Reds pitcher Luis Castillo is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Castillo struck out 10 over seven scoreless innings, allowing three hits and one walk, in the 1-0 win over the Pirates.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 in Box-Toppers season player rankings for 2020. Players are ranked by Box-Toppers points (BTP) earned this season through Wednesday, Sept. 16.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bieber, Shane 4005 | pi sp | cle al | 9.7 |
| 2 | Lynn, Lance 2992 | pi sp | tex al | 9.1 |
| 3 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 8.7 |
| 4 | Darvish, Yu 3003 | pi sp | chi nl | 8.7 |
| 5 | Bauer, Trevor 3065 | pi sp | cin nl | 8.0 |
| 6 | Lamet, Dinelson 3808 | pi sp | sd nl | 8.0 |
| 7 | Nola, Aaron 3569 | pi sp | phi nl | 7.7 |
| 8 | Maeda, Kenta 3609 | pi sp | min al | 7.4 |
| 9 | Giolito, Lucas 3900 | pi sp | chi al | 7.0 |
| 10 | Bundy, Dylan 3655 | pi sp | ana al | 7.0 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Castillo earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 3.0 for the season. He ranks 58th among all players and 22nd among National League pitchers.
American League Player of the Day—Rangers pitcher Kyle Gibson pitched a complete game shutout, striking out nine and allowing four hits and three walks, in the 1-0 win over the Astros.
National League Batter of the Day—Jorge Alfaro of the Marlins hit two home runs and went 2-for-3, scoring twice and driving in four runs, in the 8-4 win over the Red Sox.
American League Batter of the Day—There is no AL Batter of the Day for Wednesday because no AL batter earned Player of the Game honors.
Notable—Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole has the most 2020 Box-Toppers points among the 16 who earned Player of the Game honors Wednesday.
Cole (7IP 3H R 2BB 8K W in the 13-2 win over the Blue Jays) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 6.4 for the season, 12th among all players and sixth among AL pitchers. Cole led all players in 2020 with 32.2 Box-Toppers points with the Astros.
In the same game, Kyle Higashioka of the Yankees hit three home runs (3HR 3-4 3R 5BI), usually enough to earn Player of the Game honors in a win. But Higashioka had a lower Box-Toppers game score (+7.0) than Player of the Game Cole (+8.0) and so earned no Box-Toppers points, even though he had a Box-Toppers game score higher than any of the four batters earning Player of the Game honors Wednesday. Higashioka has yet to earn Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors in his career. He made his Major League debut April 10, 2017, and was playing in his 67th career game Wednesday.
Also notable—Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright now has 130.3 career Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Wednesday.
Wainwright (7IP 4H 2R BB 9K W in the 4-2, seven-inning win over the Brewers) ranks 35th in career Box-Toppers points among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails 34th-ranked player, Dodgers pitcher David Price (131.0). Wainwright ranks 13th among active players in career points.
He has 3.7 Box-Toppers points in 2020, 19th among NL pitchers.
Streak—Cubs closing pitcher Craig Kimbrel has now earned Box-Toppers points in 11 straight seasons after earning his first Player of the Game honor of 2020 Wednesday.
Kimbrel (1IP 0H 0R 0BB 2K ND in the 3-2, 10-inning win over the Indians) earned his first Box-Toppers point in 2010 with the Braves and now has 76.4 career points, first among active NL closing pitchers ahead of Kenley Jansen of the Dodgers (51.4). Kimbrel ranks seventh among all closers in career points since 1995 (although two closers on the list served primarily as starters most of their careers and are only listed as closers because they have performed the role recently—fourth-place Francisco Liriano with 106.2 career points and sixth-place Ian Kennedy of the Royals with 79.4 career points).
Kimbrel’s best season was 2012 with the Braves when he had 15.0 Box-Toppers points, first among NL closing pitchers and tied for the fourth-highest single-season Box-Toppers point total for a closing pitcher since 1998. In 2018, Kimbrel had 1.0 Box-Toppers points with the Cubs.
Debut—Twins pitcher Cody Stashak made his Box-Toppers debut Wednesday with his first career Player of the Game honor.
