
3	Cole, Gerrit 3232	pi sp	hou al	7.7		3	Hendricks, Kyle 3386	pi sp	chi nl	7.7
4	Bieber, Shane 4005	pi sp	cle al	7.7		4	Paddack, Chris 4093	pi sp	sd nl	7.7
5	Odorizzi, Jake 3291	pi sp	min al	7.4		5	Castillo, Luis Miguel 3840	pi sp	cin nl	7.4
6	Snell, Blake 3688	pi sp	tb al	7.0		6	Greinke, Zack 1871	pi sp	ari nl	7.2
7	Peacock, Brad 2968	pi sp	hou al	7.0		7	Strasburg, Stephen 2736	pi sp	dc nl	7.0
8	Glasnow, Tyler 3948	pi sp mr	tb al	6.7		8	Marquez, German 3788	pi sp	col nl	6.7
9	Giolito, Lucas 3900	pi sp	chi al	6.0		9	Eflin, Zach 3679	pi sp	phi nl	6.7
10	Carrasco, Carlos 2885	pi sp	cle al	5.7		10	Weaver, Luke 3719	pi sp	ari nl	6.0
	AL BATTERS	POS	TEAM	BTP			NL BATTERS	POS	TEAM	BTP
1	Gallo, Joey 3485	lf dh cf	tex al	5.0		1	Bellinger, Cody 3781	rf 1b	lad nl	8.2
2	Gardner, Brett 2486	cf	nyy al	4.5		2	Ozuna, Marcell 3190	lf	stl nl	7.0
3	Vogelbach, Daniel 4070	dh	sea al	4.5		3	Bell, Josh E. 3682	1b	pit nl	6.2
4	Abreu, Jose 3308	1b dh	chi al	4.0		4	Yelich, Christian 3334	rf	mil nl	5.5
5	Voit, Luke 4053	1b dh	nyy al	4.0		5	Arenado, Nolan 3306	3b	col nl	5.0
6	Kepler, Max 3664	cf rf dh	min al	4.0		6	Marte, Ketel 3630	2b cf ss	ari nl	5.0
7	Martinez, J.D. 2922	dh rf	bos al	3.5		7	Conforto, Michael 3622	rf	nym nl	4.0
8	Garver, Mitch 3950	ca	min al	3.5		8	McCutchen, Andrew 2637	lf	phi nl	3.5
9	Choo, Shin-Soo 2267	rf lf	tex al	3.5		9	Fowler, Dexter 2698	cf rf	stl nl	3.5
10	Bregman, Alex 3721	3b dh	hou al	3.5		10	Bryant, Kris 3465	3b	chi nl	3.5

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Astros pitcher Justin Verlander maintains the lead in Box-Toppers weekly team rankings report for the third straight week.

Also this week, all four main category leaders maintain their leads from last week:

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2019 season through the games of May 30.

 

	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Verlander, Justin 2112	pi sp	hou al	12.1
2	Hader, Josh 3881	pi cp	mil nl	10.0
3	Morton, Charlie 2503	pi sp	tb al	8.8
4	Ryu, Hyun-Jin 3139	pi sp	lad nl	8.7
5	Bellinger, Cody 3781	rf 1b	lad nl	8.2
6	Cole, Gerrit 3232	pi sp	hou al	7.7
7	Hendricks, Kyle 3386	pi sp	chi nl	7.7
8	Bieber, Shane 4005	pi sp	cle al	7.7
9	Paddack, Chris 4093	pi sp	sd nl	7.7
10	Castillo, Luis 3840	pi sp	cin nl	7.4

What are those numbers after players' names?
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations

• Verlander continues to lead American League pitchers.

• Brewers pitcher Josh Hader continues to lead National League pitchers.

• Cody Bellinger of the Dodgers continues to lead NL batters.

• Joey Gallo of the Rangers continues to lead AL batters.

Verlander has 12.1 Box-Toppers points, picking up no points in the past week, and is 2.1 points ahead of second-place overall player Hader (10.0). Verlander is 3.3 points ahead of second-place AL pitcher Charlie Morton of the Rays (8.8). It is Verlander’s third straight week in first place overall and among AL pitchers.

National League pitchers—Hader continues to lead for the third straight week with 10.0 Box-Toppers points, picking up no points in the past week, maintaining his second-place overall rank from last week. Hader leads second-place NL pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu of the Dodgers (8.7).

National League batters—Bellinger continues to lead for the ninth straight week with 8.2 Box-Toppers points, picking up 1.0 point in the past week, rising from sixth to fifth place overall. Bellinger leads second-place NL batter Marcell Ozuna of the Cardinals (7.0). Bellinger has led NL batters in all nine of Box-Toppers weekly rankings reports so far.

American League batters—Gallo continues to lead for the sixth straight week with 5.0 Box-Toppers points, picking up no points in the past week. He ranks 37th overall. Gallo leads second-place AL batter Brett Gardner of the Yankees (4.5).

Top 10 changes—Three players rise into the overall top 10 this week:

• Rays pitcher Charlie Morton rises to third place with 8.8 Box-Toppers points.

• Astros pitcher Gerrit Cole rises to sixth place with 7.7 Box-Toppers points.

• Indians pitcher Shane Bieber rises to eighth place with 7.7 Box-Toppers points.

They displace these three players:

• Diamondbacks pitcher Zack Greinke falls from fifth to 12th place with 7.2 points.

• Rays pitcher Blake Snell falls from seventh to 13th place with 7.0 points.

• Marcell Ozuna of the Cardinals falls from eighth to 16th place with 7.0 points.

The #BT40—The Box-Toppers 40 (#BT40) is made up of the 40 players on Box-Toppers’ four top 10 category lists—AL and NL pitchers and batters. The #BT40 are listed in the chart at the top of this page. Box-Toppers has listed those 40 players for years, but is trying to be all hip and cool and hashtaggy by branding them as the “#BT40.” (Is it working? Are we cool yet? No?)

Anyway, five players joined the #BT40 this week:

• White Sox pitcher Lucas Giolito rose to ninth place among AL pitchers with 6.0 points.

• Max Kepler of the Twins rose to sixth place among AL batters with 4.0 points.

• Alex Bregman of the Astros rose to 10th place among AL batters with 3.5 points.

• Diamondbacks pitcher Luke Weaver rose to 10th place among NL pitchers with 6.0 points.

• Andrew McCutchen of the Phillies rose to eighth place among NL batters with 3.5 points.

Those five displaced these five players: Indians pitcher Trevor Bauer, Asdrubal Cabrera of the Rangers, Tim Beckham of the White Sox, Cubs pitcher Jose Quintana and Eugenio Suarez of the Reds.

It should be noted that the #BT40 are not the overall top 40 players, but the top 10 in each of four categories. The lowest-ranking player among the #BT40 is Kris Bryant of the Cubs (3.5 points, 10th among NL batters), who ranks 79th overall.

So far this season, 835 games have been played and completed (34.4 percent of all 2,430 scheduled), with 1,000.8 total Box-Toppers points awarded to 443 different players, who have earned Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors. There are 157 players who have more than 2.0 Box-Toppers points. There are 60 players who have made their Box-Toppers debut so far this season (four in the past week), the first time in their career they earned Player of the Game honors.

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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Last week’s player rankings report