The two players who won the Hank Aaron Award, given to the best offensive performer in each league, trailed most of the award finalists in 2021 Box-Toppers points.
Hank Aaron Awards
Here are finalists for the American League and National League Hank Aaron Awards, given to the best offensive performer in each league. Finalists in each league are shown ranked by their Box-Toppers point total for the season. The rank shown is among their league’s batters. The winners are shown highlighted in red and in italics. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. of the Blue Jays, who ranked 59th among AL batters with 3.7 Box-Toppers points, won the AL Award and Bryce Harper of the Phillies, who ranked 28th among NL batters with 5.5 Box-Toppers points, won the NL Award.| AL finalists | Team | BTP | Rank | |
| Jose Ramirez | Indians | 13.0 | 1 | |
| Aaron Judge | Yankees | 9.0 | 4 | |
| Matt Olson | Athletics | 8.0 | 7 | |
| Salvador Perez | Royals | 4.5 | 44 | |
| > | Vladimir Guerrero Jr. | Blue Jays | 3.7 | 59 |
| Cedric Mullins | Orioles | 3.5 | 69 | |
| Shohei Ohtani | Angels | 16.1 | —* | |
| NL finalists | Team | BTP | Rank | |
| Nick Castellanos | Reds | 11.5 | 1 | |
| Fernando Tatis Jr. | Padres | 10.2 | 2 | |
| Paul Goldschmidt | Cardinals | 9.0 | 5 | |
| Brandon Crawford | Giants | 7.5 | 11 | |
| Juan Soto | Nationals | 6.0 | 21 | |
| > | Bryce Harper | Phillies | 5.5 | 28 |
| Freddie Freeman | Braves | 4.5 | 36 |
>—Denotes the league winner
* Ohtani did not qualify to rank among batters in Box-Toppers points because he earned the overwhelming majority of his Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors as a pitcher (nine of 12, 75 percent). However, Ohtani played most of his games as a designated hitter. Ohtani earned 4.0 Box-Toppers points total as a designated hitter. He did earn AL Player of the Day honor on April 26 (worth 1.7 points) as a pitcher for batting. If that is counted, Ohtani earned 5.7 total Box-Toppers points for batting, more than three AL Hank Aaron Award finalists—Perez, Guerrero and Mullins.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. of the Blue Jays and Bryce Harper of the Phillies were chosen Tuesday as winners by a panel of eight Hall of Fame players and a Major League Baseball fan vote.
Both were chosen from a field of seven finalists in each league—Guerrero in the American League and Harper in the National League.
While both players recorded impressive offensive numbers during the season, neither ranked particularly high in Box-Toppers points, compared to the finalists (see chart Hank Aaron Awards).
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.
In other words, while Guerrero and Harper had great statistical years offensively, neither player was often the key player in his teams’ wins.
Guerrero earned 3.7 Box-Toppers points in 2021, earning Player of the Game honors only three times—April 27 (when he was AL Player of the Day), June 5 and Sept. 3. He ranked fifth among the seven Aaron Award finalists in Box-Toppers points, 59th among AL batters and seventh among Blue Jays batters. (Bo Bichette led the team’s batters with 7.0 Box-Toppers points.)
Harper earned 5.5 Box-Toppers points in 2021, earning Player of the Game honors four times—July 6, Aug. 4, Aug. 12 and Sept. 16. (On July 6, Harper was NL Batter of the Day and earned 0.5 bonus points and on Sept. 16, he was overall Player of the Day, earning 1.0 bonus point.) Harper ranked sixth among the seven NL Hank Aaron Award finalists in 2021 Box-Toppers points, 28th among all NL batters and second among Phillies batters, behind catcher J.T. Realmuto (7.2).
Guerrero hit 48 home runs, tied for the Major League lead with Salvador Perez of the Royals. He led all players in runs scored (123) and total bases (363). He led AL players in on-base percentage (.401) and slugging (.601).
