Diamondbacks’ Gallen tops players for Friday, Sept. 8, rising to 5th in player rankings

Diamondbacks pitcher Zac Gallen 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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Diamondbacks pitcher Zac Gallen is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to fifth place in season player rankings.

Gallen pitched a complete-game, three-hit shutout, striking out nine and allowing one walk, in the 1-0 win over the Cubs.

Gallen earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 15.7 for the season, rising from ninth to fifth in season player rankings, third among National League pitchers, behind Spencer Strider of the Braves (19.1) and Jesus Luzardo of the Marlins (16.1). While he has the same 15.7 Box-Toppers point total as Brewers pitcher Freddy Peralta, Gallen ranks ahead because he has more 2022 Box-Toppers points—18.7 vs. 7.4.

American League Player of the Day

White Sox pitcher Mike Clevinger struck out seven over seven scoreless innings, allowing three hits and no walks, in the 6-0 win over the Tigers.

Clevinger earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 8.4 for the season, 26th among AL pitchers.

American League Player of the Day is White Sox pitcher Mike Clevinger.

National League Batter of the Day

Trent Grisham of the Padres hit a three-run homer and went 2-for-4, scoring twice and driving in four runs, in the 11-2 win over the Astros.

National League Batter of the Day is Trent Grisham of the Padres.

American League Batter of the Day

There is no separate AL Batter of the Day for Friday because no AL batter earned Player of the Game honors.

Orioles pitcher Kyle Bradish 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. 8.

Player Pos Team BTP
1 Ohtani, Shohei 3933 pi sp dh ana al 19.4
2 Strider, Spencer 4626 pi sp atl nl 19.1
3 Bassitt, Chris 3413 pi sp tor al 17.1
4 Luzardo, Jesus 4282 pi sp fla nl 16.1
5 Gallen, Zac 4171 pi sp ari nl 15.7
6 Peralta, Freddy 3965 pi sp mil nl 15.7
7 Gausman, Kevin 3191 pi sp tor al 14.7
8 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp tex al 14.4
9 Castillo, Luis Miguel 3840 pi sp sea al 14.1
10 Wheeler, Zack 3204 pi sp phi nl 13.7
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Notable

Orioles pitcher Kyle Bradish now has 13.0 Box-Toppers points in 2023—13th overall and eighth among AL pitchers—after earning 1.0 point as Player of the Game Friday (6IP 4H 2R 0BB 9K W in the 11-2 win over the Red Sox).

Debut

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

  • Athletics pitcher Devin Sweet (2IP 0H 0R 0BB 2K W in the 6-3 win over the Rangers) made his Major League debut July 19 and was playing in his third career game.

  • Dodgers pitcher Evan Phillips (1IP 0H 0R 0BB 2K Sv in the 8-5 win over the Nationals) made his Major League debut July 3, 2018, and was playing in his 174th career game.

Scoring

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

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

  • Grisham earns 1.5 points for being NL 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.

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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).

