Royals pitcher Ervin Santana is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Thursday’s spring training games.
Santana struck out seven over three scoreless innings, allowing no hits and no walks, closing the game and picking up the save, in the 10-1 win over the Diamondbacks.
Santana 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.
Santana did not pitch in 2020 and so had 0.0 Box-Toppers points during the season. He also had no Box-Toppers points in 2018 and 2019, pitching in a combined eight games over those two seasons for the Twins and the White Sox. In 2017, he had 16.1 Box-Toppers points with the Twins, ninth overall and fifth among American League pitchers. His 113.4 career Box-Toppers points, most among Thursday’s Player of the Game winners, ranks fifth among active AL pitchers.
National League Player of the Day—Braves pitcher Drew Smyly struck out six over five scoreless innings, allowing one hit and one walk, in the 5-2 win over the Rays. Smyly did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because the game was in a scoreless tie when he exited.
Smyly would have earned 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day in a regular season day. Smyly had 0.0 Box-Toppers points in 2020 with the Giants, playing in seven games. He had 4.0 Box-Toppers points in 2019 with the Phillies.
American League Batter of the Day—Austin Hays of the Orioles hit a three-run homer, tripled and doubled in the 10-9 win over the Pirates. Hays went 3-for-4, scoring twice and driving in three runs.
Hays would have earned 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day in a regular season day. Hays made his Major League debut Sept. 7, 2017, and has played in 74 career games but has yet to earn Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors in a regular season game and so has 0.0 career Box-Toppers points.
National League Batter of the Day—Miguel Rojas of the Marlins homered and went 3-for-3, scoring twice and driving in two runs, in the 7-3 win over the Nationals.
Rojas would have earned 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being NL Batter of the Day in a regular season day. Rojas earned 3.5 Box-Toppers points in 2020, second among NL shortstops.
There were 14 games played Thursday. No Player of the Game was named in two of the games because they ended in a tie (Brewers 2, Giants 2 and Tigers 3, Blue Jays 3). Box-Toppers’ Player of the Game winners for the other 12 games are listed in the chart below.
Scoring—No Box-Toppers points are awarded in exhibition games. Were it a regular season day, Santana would have earned 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Smyly would have earned 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Hays and Rojas would have each earned 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Thursday’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)| 3/25 | BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | +10.0 | KC 10, ARI 1 | Ervin Santana, (S 1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 3.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | |
| +9.0 | HOU 3, STL 0 | Jose Urquidy, (W 1‑2) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | ||
| NL | +9.0 | `ATL 5, TB 2 | Drew Smyly | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | |
| +7.0 | MIN 7, BOS 4 | Randy Dobnak, (W 1‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | ||
| +6.0 | LAD 5, CHC 2 | Dustin May, (W 2‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | ||
| BAT | +4.0 | BAL 10, PIT 9 | Austin Hays, RF | 4 | 2 | 3 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| BAT | +4.0 | MIA 7, WSH 3 | Miguel Rojas, SS | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +4.0 | COL 6, LAA 5 | Chris Owings, CF | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +4.0 | SD 11, TEX 10 | Luis Campusano, C | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +4.0 | PHI 13, NYY 12 | Logan O'Hoppe, C | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +3.0 | CHW 9, CIN 4 | Danny Mendick, SS | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +2.0 | OAK 8, SEA 5 | Stephen Piscotty, RF | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +0.0 | MIL 2, SF 2 | N/A | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +0.0 | DET 3, TOR 3 | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rojas, Miguel 3642 | ss | fla nl | 0.0 | 3.5 | 11.5 | 11.5 |
| Dobnak, Randy 4263 | pi sp | min al | 0.0 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
| Piscotty, Stephen 3570 | rf | oak al | 0.0 | 2.7 | 18.7 | 22.9 |
| Urquidy, Jose 4194 | pi sp | hou al | 0.0 | 2.0 | 4.7 | 4.7 |
| May, Dustin 4214 | pi sp | lad nl | 0.0 | 2.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
| Smyly, Drew 3009 | pi sp | atl nl | 0.0 | 0.0 | 11.4 | 39.5 |
| Santana, Ervin 2005 | pi sp | kc al | 0.0 | 0.0 | 20.1 | 113.4 |
| Owings, Chris 3347 | ss cf | col nl | 0.0 | 0.0 | 3.0 | 6.5 |
| Hays, Austin* | rf | bal al | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Campusano, Luis* | ca | sd nl | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| O’Hoppe, Logan* | ca | phi nl | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Mendick, Danny* | ss | chi 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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