Guardians’ Giolito tops players for Friday, Sept. 15; Rockies’ Anderson tops NL players

Guardians pitcher Lucas Giolito is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

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▪️ Box-Toppers Player of the Game winners.
▪️ Box-Toppers points of the day’s top players.
▪️ Top 10 players in 2023 Box-Toppers points.
▪️ A B-T look at upcoming pitching matchups.
▪️ Subscribe to Box-Toppers Email Newsletter.

Guardians pitcher Lucas Giolito is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Giolito struck out 12 over seven scoreless innings, allowing two hits and one walk, in the 12-3 win over the Rangers.

Giolito earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 5.0 for the season, 156th among all players and 54th among American League pitchers.

National League Player of the Day

Rockies pitcher Chase Anderson pitched seven hitless innings, striking out seven and allowing one run and five walks, in the 3-2 win over the Giants. Anderson did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because the Rockies trailed 1-0 when he exited.

Anderson exited after 101 pitches and Rockies relievers did not give up a hit until the ninth inning, when Nick Mears gave up two hits.

Anderson earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, his first points of the season, and is 130th among NL pitchers.

National League Player of the Day is Rockies pitcher Chase Anderson.

American League Batter of the Day

Royce Lewis of the Twins hit a grand slam and went 1-for-2, scoring twice and driving in four runs, in the 10-2 win over the White Sox.

American League Batter of the Day is Royce Lewis of the Twins.

National League Batter of the Day

Fernando Tatis Jr. of the Padres homered and went 2-for-3, scoring once and driving in three runs, in the 8-3 win over the Athletics.

Tatis earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being NL Batter of the Day, giving him 6.0 for the season, 17th among NL batters.

National League Batter of the Day is Fernando Tatis Jr. of the Padres.

Notable

Rays pitcher Zach Eflin has the most 2023 Box-Toppers points among the 15 who earned Player of the Game honors Friday.

Eflin (7IP H R 0BB 8K W in the 7-1 win over the Orioles) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 11.0 for the season, 28th among all players and 14th among AL pitchers.

Rays pitcher Zach Eflin is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Friday’s win over the Orioles.

Also notable

Blue Jays pitcher Jose Berrios becomes the 42nd player in 2023 to reach 10 Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Friday.

Berrios (7IP 5H 0R 0BB 8K W in the 3-0 win over the Red Sox) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 10.4 for the season, 35th among all players and 17th among AL pitchers.

This is Berrios’ third season with 10 or more Box-Toppers points. He also did it in 2018 with the Twins (17.9 points, seventh among AL pitchers) and 2019 with the Twins (10.7 points, 16th among AL pitchers). In 2022, he had 9.0 points with the Blue Jays, 29th among AL pitchers. Berrios has earned 9.0 or more points each season since he began earning points in 2017, except for the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, when he had 3.0 points.

Blue Jays pitcher Jose Berrios is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Friday’s win over the Red Sox.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 in Box-Toppers season player rankings for 2023. Players are ranked by Box-Toppers points (BTP) earned this season through Friday, Sept. 15.

Player Pos Team BTP
1 Strider, Spencer 4626 pi sp atl nl 20.1
2 Ohtani, Shohei 3933 pi sp dh ana al 19.4
3 Peralta, Freddy 3965 pi sp mil nl 17.7
4 Bassitt, Chris 3413 pi sp tor al 17.1
5 Gausman, Kevin 3191 pi sp tor al 16.7
6 Luzardo, Jesus 4282 pi sp fla nl 16.1
7 Gallen, Zac 4171 pi sp ari nl 15.7
8 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp tex al 15.4
9 Castillo, Luis Miguel 3840 pi sp sea al 15.1
10 Cole, Gerrit 3232 pi sp nyy al 14.0
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Debut

Royals pitcher Angel Zerpa made his Box-Toppers debut Friday with his first career Player of the Game honor.

Zerpa (4IP 2H R BB 5K W in the 4-2 win over the Astros) made his Major League debut Sept. 30, 2021, and was playing in his 16th career game. 

Scoring

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  • Giolito earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day.

  • Anderson earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day.

  • Lewis and Tatis each 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) 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.

Box-Toppers strives for accuracy. See a mistake in a post? A wrong name, wrong team, grammar error, spelling goof, etc.? Thanks for pointing it out! Contact Box-Toppers here. Let's fix it and make it right.

For additional updates, follow Box-Toppers on Twitter.

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).

