Marlins pitcher Jordan Yamamoto is Thursday’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 Sept. 26.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | hou al | 31.2 |
| 2 | Verlander, Justin 2112 | pi sp | hou al | 26.5 |
| 3 | Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 20.7 |
| 4 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 19.1 |
| 5 | Morton, Charlie 2503 | pi sp | tb al | 18.8 |
| 6 | Bieber, Shane 4005 | pi sp | cle al | 18.1 |
| 7 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | hou al | 17.9 |
| 8 | Hader, Josh 3881 | pi cp | mil nl | 17.7 |
| 9 | Clevinger, Mike 3707 | pi sp | cle al | 17.4 |
| 10 | Corbin, Patrick 3027 | pi sp | dc nl | 16.4 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Also Thursday, Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg increases his lead among National League pitchers in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors. Plus, Brewers pitcher Josh Hader rises to eighth place in player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Player of the Day—Yamamoto struck out 10 over six scoreless innings, allowing one hit and three walks, in the 4-2 win over the Mets. Yamamoto did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because the game was in a scoreless tie when he exited.
Yamamoto earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 6.0 for the season, 149th among all players and 55th among NL pitchers.
American League Player of the Day—White Sox pitcher Josh Osich struck out three over 3 1/3 scoreless middle-relief innings, allowing no hits, no walks and striking out three, in the 8-0 win over the Indians.
American League Batter of the Day—Willians Astudillo of the Twins homered and went 4-for-5, scoring four times and driving in two runs, in the 10-4 win over the Tigers.
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.
Strasburg—Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg increases his lead in 2019 Box-Toppers points among NL pitchers after earning Player of the Game honors Thursday.
Strasburg (6IP 4H R 0BB 10K W in the 6-3 win over the Phillies) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 20.7 for the season. He ranks third among all players, behind Astros pitchers Gerrit Cole (31.2) and Justin Verlander (26.5). He leads second-place NL pitcher Jacob deGrom (19.1) by 1.6 points.
Strasburg becomes the third player this season with 20 or more Box-Toppers points, joining Cole and Verlander. This is the third season Strasburg has earned 20 or more points. In 2012, he had 20.4 points with the Nationals, third among all players and second among NL pitchers. In 2017, he had 22.5 points with the Nationals, fourth among all players and third among NL pitchers.
Strasburg has the second-biggest increase in his Box-Toppers point total from 2018 to 2019 among all players, increasing 14.0 points from last season. He had 6.7 points in 2018. Padres rookie pitcher Chris Paddack has the biggest increase in points, earning 15.8 points in his first season.
Strasburg also now has 132.8 career Box-Toppers points, 33rd among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails 32nd-ranked player Jason Giambi (133.4). Strasburg ranks 12th among active players in career points.
Best seasons by closers
Josh Hader of the Brewers has the third-most Box-Toppers points by a closing pitcher in any single season since tracking of closers began in 1998. Here are the closing pitchers with the most Box-Toppers points in a single season, led by Eric Gagne of the Dodgers, who earned 19.7 points in 2004.| Player | Team | Year | BTP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Eric Gagne | Dodgers | 2004 | 19.7 |
| 2 | Eric Gagne | Dodgers | 2003 | 19.0 |
| 3 | * Josh Hader | Brewers | 2019 | 17.7 |
| 4 | Billy Wagner | Astros | 1999 | 15.0 |
| 4 | Craig Kimbrel | Braves | 2012 | 15.0 |
| 6 | Troy Percival | Angels | 1998 | 14.0 |
| 6 | Mariano Rivera | Yankees | 2008 | 14.0 |
| 6 | Aroldis Chapman | Reds | 2012 | 14.0 |
| 9 | Brad Lidge | Astros | 2004 | 13.7 |
| 10 | Eric Gagne | Dodgers | 2002 | 13.0 |
| 10 | Billy Wagner | Braves | 2010 | 13.0 |
Hader—Brewers closing pitcher Josh Hader rises from ninth to eighth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Thursday.
Hader (1.1IP 0H 0R BB 2K Sv in the 5-3 win over the Reds) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 17.7 for the season. He maintains his third-place rank among NL pitchers, behind Strasburg (20.7) and deGrom (19.1). Hader holds a commanding lead among all closers in 2019 points ahead of second-place Felipe Vazquez of the Pirates (8.7), who has been placed on leave by Major League Baseball after being charged in connection with sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl.
