Padres pitcher Sean Manaea is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Manaea struck out seven over seven scoreless and hitless innings, allowing no walks, in the 3-0 win over the Diamondbacks.
Manaea handed off his no-hitter to the bullpen after 88 pitches. Reliever Tim Hill gave up two hits but three total relievers combined to keep the Diamondbacks scoreless.
Manaea earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, his first points of the season, and rises to first place in Box-Toppers early season player rankings. He passes Thursday’s Player of the Day Astros pitcher Framber Valdez, who also has 2.0 Box-Toppers points, but Manaea ranks higher because he has more 2021 Box-Toppers points—15.7 vs. 5.0.
Manaea was one of the final players traded during the offseason, coming to the Padres from the Athletics on Sunday. His 15.7 Box-Toppers points in 2021 ranked fourth among American League pitchers and was the third-highest 2021 Box-Toppers point total for any player changing teams in the offseason. Only two players changing teams in the offseason had more 2021 Box-Toppers points:
Pitcher Max Scherzer (25.1), who moved from the Dodgers to the Mets.
Pitcher Robbie Ray (17.7), who moved from the Blue Jays to the Mariners.
Both Scherzer and Ray also pitched Friday. Scherzer did not earn Player of the Game in the Mets’ win over the Nationals (the honor went to teammate Jeff McNeil, see below). Ray did win Player of the Game honors in his Mariners debut win over the Twins (7IP 3H R 4BB 5K W).
American League Player of the Day—Rays pitcher Shane McClanahan struck out seven over 4 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing four hits and two walks in the 2-1 win over the Orioles. McClanahan did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because he did not pitch the required five innings for starters to earn the win.
McClanahan earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, his first points of the season. He earned 4.7 points in 2021, 71st among AL pitchers.
American League Batter of the Day—Teoscar Hernandez of the Blue Jays hit a three-run home run and went 1-for-2, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 10-8 win over the Rangers.
Hernandez earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day, his first points of the season. He earned 4.5 points in 2021, 39th among AL batters.
National League Batter of the Day—Jeff McNeil of the Mets homered and went 3-for-4, scoring twice and driving in two runs, in the 7-3 win over the Nationals.
McNeil earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being NL Batter of the Day, his first points of the season. He earned 1.0 point in 2021.
Streak—Braves pitcher Charlie Morton has now earned Box-Toppers points in 10 straight seasons after earning his first Player of the Game honor of 2022 Friday.
Morton (5.1IP 2H 2R BB 5K W in the 7-6 win over the Reds) earned his first Box-Toppers point in 2008 with the Reds, but his current streak started in 2013 with the Pirates (he earned no points in 2010 and 2012).
Morton now has 84.7 career Box-Toppers points, 127th among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails 126th ranked player Brad Radke (85.0). Morton ranks 12th among active NL pitchers in career points.
His best season was 2019 with the Rays when he had 18.8 Box-Toppers points, fifth overall and third among AL pitchers. He had 12.7 points in 2021 with the Braves, 16th among NL pitchers.
Scoring—Manaea earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and McClanahan earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Hernandez and McNeil earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Friday’s other Player of the Game winners (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).| 4/8 | BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | +13.0 | SD 3, ARI 0 | Sean Manaea, (W 1‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | |
| AL | +5.1 | `TB 2, BAL 1 | Shane McClanahan | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 4.1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | |
| BAT | +4.0 | TOR 10, TEX 8 | Teoscar Hernández, RF | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +3.1 | ATL 7, CIN 6 | Charlie Morton, (W 1‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 | ||
| +3.0 | HOU 13, LAA 6 | Kyle Tucker, RF | 5 | 2 | 2 | 4 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| BAT | +3.0 | NYM 7, WSH 3 | Jeff McNeil, 2B | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +3.0 | PHI 9, OAK 5 | Rhys Hoskins, 1B | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +3.0 | SEA 2, MIN 1 | Robbie Ray, (W 1‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | ||
| +2.2 | `SF 6, MIA 5 (F/10) | Tyler Rogers, (Hld 1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 0.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| +2.0 | LAD 5, COL 3 | Gavin Lux, 2B | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +2.0 | NYY 6, BOS 5 (F/11) | Michael King, (W 1‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 2.0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | ||
| +1.0 | DET 5, CHW 4 | Eric Haase, PH‑C | 2 | 1 | 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.
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. Players are ranked by their Box-Toppers point total in 2022 (’22). Also shown is their point total for this season and last (’21-22), the period 2017-2022 (’17-22) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2022 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2021 total (+/-).| Player of the Game | Pos | Team | ’22 | ’21‑22 | ’17‑22 | Career | +/‑ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manaea, Sean 3637 | pi sp | sd nl | 2.0 | 17.7 | 39.5 | 46.2 | ‑13.7 |
| McClanahan, Shane 4399 | pi sp | tb al | 1.7 | 6.4 | 6.4 | 6.4 | ‑3.0 |
| Hernandez, Teoscar 3713 | rf lf | tor al | 1.5 | 6.0 | 16.7 | 18.2 | ‑3.0 |
| McNeil, Jeff 4050 | 2b lf rf | nym nl | 1.5 | 2.5 | 7.5 | 7.5 | +0.5 |
| Ray, Robbie 3502 | pi sp | sea al | 1.0 | 18.7 | 52.1 | 62.8 | ‑16.7 |
| Morton, Charlie 2503 | pi sp | atl nl | 1.0 | 13.7 | 57.0 | 84.7 | ‑11.7 |
| Tucker, Kyle 4277 | rf | hou al | 1.0 | 8.2 | 13.2 | 13.2 | ‑6.2 |
| Hoskins, Rhys 3909 | 1b | phi nl | 1.0 | 5.5 | 12.5 | 12.5 | ‑3.5 |
| Haase, Eric 4461 | ca lf dh ph | det al | 1.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | ‑2.0 |
| Lux, Gavin 4247 | 2b 3b | lad nl | 1.0 | 2.0 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 0.0 |
| Rogers, Tyler 4251 | pi mr | sf nl | 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 0.0 |
| King, Michael 4549 | pi cp mr | nyy al | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 0.0 |
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