9/15 BTG Game Player AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB +16.0 CLE 12, TEX 3 Lucas Giolito (W, 8‑13) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 7.0 2 0 0 1 12
+12.0 TB 7, BAL 1 Zach Eflin (W, 15‑8) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 7.0 1 1 1 0 8
+11.0 DET 11, LAA 2 Tarik Skubal (W, 6‑3) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 7.0 3 1 1 0 9
+10.0 TOR 3, BOS 0 Jose Berríos (W, 11‑10) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 7.0 5 0 0 0 8
NL +7.0 `COL 3, SF 2 Chase Anderson ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 7.0 0 1 1 5 7
+6.1 ARI 6, CHC 4 Brandon Pfaadt (W, 2‑8) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 5.1 4 0 0 1 6
BAT +5.0 MIN 10, CHW 2 Royce Lewis DH 2 2 1 4 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+4.1 MIA 9, ATL 6 A.J. Puk (W, 6‑5) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 1.1 0 0 0 0 3
+4.0 KC 4, HOU 2 Angel Zerpa (W, 2‑3) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 4.0 2 1 1 1 5
+4.0 MIL 5, WSH 3 Devin Williams (S, 35) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 1.0 0 0 0 0 3
+3.2 CIN 5, NYM 3 Alexis Díaz (S, 37) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 1.2 0 0 0 0 2
BAT +3.0 SD 8, OAK 3 Fernando Tatis Jr. RF 3 1 2 3 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+3.0 `PHI 5, STL 4 Seranthony Domínguez (H, 13) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 1.0 0 0 0 0 2
+2.0 NYY 7, PIT 5 Clay Holmes (S, 20) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 1.0 0 0 0 0 1
+1.0 LAD 6, SEA 3 Miguel Rojas SS 4 1 2 2 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
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.
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.
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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 2023 (’23). Also shown is their point total for this season and last (’22-23), the period 2018-2023 (’18-23) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2023 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2022 total (+/-).
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Player of the Game Pos Team ’23 ’22‑23 ’18‑23 Career +/‑
Eflin, Zach 3679 pi sp tb al 11.0 14.7 37.5 42.5 +7.3
Berrios, Jose 3791 pi sp tor al 10.4 19.4 60.3 69.3 +1.4
Williams, Devin 4319 pi cp mil nl 8.0 11.0 15.0 15.0 +5.0
Skubal, Tarik 4414 pi sp det al 7.7 18.4 27.1 27.1 -3.0
Diaz, Alexis 4613 pi cp cin nl 7.0 10.0 10.0 10.0 +4.0
Tatis, Fernando Jr. 4101 rf sd nl 6.0 6.0 22.2 22.2 +6.0
Giolito, Lucas 3900 pi sp cle al 5.0 9.0 45.1 48.1 +1.0
Lewis, Royce 4606 3b dh min al 4.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 +3.0
Holmes, Clay 4022 pi cp nyy al 3.0 7.0 9.0 9.0 -1.0
Puk, A.J. 4253 pi cp mr fla nl 3.0 3.0 4.0 4.0 +3.0
Dominguez, Seranthony 3968 pi cp mr phi nl 2.0 5.0 6.0 6.0 -1.0
Pfaadt, Brandon 4812 pi sp ari nl 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 +2.0
Anderson, Chase 3328 pi sp col nl 1.7 3.7 18.1 44.5 -0.3
Rojas, Miguel 3642 ss lad nl 1.0 1.0 12.0 15.5 +1.0
Zerpa, Angel 4939 pi mr kc al 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 +1.0
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A Box-Toppers look at Saturday’s pitching matchups

A Box-Toppers look at the upcoming day’s probable pitching matchups. Teams are paired below with visiting teams on top and home teams on the bottom. Each team’s starting pitcher is shown with their Box-Toppers point total from 2023 (’23), over a two-year period (’22-23), over a six-year period (’18-23) and their career point total.
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Game Starter ’23 ’22‑23 ’18‑23 Career
SF Winn, Keaton 4931 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
COL Lambert, Peter 4155 3.0 3.0 5.0 5.0
BOS Sale, Chris 2806 7.7 7.7 40.8 152.3
TOR Bassitt, Chris 3413 17.1 28.1 56.9 60.9
SD Waldron, Matt* 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
OAK Miller, Mason* 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
ATL Shuster, Jared 4816 1.7 1.7 1.7 1.7
MIA Hoeing, Bryan 4856 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0
TEX Dunning, Dane 4317 3.0 7.4 12.4 12.4
CLE Bibee, Tanner 4792 7.7 7.7 7.7 7.7
NYY Weaver, Luke 3719 0.0 0.0 16.0 25.7
PIT Ortiz, Luis 4738 0.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
TB Glasnow, Tyler 3948 11.4 11.4 47.8 47.8
BAL Rodriguez, Grayson 4790 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0
CIN Abbott, Andrew 4839 11.0 11.0 11.0 11.0
NYM Megill, Tylor 4464 3.0 8.7 14.7 14.7
HOU France, J.P. 4811 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0
KC Ragans, Cole 4889 4.4 4.4 4.4 4.4
MIN Lopez, Pablo 4028 13.4 24.1 47.2 47.2
CHW Toussaint, Touki 4110 2.0 4.0 8.7 8.7
WSH Williams, Trevor 3792 5.7 8.7 24.4 29.4
MIL Burnes, Corbin 4029 11.7 27.1 55.9 55.9
PHI Suarez, Ranger 4228 3.7 8.7 18.7 18.7
STL Mikolas, Miles 3034 5.7 17.8 32.5 35.2
CHC Hendricks, Kyle 3386 5.0 9.7 41.8 73.6
ARI Davies, Zach 3581 2.0 3.0 16.0 31.7
SF Undecided 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
COL Freeland, Kyle 3763 5.7 11.7 33.1 39.1
DET Gipson-Long, Sawyer* 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
LAA Anderson, Tyler 3656 2.0 14.7 32.4 37.4
LAD Kershaw, Clayton 2494 10.1 20.8 62.6 269.4
SEA Miller, Bryce 4797 13.1 13.1 13.1 13.1
Starters subject to change.
* Player has yet to earn Box-Toppers points.
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