Stashak (2.1IP 0H 0R 0BB 2K W in the 5-1 win over the White Sox) made his Major League debut July 23, 2019, and was playing in his 27th career game.
Scoring—Castillo earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Gibson earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Alfaro earns 1.5 points for being NL Batter of the Day. All of Wednesday’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)| 9/16 | BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | +13.0 | CIN 1, PIT 0 | Luis Castillo, (W 3‑5) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 10 | |
| AL | +11.0 | TEX 1, HOU 0 | Kyle Gibson, (W 2‑5) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 9.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 9 | |
| +11.0 | KC 4, DET 0 | Brady Singer, (W 3‑4) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | ||
| +10.0 | BAL 5, ATL 1 | Keegan Akin, (W 1‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 9 | ||
| +8.0 | NYY 13, TOR 2 | Gerrit Cole, (W 6‑3) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 8 | ||
| +7.0 | STL 4, MIL 2 (F/7) | Adam Wainwright, (W 5‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 9 | ||
| BAT | +5.0 | MIA 8, BOS 4 | Jorge Alfaro, C | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +5.0 | MIL 6, STL 0 (F/7) | Freddy Peralta, (W 3‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| +4.1 | MIN 5, CHW 1 | Cody Stashak, (W 1‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 2.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| +4.0 | NYM 5, PHI 4 | J.D. Davis, DH | 4 | 2 | 3 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +4.0 | ARI 9, LAA 6 | David Peralta, LF | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +4.0 | WSH 4, TB 2 (F/10) | Kyle McGowin, (S 1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| +3.0 | SF 9, SEA 3 | Trevor Cahill, (W 1‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 2.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | ||
| +3.0 | `CHC 3, CLE 2 (F/10) | Craig Kimbrel | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| +2.2 | OAK 3, COL 1 | Liam Hendriks, (S 13) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| +2.0 | LAD 7, SD 5 | Will Smith, C | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ |
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 (’20). Also shown are each players’ Box-Toppers point total for this season and last (’19-20), the period 2015-2020 (’15-20) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2020 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2019 total (+/-).| Player of the Game | Pos | Team | ’20 | ’19‑20 | ’15‑20 | Career | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | nyy al | 6.4 | 38.6 | 89.1 | 99.5 | ‑25.8 |
| Hendriks, Liam 3339 | pi cp | oak al | 4.0 | 11.0 | 12.0 | 14.0 | ‑3.0 |
| Wainwright, Adam 2150 | pi sp | stl nl | 3.7 | 11.1 | 31.5 | 130.3 | ‑3.7 |
| Akin, Keegan 4320 | pi sp | bal al | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | +3.7 |
| Davis, J.D. 4146 | lf 3b dh | nym nl | 3.5 | 7.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 | +0.0 |
| Castillo, Luis Miguel 3840 | pi sp | cin nl | 3.0 | 17.4 | 33.8 | 33.8 | ‑11.4 |
| Singer, Brady 4337 | pi sp | kc al | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | +3.0 |
| Cahill, Trevor 2658 | pi sp mr | sf nl | 2.7 | 3.7 | 23.1 | 59.3 | +1.7 |
| Peralta, Freddy 3965 | pi mr | mil nl | 2.0 | 10.0 | 18.7 | 18.7 | ‑6.0 |
| Peralta, David 3370 | lf | ari nl | 2.0 | 5.0 | 22.2 | 27.4 | ‑1.0 |
| Smith, Will (William Dills) 4175 | ca | lad nl | 2.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | ‑1.0 |
| McGowin, Kyle 4328 | pi mr cp | dc nl | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | +2.0 |
| Gibson, Kyle 3312 | pi sp | tex al | 1.7 | 9.4 | 29.8 | 35.8 | ‑6.0 |
| Alfaro, Jorge 3920 | ca | fla nl | 1.5 | 5.5 | 9.0 | 9.0 | ‑2.5 |
| Kimbrel, Craig 2825 | pi mr cp | chi nl | 1.0 | 2.0 | 31.7 | 76.4 | +0.0 |
| Stashak, Cody 4344 | pi mr | min al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | +1.0 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations