Angels pitcher Andrew Heaney 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 Aug. 20.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Verlander, Justin 2112 | pi sp | hou al | 20.8 |
| 2 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | hou al | 18.8 |
| 3 | Bieber, Shane 4005 | pi sp | cle al | 16.1 |
| 4 | Morton, Charlie 2503 | pi sp | tb al | 15.8 |
| 5 | Hader, Josh 3881 | pi cp | mil nl | 15.7 |
| 6 | Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 15.7 |
| 7 | Ryu, Hyun-Jin 3139 | pi sp | lad nl | 15.4 |
| 8 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 14.4 |
| 9 | Corbin, Patrick 3027 | sp pi | dc nl | 13.4 |
| 10 | Castillo, Luis Miguel 3840 | pi sp | cin nl | 13.4 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Also Tuesday, Nelson Cruz of the Twins regains the lead in 2019 Box-Toppers points among American League batters after earning AL Batter of the Day honors.
Player of the Day—Heaney struck out 14 over eight innings, allowing one run, four hits and no walks, in the 5-1 win over the Rangers.
Heaney earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 4.0 for the season, 179th among all players and 49th among AL pitchers.
National League Player of the Day—Reds pitcher Sonny Gray struck out 10 over six innings, allowing one run, four hits and three walks, in the 3-2 win over the Padres.
Gray earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 12.4 for the season, 13th among all players and seventh among NL pitchers.
National League Batter of the Day—Freddie Freeman of the Braves hit two home runs and went 3-for-4, scoring three times and driving in four runs, in the 5-1 win over the Marlins.
Freeman earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being NL Batter of the Day, giving him 7.5 for the season, eighth among NL batters.
American League Batter of the Day—Nelson Cruz of the Twins homered and hit three doubles, going 4-for-5, scoring three times and driving in three runs, in the 14-4 win over the White Sox.
Cruz earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day, giving him 11.0 for the season, regaining first place among AL batters, passing previous leader Gleyber Torres of the Yankees (10.5), who took the lead from Cruz Saturday. Cruz now ranks 22nd overall, highest among all batters.
Cruz becomes the 31st player this season with 10 or more Box-Toppers points and the third batter. In 2018, there were 52 players who reached 10 points, including five batters, which was a record low number of batters with 10 points in a season since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995. The other batters with 10 points are Torres (10.5) and Cody Bellinger of the Dodgers (10.2).
This is Cruz’s first season with 10 or more points, even though he has earned points in 14 straight seasons. His best previous season was 2014 with the Orioles, when he had 8.5 Box-Toppers points, sixth among AL batters. Cruz has 72.7 career Box-Toppers points, fourth among active AL batters.
Debut—Rangers pitcher Emmanuel Clase made his Box-Toppers debut Tuesday with his first career Player of the Game honor.
Clase (2IP 0H 0R 0BB 2K W in the 3-2, 11-inning win over the Angels) made his Major League debut Aug. 4 and was playing in his eighth career game.
Scoring—Heaney earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Gray earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Freeman and Cruz 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)| 8/20 | BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | +16.0 | LAA 5, TEX 1 | Andrew Heaney (W, 3‑3) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 8.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 14 | |
| NL | +7.0 | CIN 3, SD 2 | Sonny Gray (W, 9‑6) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 10 | |
| BAT | +6.0 | ATL 5, MIA 1 | Freddie Freeman 1B | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +6.0 | LAD 16, TOR 3 | Chris Taylor LF‑SS | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| BAT | +5.0 | MIN 14, CHW 4 | Nelson Cruz DH | 5 | 3 | 4 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +5.0 | CHC 5, SF 3 | Anthony Rizzo 1B | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +5.0 | PHI 3, BOS 2 | Aaron Nola (W, 12‑3) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 7 | ||
| +5.0 | `BAL 4, KC 1 | Dylan Bundy | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 | ||
| +5.0 | `STL 9, MIL 4 | Michael Wacha | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 4.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | ||
| +4.2 | OAK 6, NYY 2 | Homer Bailey (W, 11‑8) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.2 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 8 | ||
| +4.0 | SEA 7, TB 4 | Kyle Seager 3B | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +4.0 | TEX 3, LAA 2 (F/11) | Emmanuel Clase (W, 1‑2) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| +3.1 | NYM 9, CLE 2 | Steven Matz (W, 8‑7) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.1 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 7 | ||
| +3.0 | ARI 8, COL 7 | Nick Ahmed SS | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +3.0 | `HOU 6, DET 3 | Collin McHugh | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 2.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | ||
| +1.2 | `PIT 4, WSH 1 | Richard Rodriguez | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.2 | 1 | 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 | +/‑ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gray, Sonny 3259 | pi sp | cin nl | 12.4 | 21.1 | 58.3 | 62.3 | +3.7 |
| Cruz, Nelson Ramon 2224 | dh | min al | 11.0 | 13.5 | 36.0 | 72.7 | +8.5 |
| Nola, Aaron 3569 | pi sp | phi nl | 9.7 | 30.8 | 55.3 | 55.3 | -11.4 |
| Matz, Steven 3516 | pi sp | nym nl | 8.0 | 13.7 | 30.3 | 30.3 | +2.3 |
| Freeman, Freddie 2887 | 1b | atl nl | 7.5 | 15.0 | 36.2 | 56.7 | 0.0 |
| Bailey, Homer 2324 | pi sp | oak al | 7.4 | 7.4 | 18.1 | 56.5 | +7.4 |
| Ahmed, Nick 3520 | ss | ari nl | 5.2 | 10.7 | 14.2 | 14.2 | -0.3 |
| Seager, Kyle 3031 | 3b | sea al | 5.2 | 9.2 | 33.7 | 39.7 | +1.2 |
| McHugh, Collin 3316 | pi sp mr | hou al | 5.0 | 8.0 | 43.9 | 43.9 | +2.0 |
| Bundy, Dylan 3655 | pi sp | bal al | 4.7 | 12.4 | 27.8 | 27.8 | -3.0 |
| Rizzo, Anthony 3063 | 1b | chi nl | 4.0 | 14.0 | 47.5 | 56.5 | -6.0 |
| Heaney, Andrew 3515 | pi sp | ana al | 4.0 | 13.7 | 18.7 | 18.7 | -5.7 |
| Wacha, Michael 3276 | pi sp | stl nl | 3.0 | 7.0 | 30.7 | 33.7 | -1.0 |
| Taylor, Chris 3684 | ss lf | lad nl | 2.5 | 2.5 | 8.5 | 8.5 | +2.5 |
| Rodriguez, Richard 4023 | pi mr | pit nl | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 0.0 |
| Clase, Emmaniuel 4225 | pi cp | ana al | 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.