Yankees’ Judge tops players for Friday, Sept. 22; Blue Jays’ Bassitt rises to 4th

Aaron Judge of the Yankees 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.
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Aaron Judge of the Yankees is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Also Friday, Blue Jays pitcher Chris Bassitt rises to fourth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.

Player of the Day

Judge hit three home runs, including a three-run homer, in the 7-1 win over the Diamondbacks. Judge also doubled and went 4-for-4, scoring three times and driving in six runs.

Judge earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 12.0 for the season, 22nd among all players and third among American League batters, behind Shohei Ohtani of the Angels (19.4) and Kyle Tucker of the Astros (12.5).

His +9.0 Box-Toppers game score Friday is the fifth-highest for a batter earning Player of the Game honors in 2023. Highest is +13.0 by Adolis Garcia of the Rangers on April 22 (3HR 2-2B 5-5 5R 8BI in the 18-3 win over the Athletics).

This is the 12th time this season that a batter has won overall Player of the Day honors. Pitchers have won overall Player of the Day honors on the other 161 days of the season so far.

This is the first time in Judge’s career to earn overall Player of the Day honors. Since he began earning points in 2017, he has earned AL Player of the Day honors twice and AL Batter of the Day honors 15 times.

National League Player of the Day is Christian Yelich of the Brewers.

National League Player of the Day

Christian Yelich of the Brewers hit two home runs, including a three-run shot, in the 16-1 win over the Marlins. Yelich also doubled and went 3-for-4, scoring four times and driving in five runs.

Yelich earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 9.2 for the season, 52nd among all players and fourth among NL batters.

Yelich had a +8.0 Box-Toppers game score Friday, 16th-best among all batters who earned Player of the Game honors this season.

AL and NL Batters of the Day

There are no separate AL and NL Batters of the Day for Friday because the overall Player of the Day is AL batter Aaron Judge and the overall NL Player of the Day is batter Christian Yelich.

This is just the fifth time this season that batters have won both overall Box-Toppers Player of the Day honors and overall top player in the opposite league. It also happened April 1, April 22, May 1 and July 3.

Blue Jays pitcher Chris Bassitt is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Friday’s win over the Rays.

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. 22.

Player Pos Team BTP
1 Strider, Spencer 4626 pi sp atl nl 21.1
2 Ohtani, Shohei 3933 pi sp dh ana al 19.4
3 Gausman, Kevin 3191 pi sp tor al 18.7
4 Bassitt, Chris 3413 pi sp tor al 18.1
5 Luzardo, Jesus 4282 pi sp fla nl 17.8
6 Peralta, Freddy 3965 pi sp mil nl 17.7
7 Castillo, Luis Miguel 3840 pi sp sea al 16.1
8 Gallen, Zac 4171 pi sp ari nl 15.7
9 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp tex al 15.4
10 Cole, Gerrit 3232 pi sp nyy al 15.0
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Rankings

Blue Jays pitcher Chris Bassitt rises from sixth to fourth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Friday.

Bassitt (6.2IP 6H 2R 0BB 8K W in the 6-2 win over the Rays) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 18.1 for the season. He ranks third among AL pitchers, behind Shohei Ohtani of the Angels (19.4) and Kevin Gausman of the Blue Jays (18.7).

Notable

Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale now has 153.3 career Box-Toppers points—rising to 24th-most since 1995—after earning Player of the Game honors Friday.

Sale (5IP 3H 0R BB 7K ND in the 3-2 win over the Cardinals) passes two players on Box-Toppers’ “all-time” career points list—Greg Maddux (152.7) and Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright (153.3). (It should be noted that Maddux would have an estimated 250 career Box-Toppers points if his entire career from 1986 were tracked.) Sale now trails 23rd-ranked player, Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole (153.3). While Cole, Sale and Wainwright all have the same 153.3 career point total, Cole ranks ahead because he has the most 2023 points (15.0), followed by Sale (8.7) and Wainwright (1.0).

Interestingly, it is the third time since Monday that Maddux has been passed on Box-Toppers’ “all-time” career points list. Wainwright passed Maddux Monday, Cole passed him Thursday and Sale did it Friday. Prior to that, Maddux had not been passed since 2017.

Sale ranks seventh among active players career points, fifth among active AL pitchers.

Sale now has 8.7 Box-Toppers points in 2023, 31st among AL pitchers.

Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Friday’s win over the White Sox.

Debut

Two players made their Box-Toppers debut Friday, both with their first career Player of the Game honor:

  • Padres pitcher Matt Waldron (5.2IP 3H R 2BB 9K ND in the 4-2 win over the Cardinals) made his Major League debut June 24 and was playing in his seventh career game.

  • Evan Carter of the Rangers (HR 1-2 2R 3BI in the 8-5 win over the Mariners) made his Major League debut Sept. 8 and was playing in his 14th career game.

Scoring

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

  • Yelich earns 1.7 points for being NL Player 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.

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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).