9/8 BTG Game Player AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB +14.0 ARI 1, CHC 0 Zac Gallen (W, 15‑7) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 9.0 3 0 0 1 9
AL +11.0 CHW 6, DET 0 Mike Clevinger (W, 7‑7) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 7.0 3 0 0 0 7
+7.0 ATL 8, PIT 2 Bryce Elder (W, 12‑4) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 7.0 4 2 2 1 9
+7.0 BAL 11, BOS 2 Kyle Bradish (W, 11‑6) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 6.0 4 2 2 0 9
+7.0 `TOR 5, KC 4 Yusei Kikuchi ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 5.0 3 1 1 1 8
BAT +4.0 SD 11, HOU 2 Trent Grisham CF 4 2 2 4 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+4.0 CLE 6, LAA 3 Logan T. Allen (W, 7‑7) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 5.0 3 1 1 2 6
+4.0 OAK 6, TEX 3 Devin Sweet (W, 1‑0) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 2.0 0 0 0 0 2
+3.1 STL 9, CIN 4 Matthew Liberatore (W, 3‑5) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 1.1 0 0 0 1 3
+3.0 SF 9, COL 8 Wilmer Flores 1B 4 1 3 3 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+3.0 TB 7, SEA 4 Pete Fairbanks (S, 21) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 1.0 0 0 0 1 3
+3.0 LAD 8, WSH 5 Evan Phillips (S, 22) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 1.0 0 0 0 0 2
+2.0 MIL 8, NYY 2 Carlos Santana 1B 5 2 3 2 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+2.0 MIA 3, PHI 2 Jesus Sánchez PH‑RF 2 1 1 2 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+2.0 MIN 5, NYM 2 Caleb Thielbar (W, 3‑1) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 1.0 1 0 0 0 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 +/‑
Gallen, Zac 4171 pi sp ari nl 15.7 34.4 50.1 50.1 -3.0
Bradish, Kyle 4597 pi sp bal al 13.0 19.0 19.0 19.0 +7.0
Kikuchi, Yusei 4136 pi sp tor al 9.0 14.7 26.4 26.4 +3.3
Clevinger, Mike 3707 pi sp chi al 8.4 14.8 47.9 62.3 +2.0
Elder, Bryce 4709 pi sp atl nl 8.0 12.7 12.7 12.7 +3.3
Allen, Logan T. 4789 pi sp cle al 7.7 7.7 7.7 7.7 +7.7
Flores, Wilmer 3345 dh 1b sf nl 5.2 7.7 19.7 29.2 +2.7
Thielbar, Caleb 3272 pi mr min al 4.0 9.7 13.7 14.7 -1.7
Liberatore, Matthew 4662 pi sp mr stl nl 4.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 +2.0
Sanchez, Jesus 4551 rf ph fla nl 3.5 5.5 7.2 7.2 +1.5
Santana, Carlos 2757 1b mil nl 2.7 7.2 17.7 41.4 -1.8
Grisham, Trent 4246 cf sd nl 2.5 4.0 12.0 12.0 +1.0
Fairbanks, Pete 4273 pi cp mr sp tb al 1.0 1.0 4.0 4.0 +1.0
Phillips, Evan 4930 pi cp lad nl 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 +1.0
Sweet, Devin 4929 pi mr oak 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
MIL Miley, Wade 3006 3.0 4.0 26.4 66.5
NYY King, Michael 4549 8.0 12.7 13.7 13.7
NYM Peterson, David 4347 1.0 6.0 11.0 11.0
MIN Maeda, Kenta 3609 7.7 7.7 41.2 61.2
ARI Kelly, Merrill 4143 11.0 22.0 37.0 37.0
CHC Steele, Justin 4415 11.1 16.1 19.1 19.1
KC McArthur, James* 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
TOR Gausman, Kevin 3191 14.7 27.4 48.8 84.1
LAD Miller, Bobby 4820 6.7 6.7 6.7 6.7
WSH Irvin, Jake 4805 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0
SEA Undecided 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
TB Civale, Aaron 4173 6.0 11.0 28.4 28.4
BAL Flaherty, Jack 3971 4.0 5.0 45.3 45.3
BOS Sale, Chris 2806 7.7 7.7 40.8 152.3
MIA Cueto, Johnny 2400 0.0 6.4 16.4 118.2
PHI Nola, Aaron 3569 10.0 26.0 75.2 99.7
CHW Urena, Jose 3492 0.0 1.0 13.7 23.4
DET Skubal, Tarik 4414 5.7 16.4 25.1 25.1
STL Thompson, Zack 4773 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
CIN Spiers, Carson* 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
OAK Undecided 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
tex al Eovaldi, Nathan 2928 9.7 15.7 43.5 69.3
SD Lugo, Seth 3729 4.7 6.7 17.7 22.7
HOU Javier, Cristian 4290 5.0 20.7 28.7 28.7
PIT Oviedo, Johan 4442 8.7 11.7 12.7 12.7
ATL Dodd, Dylan* 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
COL Anderson, Chase 3328 0.0 2.0 16.4 42.8
SF Cobb, Alex 2916 10.0 16.7 28.1 67.9
CLE Giolito, Lucas 3900 3.0 7.0 43.1 46.1
LAA Anderson, Tyler 3656 1.0 13.7 31.4 36.4
Starters subject to change.
* Player has yet to earn Box-Toppers points.
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