Mariners pitcher James Paxton is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Sunday’s spring training games.
Paxton struck out eight over 4 1/3 innings, allowing one run, two hits and two walks, in the 3-1 win over the Brewers. Paxton did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because the score was tied, 1-1, when he exited.
Paxton would have earned 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Box-Toppers Player of the Day if this were a regular season game. Because it’s a preseason exhibition game, no Box-Toppers points are awarded.
Paxton earned 0.0 Box-Toppers points in 2020, playing in five games with the Yankees. In 2019, he had 14.1 Box-Toppers points with the Yankees, eighth among American League pitchers.
National League Player of the Day—David Bote of the Cubs hit two home runs, including a three-run shot, in the 11-6 win over the Reds. Bote went 2-for-3, scoring twice and driving in five runs.
Bote would have earned 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day in a regular season day. Bote had 2.5 Box-Toppers points in 2020.
American League Batter of the Day—Hanser Alberto of the Royals doubled and went 3-for-3, scoring twice and driving in one run, in the 6-1 win over the Rockies.
Alberto would have earned 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day in a regular season day. Alberto earned 0.0 Box-Toppers points in 2020 with the Orioles, playing in 54 games. He has 1.0 career Box-Toppers point, earned in 2019 with the Orioles.
National League Batter of the Day—There is no separate NL Batter of the Day for Sunday because the overall NL Player of the Day is batter David Bote.
Notable—There are two players who earned Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors Sunday who each have more than 100 career Box-Toppers points and three who are past Box-Toppers Player of the Year winners.
The two Sunday Player of the Game winners with more than 100 career Box-Toppers points:
Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom, who has 105.4 career Box-Toppers points, was Player of the Game in the 6-2 win over the Nationals (4.2IP 3H 0R 2BB 5K W). deGrom’s 105.4 career points ranks 10th among current NL pitchers. His 8.7 Box-Toppers points in 2020 ranked fourth among NL pitchers. He’s ranked among the top 10 NL pitchers in Box-Toppers points five of the past six seasons.
Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole, who has 100.5 career Box-Toppers points, was Player of the Game in the 8-3 win over the Blue Jays (5IP 4H R BB 8K W). Cole’s 100.5 career points ranks eighth among current AL pitchers. His 7.4 Box-Toppers points in 2020 ranked fifth among AL pitchers. Cole was Box-Toppers Player of the Year in 2019, leading all players with 32.2 Box-Toppers points with the Astros.
In addition to Cole, two other Sunday Player of the Game winners are past Box-Toppers Player of the Year winners:
Indians pitcher Shane Bieber, who was Box-Toppers 2020 Player of the Year, was Player of the Game in the 7-2 win over the Rangers (4IP 2H 0R 2BB 6K W). Bieber led all players with 11.4 Box-Toppers points in the pandemic-shortened season.
Rays pitcher Blake Snell, who was Box-Toppers 2018 Player of the Year, was Player of the Game in the 4-1 win over the Angels (3.1IP 2H 0R 2BB 3K W). Snell led all players with 27.2 Box-Toppers points in 2018 with the Rays.
There were 14 games played Sunday. No Player of the Game was named in one of the games because it ended in a tie (White Sox 4, Diamondbacks 4). Box-Toppers’ Player of the Game winners for the other 13 games are listed in the chart below.
Scoring—No Box-Toppers points are awarded in exhibition games. Were it a regular season day, Paxton would have earned 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Bote would have earned 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Alberto would have earned 1.5 points for being AL Batter of the Day. All of Sunday’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)| 3/21 | BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | +6.1 | `SEA 3, MIL 1 | James Paxton | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 4.1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 8 | |
| NL | +6.0 | CHC 11, CIN 6 | David Bote, 3B | 3 | 2 | 2 | 5 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +6.0 | ATL 11, TB 1 | Max Fried, (W 1‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | ||
| +6.0 | NYY 8, TOR 3 | Gerrit Cole, (W 3‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 | ||
| +6.0 | CLE 7, TEX 2 | Shane Bieber, (W 1‑2) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 4.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | ||
| +5.0 | SF 10, LAD 4 | Mike Yastrzemski, RF | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +5.0 | `DET 5, PHI 3 | Michael Fulmer | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 3.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| +4.2 | NYM 6, WSH 2 | Jacob deGrom, (W 3‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 4.2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | ||
| +4.0 | `MIA 4, HOU 2 | Trevor Rogers | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 6 | ||
| BAT | +3.0 | KC 6, COL 1 | Hanser Alberto, SS | 3 | 2 | 3 | 1 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +3.0 | MIN 12, BAL 7 | Trevor Larnach, RF | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +2.1 | SD 4, LAA 1 | Blake Snell, (W 2‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 3.1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | ||
| +1.0 | PIT 9, BOS 4 | Brian Goodwin, CF | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +0.0 | CHW 4, ARI 4 | N/A | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ |
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.
N/A—Not applicable. No Player of the Game was chosen because the game ended in a tie.
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. No points are awarded during spring training games, so all players have 0.0 Box-Toppers points for 2021. Players are ranked by their Box-Toppers point total in 2020 (’20). Also shown is their point total for the period 2016-2020 (’16-20) and their career point total.| Player of the Game | Pos | Team | ’21 | ’20 | ’16‑20 | Career |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bieber, Shane 4005 | pi sp | cle al | 0.0 | 11.4 | 35.9 | 35.9 |
| deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 0.0 | 8.7 | 70.0 | 105.4 |
| Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | nyy al | 0.0 | 7.4 | 71.1 | 100.5 |
| Fried, Max 4011 | pi sp | atl nl | 0.0 | 5.7 | 16.7 | 16.7 |
| Snell, Blake 3688 | pi sp | sd nl | 0.0 | 3.7 | 49.9 | 49.9 |
| Bote, David 4032 | 2b ph | chi nl | 0.0 | 2.5 | 8.0 | 8.0 |
| Goodwin, Brian 3835 | lf | pit nl | 0.0 | 1.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 |
| Yastrzemski, Mike 4203 | rf | sf nl | 0.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| Rogers, Trevor 4311 | pi sp | fla nl | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| Paxton, James 3280 | pi sp | sea al | 0.0 | 0.0 | 49.2 | 55.9 |
| Alberto, Hanser 4240 | 3b | kc al | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| Fulmer, Michael 3640 | pi sp | det al | 0.0 | 0.0 | 19.4 | 19.4 |
| Larnarch, Trevor* | rf | min al | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
* Players have yet to earn Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors in a regular season game and so have 0.0 career Box-Toppers points.
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