Astros pitcher Cristian Javier is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Javier struck out nine over five scoreless innings, allowing three hits and no walks, in the 8-2 win over the Angels.
Javier earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 3.0 for the season, 13th among all players and sixth among American League pitchers.
National League Player of the Day—Padres pitcher Ryan Weathers struck out six over 5 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing one hit and one walk, in the 3-2 win over the Dodgers. Weathers did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because the Dodgers tied the game after he exited.
This was Weathers’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Weathers made his Major League debut Oct. 6, 2020, and was playing in his fifth career game.
National League Batter of the Day—David Peralta of the Diamondbacks homered, tripled and went 5-for-6, scoring twice and driving in seven runs, in the 14-11, 10-inning win over the Reds.
Peralta had a Box-Toppers game score Thursday of +8.0, the second-highest for a batter earning Player of the Game honors so far in 2021. The highest was +10.0 on April 13 by Adam Duvall of the Marlins (2HR 2B 4-5 4R 7BI in the 14-8 win over the Braves). While Peralta’s game score is second-best for a batter earning Player of the Game honors this season, it ranks 47th among all Player of the Game winners so far in 2021.
American League Batter of the Day—Mitch Haniger of the Mariners hit a three-run homer and went 1-for-3, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 7-3, 10-inning win over the Red Sox.
Streak—Yankees closing pitcher Aroldis Chapman has now earned Box-Toppers points in 12 straight seasons after earning his first Player of the Game honor of 2021 Thursday.
Chapman (1IP 0H 0R BB 3K Sv in the 6-3 win over the Indians) earned his first Box-Toppers point in 2010 with the Reds and has 57.1 career points, second among active AL closing pitchers, behind Ian Kennedy of the Royals (80.5). However, Kennedy is listed as a closer because he earned 5.0 Box-Toppers points in 2019 and 2021 as a closing pitcher after earning the rest of his points from 2010 to 2018 as a starter.
Chapman’s best season was 2012 with the Reds when he had 14.0 Box-Toppers points, second among NL closers, behind Craig Kimbrel of the Braves (15.0). Chapman led NL closers with the Reds in 2015 with 8.0 points. He ranked among the top five NL closers in points for five straight seasons from 2012 to 2016 (he was with the Reds from 2012 to 2015 and finished the 2016 season with the Cubs). In 2019, he had 3.0 points with the Yankees. And in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, he had 1.0 point with the Yankees.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 in Box-Toppers season player rankings for 2021. Players are ranked by Box-Toppers points (BTP) earned this season through Thursday, April 22.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Glasnow, Tyler 3948 | pi sp | tb al | 5.0 |
| 2 | Bieber, Shane 4005 | pi sp | cle al | 4.7 |
| 3 | Martinez, J.D. 2922 | dh rf | bos al | 4.7 |
| 4 | Barnes, Matt 3466 | pi mr cp | bos al | 4.0 |
| 5 | Rogers, Trevor 4311 | pi sp | fla nl | 4.0 |
| 6 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 3.7 |
| 7 | Woodruff, Brandon 3868 | pi sp | mil nl | 3.7 |
| 8 | Civale, Aaron 4173 | pi sp | cle al | 3.7 |
| 9 | Nola, Aaron 3569 | pi sp | phi nl | 3.0 |
| 10 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | nyy al | 3.0 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Scoring—Javier earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Weathers earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Peralta and Haniger each earn 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) 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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Box-Toppers Player of the Game winners
Here is the top player from each of the day’s games listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score (BTG).| 4/22 | BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | +10.0 | HOU 8, LAA 2 | Cristian Javier, (W 2‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 9 | |
| NL | +9.2 | `SD 3, LAD 2 | Ryan Weathers | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | |
| BAT | +8.0 | ARI 14, CIN 11 (F/10) | David Peralta, LF | 6 | 2 | 5 | 7 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +5.0 | SF 3, MIA 0 | Aaron Sanchez, (W 1‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| BAT | +3.0 | SEA 7, BOS 3 (F/10) | Mitch Haniger, RF | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +3.0 | NYY 6, CLE 3 | Aroldis Chapman, (S 3) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | ||
| +2.0 | PIT 4, DET 2 | Bryan Reynolds, CF | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +1.0 | CHC 4, NYM 3 (F/10) | Jason Heyward, PH | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ |
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 Player of the Game winners
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 (’21). Also shown are each players’ Box-Toppers point total for this season and last (’20-21), the period 2016-2021 (’16-21) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2021 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2020 total (+/-).| Player of the Game | Pos | Team | ’21 | ’20‑21 | ’16‑21 | Career | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Javier, Cristian 4290 | pi sp | hou al | 3.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | +1.0 |
| Reynolds, Bryan 4169 | cf lf | pit nl | 2.0 | 5.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 | ‑1.0 |
| Weathers, Ryan 4388 | pi sp | sd nl | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.7 | +1.7 |
| Peralta, David 3370 | lf | ari nl | 1.5 | 3.5 | 17.0 | 28.9 | ‑0.5 |
| Haniger, Mitch 3772 | rf | sea al | 1.5 | 1.5 | 12.5 | 12.5 | +1.5 |
| Heyward, Jason 2695 | rf ph | chi nl | 1.0 | 4.7 | 12.2 | 29.7 | ‑2.7 |
| Chapman, Aroldis 2826 | pi cp | nyy al | 1.0 | 2.0 | 18.1 | 57.1 | +0.0 |
| Sanchez, Aaron 3392 | pi sp | sf nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 17.4 | 21.4 | +1.0 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
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