Astros pitcher Justin Verlander is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Tuesday’s spring training games.
Verlander struck out six over four scoreless innings, allowing two hits and one walk, in the 3-1 win over the Nationals.
Verlander would have earned 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day if if this were a regular season game. Because it’s a preseason exhibition game, no Box-Toppers points are awarded.
Verlander had no Box-Toppers points in 2021 as he was out injured, recovering from Tommy John surgery. He had 1.0 Box-Toppers point in 2020, earned July 24, prior to his injury. The season before that, 2019, Verlander had 27.5 Box-Toppers points, second among all players. Verlander has 206.6 career Box-Toppers points, sixth among all players since tracking began in 1995 and fourth among active players.
National League Player of the Day—Giants pitcher Carlos Rodon struck out four over four scoreless innings, allowing one hit and no walks, in the 11-6 win over the Padres.
Rodon would have earned 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day in a regular season day. Rodon earned 11.7 Box-Toppers points in 2021 with the White Sox, 12th among AL pitchers.
American League Batter of the Day—Marwin Gonzalez of the Yankees hit a three-run homer and went 3-for-3, scoring twice and driving in four runs, in the 14-2 win over the Phillies.
Gonzalez would have earned 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day in a regular season day. Gonzalez earned 1.5 Box-Toppers points in 2021 with the Red Sox and Astros.
National League Batter of the Day—Francisco Lindor of the Mets homered, doubled and went 2-for-2, scoring once and driving in four runs, in the 10-0 win over the Marlins.
Lindor would have earned 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being NL Batter of the Day in a regular season day. Lindor earned 7.0 Box-Toppers points in 2021, fourth among NL shortstops. This was Lindor’s second Player of the Game honor during the 2022 spring training season. He also did it March 24.
Notable—Shohei Ohtani of the Angels has the most 2021 Box-Toppers points among Tuesday’s Player of the Game winners.
Ohtani (HR 1-2 R 2BI in the 8-2 win over the Rockies) earned 16.1 Box-Toppers points in 2021, third among AL pitchers. While Ohtani served as both starting pitcher and designated hitter in 2021, he earned the overwhelming majority of his Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors as a pitcher (nine of 12) and so is not listed among batters in Box-Toppers rankings. Though Ohtani played more games as a designated hitter than a pitcher, he only earned 4.0 Box-Toppers points as a batter compared to 12.1 as a pitcher.
There were 12 spring training games played Tuesday. Eleven who earned Player of the Game honors have earned Box-Toppers points in the past; only one (Drew Avans of the Dodgers) has yet to earn Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors in a regular season game.
Scoring—No Box-Toppers points are awarded in exhibition games. Were it a regular season day, Verlander would have earned 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Rodon would have earned 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Gonzalez and Lindor would have earned 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Tuesday’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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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).| 3/29 | BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | +7.0 | HOU 3, WSH 1 | Justin Verlander, (W 2‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 4.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | |
| NL | +7.0 | SF 11, SD 6 | Carlos Rodón, (W 1‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 4.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | |
| BAT | +6.0 | NYY 14, PHI 2 | Marwin Gonzalez, 1B | 3 | 2 | 3 | 4 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| BAT | +5.0 | NYM 10, MIA 0 | Francisco Lindor, SS | 2 | 1 | 2 | 4 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +5.0 | LAD 6, OAK 4 | Drew Avans, RF | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +3.0 | CLE 10, MIL 3 | Austin Hedges, C | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +3.0 | LAA 8, COL 2 | Shohei Ohtani, DH | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +3.0 | CHC 3, ARI 2 | Willson Contreras, C | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +3.0 | KC 11, SEA 4 | Ivan Castillo, SS | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +3.0 | PIT 6, BOS 2 | Mitch Keller, (W 1‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 4.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | ||
| +2.1 | TB 4, MIN 2 | J.P. Feyereisen, (W 1‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | ||
| +2.0 | CIN 7, TEX 1 | Jake Bauers, DH | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ |
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 Player of the Game winners
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 2022. Players are ranked by their Box-Toppers point total in 2021 (’21). Also shown is their point total for the period 2017-2021 (’17-21) and their career point total. (Player of the Game winners not listed here have yet to earn Box-Toppers points during the regular season.)| Player of the Game | Pos | Team | ’22 | ’21 | ’17‑21 | Career |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ohtani, Shohei 3933 | pi sp | ana al | 0.0 | 16.1 | 30.6 | 30.6 |
| Rodon, Carlos 3494 | pi sp | sf nl | 0.0 | 11.7 | 20.7 | 36.8 |
| Lindor, Francisco 3586 | ss | nym nl | 0.0 | 7.0 | 21.1 | 29.1 |
| Contreras, Willson 3776 | ca | chi nl | 0.0 | 5.5 | 20.0 | 20.0 |
| Keller, Mitch 4230 | pi sp | pit nl | 0.0 | 4.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 |
| Bauers, Jake 3993 | 1b ph | cin nl | 0.0 | 3.0 | 12.0 | 12.0 |
| Feyereisen, J.P. 4420 | pi cp mr | tb al | 0.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| Gonzalez, Marwin 3078 | 2b 1b | nyy al | 0.0 | 1.5 | 15.7 | 21.2 |
| Castillo, Ivan 4411 | ph | kc al | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| Verlander, Justin 2112 | pi sp | hou al | 0.0 | 0.0 | 67.3 | 206.6 |
| Hedges, Austin 3790 | ca | cle al | 0.0 | 0.0 | 6.5 | 6.5 |
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