9/22 BTG Game Player AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB +9.0 NYY 7, ARI 1 Aaron Judge RF 4 3 4 6 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
NL +8.0 MIL 16, MIA 1 Christian Yelich LF 4 4 3 5 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+8.0 `BOS 3, CHW 2 Chris Sale ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 5.0 3 0 0 1 7
+7.2 `SD 4, STL 2 Matt Waldron ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 5.2 3 1 1 2 9
+6.0 SF 5, LAD 1 Sean Manaea (W, 7‑6) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 7.0 3 0 0 0 2
+5.0 ATL 9, WSH 6 Austin Riley 3B 3 2 2 4 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+5.0 CHC 6, COL 0 Jameson Taillon (W, 8‑10) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 6.0 4 0 0 4 7
+5.0 OAK 8, DET 2 Ken Waldichuk (W, 4‑8) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 6.0 4 2 2 0 7
+4.2 TOR 6, TB 2 Chris Bassitt (W, 15‑8) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 6.2 6 2 2 0 8
+4.0 TEX 8, SEA 5 Evan Carter LF 2 2 1 3 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+3.0 MIN 8, LAA 6 Alex Kirilloff PH‑1B 2 1 1 3 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+2.2 KC 7, HOU 5 James McArthur (S, 2) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 1.2 1 0 0 0 2
+2.0 CLE 9, BAL 8 Josh Naylor 1B 3 2 2 1 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+1.0 PHI 5, NYM 4 (F/10) J.T. Realmuto C 4 1 1 3 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+1.0 PIT 7, CIN 5 Jared Triolo 2B‑1B 3 1 2 1 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
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 +/‑
Bassitt, Chris 3413 pi sp tor al 18.1 29.1 57.9 61.9 +7.1
Judge, Aaron 3767 rf dh nyy al 12.0 25.2 44.2 55.4 -1.2
Yelich, Christian 3334 lf mil nl 9.2 12.7 42.9 63.4 +5.7
Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp bos al 8.7 8.7 41.8 153.3 +8.7
Naylor, Josh 4154 1b cle al 7.0 10.5 12.0 12.0 +3.5
Taillon, Jameson 3658 pi sp chi nl 5.4 16.1 37.5 51.5 -5.3
Manaea, Sean 3637 pi mr sp sf nl 3.7 9.7 39.8 53.9 -2.3
Waldichuk, Ken 4757 pi cp mr sp oak al 3.7 4.7 4.7 4.7 +2.7
Riley, Austin 4144 3b atl nl 3.0 11.0 27.0 27.0 -5.0
Kirilloff, Alex 4395 1b ph min al 3.0 4.7 5.7 5.7 +1.3
Realmuto, J.T. 3491 ca phi nl 2.5 8.0 31.2 45.7 -3.0
Triolo, Jared 4902 2b 1b ph pit nl 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.5 +2.5
McArthur, James 4941 pi mr cp kc al 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 +2.0
Carter, Evan 4947 lf tex al 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 +1.0
Waldron, Matt 4946 pi sp sd nl 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
ARI Davies, Zach 3581 2.0 3.0 16.0 31.7
NYY Rodon, Carlos 3494 1.0 20.8 38.5 57.6
LAA Rosenberg, Kenny* 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
MIN Gray, Sonny 3259 10.4 22.5 56.7 97.9
COL Flexen, Chris 4368 0.0 2.0 13.7 13.7
CHC Stroman, Marcus 3327 7.7 13.4 34.4 62.2
NYM Quintana, Jose 3040 0.0 11.4 32.9 83.1
PHI Wheeler, Zack 3204 14.7 29.1 70.9 83.6
DET` Undecided 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
OAK Boyle, Joe* 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
CHW Cease, Dylan 4231 8.0 28.4 44.8 44.8
BOS Pivetta, Nick 3825 7.0 14.7 34.4 42.4
MIL Woodruff, Brandon 3868 7.0 27.8 60.6 61.6
MIA Luzardo, Jesus 4282 17.8 21.8 33.9 33.9
TOR Ryu, Hyun Jin 3139 2.0 3.0 45.5 71.6
TB Littell, Zack 4533 1.0 3.0 5.0 5.0
BAL Means, John 4115 0.0 0.0 18.0 18.0
CLE Quantrill, Cal 4195 2.0 8.0 17.7 17.7
PIT Falter, Bailey 4473 4.7 8.7 9.7 9.7
CIN Phillips, Connor 4943 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
SEA Gilbert, Logan 4439 12.4 26.5 33.5 33.5
TEX Montgomery, Jordan 3814 9.4 18.8 29.5 35.5
KC Lyles, Jordan 3100 1.0 4.7 24.4 32.1
HOU France, J.P. 4811 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0
STL Woodford, Jake 4293 0.0 0.0 6.0 6.0
SD Martinez, Nick 3430 5.7 10.7 10.7 17.4
SF Undecided 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
LAD Kershaw, Clayton 2494 10.1 20.8 62.6 269.4
Starters subject to change.
* Player has yet to earn Box-Toppers points.
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