Astros pitcher Gerrit Cole is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, becoming the second player this season to reach 20 Box-Toppers points.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2019 season through the games of Aug. 22.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Verlander, Justin 2112 | pi sp | hou al | 20.8 |
| 2 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | hou al | 20.8 |
| 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 | 14.4 |
| 10 | Castillo, Luis Miguel 3840 | pi sp | cin nl | 14.4 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Cole struck out 12 over seven scoreless innings, allowing two hits and one walk, in the 6-3 win over the Tigers.
Cole earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 20.8 for the season, maintaining his second-place spot among all players and among American League pitchers, behind teammate Justin Verlander (20.8). While both Verlander and Cole have 20.8 points, Verlander ranks ahead on a tiebreaker because he has more 2018 Box-Toppers points—24.1 vs. 18.0.
Cole is the second player this season with 20 or more points. It is his first season with 20 points. His previous high was 19.0 points in 2015 with the Pirates, ninth overall and sixth among National League pitchers. In 2018, he had 18.0 points with the Astros, eighth overall and sixth among AL pitchers.
National League Player of the Day—Cubs pitcher Kyle Hendricks struck out seven over seven scoreless innings, allowing three hits and no walks, in the 1-0 win over the Giants.
Hendricks earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 12.4 for the season, 16th among all players and ninth among NL pitchers.
National League Batter of the Day—Howie Kendrick of the Nationals homered, doubled and went 3-for-5, scoring once and driving in three runs, in the 7-1 win over the Pirates.
American League Batter of the Day—There is no AL Batter of the Day for Thursday because no AL batters earned Player of the Game honors.
Notable—In addition to Cole and Hendricks, two other players with more than 10 Box-Toppers points this season earned Player of the Game honors Thursday:
Rays pitcher Ryan Yarbrough (4.1IP 3H 2R ER 0BB 5K ND in the 5-2 win over the Orioles) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 11.4 for the season, 23rd among all players and 10th among AL pitchers.
Braves pitcher Mike Soroka (7IP 5H 2R 0BB 5K ND in the 3-2 win over the Marlins) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 10.4 for the season, 29th among all players and 15th among NL pitchers. Soroka becomes the 32nd player this season with 10 or more Box-Toppers points. It is his first season with 10 points. In his only previous season earning points, he had 3.0 in 2018 with the Braves.
Debut—Red Sox pitcher Josh Taylor made his Box-Toppers debut Thursday with his first career Player of the Game honor.
Taylor (1IP 0H 0R 0BB K W in the 5-4, 10-inning win over the Royals) made his Major League debut May 29 and was playing in his 37th career game.
Scoring—Cole earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Hendricks earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Kendrick earns 1.5 points for being NL Batter of the Day. All of Thursday’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)| 8/22 | BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | +16.0 | HOU 6, DET 3 | Gerrit Cole (W, 15‑5) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 12 | |
| NL | +11.0 | CHC 1, SF 0 | Kyle Hendricks (W, 9‑9) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | |
| +9.0 | CHW 6, TEX 1 | Ross Detwiler (W, 2‑3) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 8 | ||
| +9.0 | NYM 2, CLE 0 (F/8) | Noah Syndergaard (W, 9‑6) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | ||
| +6.0 | `LAD 3, TOR 2 | Kenta Maeda | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 9 | ||
| +3.1 | `TB 5, BAL 2 | Ryan Yarbrough | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 4.1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | ||
| +3.0 | `ATL 3, MIA 2 | Mike Soroka | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 5 | ||
| +2.1 | OAK 5, NYY 3 | Tanner Roark (W, 8‑8) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.1 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 7 | ||
| BAT | +2.0 | WSH 7, PIT 1 | Howie Kendrick 1B | 5 | 1 | 3 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +2.0 | STL 6, COL 5 | Marcell Ozuna LF | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +2.0 | BOS 5, KC 4 (F/10) | Josh Taylor (W, 1‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 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 | +/‑ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | hou al | 20.8 | 38.8 | 77.0 | 81.7 | +2.8 |
| Hendricks, Kyle 3386 | pi sp | chi nl | 12.4 | 21.1 | 52.9 | 52.9 | +3.7 |
| Yarbrough, Ryan 3962 | pi sp mr | tb al | 11.4 | 18.4 | 18.4 | 18.4 | +4.4 |
| Soroka, Mike 3956 | pi sp | atl nl | 10.4 | 13.4 | 13.4 | 13.4 | +7.4 |
| Syndergaard, Noah 3472 | pi sp | nym nl | 9.4 | 17.4 | 47.5 | 47.5 | +1.4 |
| Ozuna, Marcell 3190 | lf | stl nl | 9.0 | 11.5 | 36.7 | 39.2 | +6.5 |
| Maeda, Kenta 3609 | pi sp | lad nl | 7.7 | 18.4 | 38.4 | 38.4 | -3.0 |
| Roark, Tanner 3261 | pi sp | oak al | 6.7 | 10.7 | 41.4 | 46.4 | +2.7 |
| Kendrick, Howie 2191 | 1b 2b | dc nl | 4.5 | 4.5 | 18.5 | 40.0 | +4.5 |
| Detwiler, Ross 2971 | pi sp | chi al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 4.0 | 11.0 | +1.0 |
| Taylor, Josh 4229 | pi cp | bos 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.