Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day in baseball’s first day of summer exhibition games.
Nola struck out four over five scoreless innings, allowing one hit and one walk, in the 7-2 win over the Nationals.
Players are preparing for the opening of the pandemic-shortened regular season this week, playing a series of games against other Major League teams.
While several intrasquad games were also played, there were three exhibition games between two different teams Saturday.
Nola would have earned 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Game if this were a regular season game. Because it’s a preseason exhibition game, no one earns Box-Toppers points. Nola earned 9.7 Box-Toppers points in 2019, 23rd among National League pitchers.
American League Player of the Day—Christian Arroyo of the Indians doubled and went 1-for-2, scoring once and driving in three runs, in the 5-3 win over the Pirates.
Arroyo would have earned 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day in a regular season day. Arroyo has no career Box-Toppers points—he has yet to earn his first career Box-Toppers Player of the Game honor in the regular season. He has played in 70 Major League games from 2017 to 2019.
Also earning Player of the Game honors Saturday was Erik Kratz of the Yankees, who went 1-for-1, scoring once and driving in two runs, in the 9-3 win over the Mets.
Kratz would have earned 1.0 Box-Toppers point for being Player of the Game in a regular season game. Kratz earned no Box-Toppers points in 2019, a season he played with the Giants, Rays and Yankees. He has 4.0 career Box-Toppers points, the last of which was earned Aug. 18, 2014, with the Royals.
Scoring—No Box-Toppers points are awarded in exhibition games. Were it a regular season day, Nola would have earned 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Arroyo would have earned 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. All of Saturday’s other Players of the Game (listed in the chart below) would have earned 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)| 7/18 | BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | 7.0 | PHI 7, WSH 2 | Aaron Nola (W, 2‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | |
| AL | 3.0 | CLE 5, PIT 3 | Christian Arroyo 3B | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| 3.0 | NYY 9, NYM 3 | Erik Kratz C | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ |
MLB—Overall Box-Toppers Player of the Day, worth 2.0 total Box-Toppers points.
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.