Guerrero’s Box-Toppers point total was low, in part, because he played on a team with pitchers who most often were the most key player in Blue Jays’ wins, including Robbie Ray (17.7 Box-Toppers points, second among AL pitchers), Alek Manoah (10.7, 15th among AL pitchers) Jose Berrios (9.4, 21st) and Hyun Jin Ryu (9.0, 22nd). Plus, he was one of many Blue Jays star batters who contributed to wins, sharing the load and distributing Box-Toppers points among them. Blue Jays batters included Bichette (7.0 Box-Toppers points, 15th among AL batters), Marcus Semien (6.2, 19th), Randal Grichuk (5.5, 26th), Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (5.2, 30th), Teoscar Hernandez (4.5, 39th), Victor Reyes (4.5, 40th) and George Springer (4.2, 46th).
Harper led the Majors with 42 doubles and a .615 slugging percentage. He hit 35 home runs and batted .309.
Harper’s Box-Toppers point total was low, in part, because Phillies pitchers were most often the key player in team wins. Zack Wheeler, with 21.1 Box-Toppers points, ranked second among all NL players. He was one of five Phillies pitchers who were among the team’s top five players in Box-Toppers points.
Ramirez, Castellanos led batters in Box-Toppers points
Box-Toppers’ two top-ranked batters were among the 14 finalists for the Hank Aaron Award. Jose Ramirez of the Indians led AL batters with 13.0 Box-Toppers points and Nick Castellanos of the Reds led NL batters with 11.5 points.
Six of the 14 finalists were among their league’s top 10 batters in 2021 Box-Toppers points. In addition to Ramirez and Castellanos, they include:
Fernando Tatis Jr. of the Padres, whose 10.2 Box-Toppers points ranked second among NL batters.
Aaron Judge of the Yankees, whose 9.0 points ranked fourth among AL batters.
Paul Goldschmidt of the Cardinals, whose 9.0 points ranked fifth among NL batters.
Matt Olson of the Athletics, whose 8.0 points ranked seventh among AL batters.
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In both leagues, only one finalist had fewer 2021 Box-Toppers points than the Hank Aaron Award winner in either league.
In the AL, Cedric Mullins of the Orioles had 3.5 Box-Toppers points, fewer than Guerrero’s 3.7, and ranked 69th among AL batters.
In the NL, Freddie Freeman of the Braves had 4.5 Box-Toppers points, fewer than Harper’s 5.5, and ranked 36th among NL batters.
Shohei Ohtani
Shohei Ohtani of the Angels was one of the seven finalists for the AL Hank Aaron Award, but did not qualify to rank among batters in 2021 Box-Toppers points because he earned such an overwhelming majority of his Player of the Game honors as a pitcher.
Ohtani actually had the most Box-Toppers points (16.1) of any of the 14 finalists. But he earned nine of his 12 Player of the Game honors as a starting pitcher and only three as a designated hitter.
In order for players to be listed at a certain position, they need to have more than 25 percent of their Player of the Game honors at that position. Ohtani earned exactly 25 percent of his Player of the Game honors as a designated hitter and so was not ranked as a batter.
However, there was a period in 2021 in which Ohtani had more than 25 percent of his Player of the Game honors as a designated hitter. During that span, he was qualified to be ranked among batters. He took the lead among AL batters July 30 with 11.4 Box-Toppers points and held it through the weekly player rankings report of Sept. 2, when he had a fairly commanding lead. However, on Sept. 3, Ohtani earned Player of the Game honors as a pitcher for the ninth time of the season. That put him short of qualifying to be ranked as a batter. This meant that Ohtani went from ranking first among AL batters to being removed from batter rankings entirely because he no longer qualified. And it was his final Player of the Game honor of 2021, so his status didn’t change by the end of the season.
Ironically, Ohtani earned Player of the Game honors four times for batting this season, but one of those honors on April 26 came while he was a starting pitcher. It is one of five times this season a pitcher earned Player of the Game honors for batting.
As a designated hitter, Ohtani earned 4.0 total Box-Toppers points. If his points earned for batting as a starting pitcher are added, he would have 5.7 total points as a batter. That total by itself is more than three AL finalists for the Aaron Award—Perez (4.5), Guerrero (3.7) and Mullins (3.5).
And while Ohtani did not qualify under Box-Toppers rules to be listed as a batter, he did spend the majority of his unique season serving as a batter. Ohtani played 155 games in 2021, serving as designated hitter in 126 and starting 23 games as a pitcher. Ohtani had baseball’s fourth-best slugging percentage (.592), tied for the fifth-most total bases (318), tied for the most triples (eight) and ranked third in home runs (46). He also drove in 100 runs.
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