Hader also maintains his third-place rank among closing pitchers with the highest single-season Box-Toppers point total since player tracking began in 1995. Only Eric Gagne of the Dodgers has higher single-season point totals among closers in Box-Toppers tracking history—in 2003, he had 19.7 points and in 2004, he had 19.0.
Earlier this season, Hader seemed poised to shatter Gagne’s “all-time” record. On June 27, he reached 14.7 Box-Toppers points before the season’s halfway point and was on pace to earn 29.4 for the season. But Hader has only earned 3.0 points since and now trails Gagne’s record by 2.0 points.
Notable—Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw now has 12.7 Box-Toppers points on the season and 227.5 career points after earning Player of the Game honors Thursday.
Kershaw (6IP 2H 0R BB 7K W in the 1-0 win over the Padres) now ranks 24th among all players in 2019 points, 14th among NL pitchers. He ranks third among all players in career points since 1995 (when Box-Toppers tracking began) behind Randy Johnson (278.8) and Pedro Martinez (244.8). (Both Johnson and Martinez started their careers before Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995, so would have more points if their entire careers were tracked.) Kershaw leads active players in career points, ahead of second-place player, Astros pitcher Zack Greinke (207.1).
Team and player rankings—Box-Toppers weekly team and player rankings reports are normally posted on Fridays. But since it is so close to the end of the season (with final regular season games this weekend), there will be no weekly reports posted today, Friday, Sept. 27. Instead the weekly team and player reports will be posted after the conclusion of the regular season final games Sunday.
Scoring—Yamamoto earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Osich earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Astudillo 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.
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)| 9/26 | BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | +12.0 | `MIA 4, NYM 2 | Jordan Yamamoto | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 10 | |
| +10.1 | `SF 8, COL 3 | Tyler Beede | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 3.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | ||
| +10.0 | WSH 6, PHI 3 | Stephen Strasburg (W, 18‑6) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 10 | ||
| +10.0 | LAD 1, SD 0 | Clayton Kershaw (W, 16‑5) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | ||
| AL | +6.1 | CHW 8, CLE 0 | Josh Osich (W, 4‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 3.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | |
| BAT | +5.0 | MIN 10, DET 4 | Willians Astudillo 3B | 5 | 4 | 4 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +5.0 | OAK 3, SEA 1 | Sean Manaea (W, 4‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | ||
| +4.0 | PIT 9, CHC 5 | Joe Musgrove (W, 11‑12) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 8 | ||
| +3.0 | TEX 7, BOS 5 | Danny Santana CF | 4 | 2 | 1 | 4 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +2.1 | MIL 5, CIN 3 | Josh Hader (S, 37) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | ||
| 0.0 | LAA 4, HOU 3 (F/12) | Brian Goodwin CF | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ |
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 | +/‑ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 20.7 | 27.4 | 95.7 | 132.8 | +14.0 |
| Hader, Josh 3881 | pi cp | mil nl | 17.7 | 29.4 | 32.4 | 32.4 | +6.0 |
| Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 12.7 | 20.7 | 125.4 | 227.5 | +4.7 |
| Musgrove, Joe 3705 | pi sp | pit nl | 8.0 | 12.0 | 17.7 | 17.7 | +4.0 |
| Santana, Danny 3350 | cf 1b | tex al | 6.5 | 6.5 | 11.0 | 11.0 | +6.5 |
| Yamamoto, Jordan 4161 | pi sp | fla nl | 6.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | +6.0 |
| Beede, Tyler 4166 | pi sp | sf nl | 5.7 | 5.7 | 5.7 | 5.7 | +5.7 |
| Manaea, Sean 3637 | pi sp | oak al | 3.7 | 12.4 | 26.5 | 26.5 | -5.0 |
| Osich, Josh 3677 | pi mr cp | chi al | 3.7 | 3.7 | 5.7 | 5.7 | +3.7 |
| Astudillo, Willians 4090 | 2b 3b ph | min al | 2.5 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | +1.0 |
| Goodwin, Brian 3835 | cf | ana al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | +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.