Orioles pitcher John Means is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Means struck out five over seven scoreless innings, allowing one hit and no walks, in the 3-0 win over the Red Sox.
Means earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, his first points of the season. He ranks second in Box-Toppers season player rankings behind Thursday’s Player of the Day, Rays pitcher Tyler Glasnow. Though both players have 2.0 Box-Toppers points for 2021, Glasnow ranks ahead because he has more 2020 Box-Toppers points—8.0 vs. 2.0.
National League Player of the Day—Padres pitcher Blake Snell struck out eight over 4 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing four hits and two walks, in the 4-2 win over the Diamondbacks. Snell did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because he did not pitch the requisite five innings for starters to earn the win.
Snell earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day and ranks third in Box-Toppers season player rankings. Snell was Box-Toppers Player of the Year in 2018 with the Rays, leading all players with 27.2 Box-Toppers points.
American League Batter of the Day—Yermin Mercedes of the White Sox doubled and went 5-for-5, scoring once and driving in four runs, in the 12-8 win over the Angels.
This is Mercedes’ Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Mercedes made his Major League debut Aug. 2, 2020, and was playing in his second career game.
Mercedes earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day and currently ranks sixth in Box-Toppers season player rankings.
National League Batter of the Day—There is no separate NL Batter of the Day for Friday because no NL batter earned Player of the Game honors in the seven games played.
Streak—Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer has now earned Box-Toppers points in 10 straight seasons after earning his first Player of the Game honor of 2021 Friday.
Bauer (6.1IP 3R 4R 2BB 10K W in the 11-6 win over the Rockies) earned his first Box-Toppers points in 2012 with the Diamondbacks and now has 78.4 career Box-Toppers points. He had 14.1 Box-Toppers points in both 2018 (with the Indians) and 2019 (with the Indians and the Reds). He finished 2018 in 13th among AL pitchers and finished 2019 in 12th among NL pitchers. His highest finish was 2020 with the Reds, when he had 10.0 Box-Toppers points in the pandemic-shortened season, first among NL pitchers and second among all players.
Scoring—Means earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Snell earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Mercedes earns 1.5 points for being AL Batter of the Day. All of Friday’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)| 4/2 | BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | +11.0 | BAL 3, BOS 0 | John Means, (W 1‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | |
| NL | +6.2 | `SD 4, ARI 2 | Blake Snell | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 4.2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8 | |
| BAT | +5.0 | CHW 12, LAA 8 | Yermin Mercedes, DH | 5 | 1 | 5 | 4 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +4.2 | `TB 6, MIA 4 | Ryan Yarbrough | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| +4.0 | HOU 9, OAK 5 | Jose Altuve, 2B | 3 | 4 | 3 | 0 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +3.1 | LAD 11, COL 6 | Trevor Bauer, (W 1‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.1 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 10 | ||
| +3.1 | SF 6, SEA 3 | Wandy Peralta, (W 1‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
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 (’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 | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Means, John 4115 | pi sp | bal al | 2.0 | 4.0 | 11.0 | 11.0 | +0.0 |
| Snell, Blake 3688 | pi sp | sd nl | 1.7 | 5.4 | 51.6 | 51.6 | ‑2.0 |
| Mercedes, Yermin 4367 | dh | chi al | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | +1.5 |
| Bauer, Trevor 3065 | pi sp | lad nl | 1.0 | 11.0 | 60.3 | 78.4 | ‑9.0 |
| Yarbrough, Ryan 3962 | pi sp mr | tb al | 1.0 | 4.0 | 23.4 | 23.4 | ‑2.0 |
| Peralta, Wandy 3782 | pi mr | sf nl | 1.0 | 3.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | ‑1.0 |
| Altuve, Jose 3007 | 2b | hou al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 22.0 | 38.5 | +1.0 |
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