Guardians’ Ramirez tops players Thursday, Aug. 1; Royals’ Lugo rises to 10th

Jose Ramirez of the Guardians is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

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Today’s key Box-Toppers numbers. Click links to jump to charts elsewhere on this page.
▪️ Players of the Game
▪️ B-T points of day’s top players
▪️ Top 10 players in 2024
▪️ Thursday’s sidelights sidebar
▪️ Upcoming pitching matchups
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Jose Ramirez of the Guardians is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Also Thursday, Royals pitcher Seth Lugo rises to 10th place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in 2024 Box-Toppers points (BTP) through Thursday, Aug. 1:
  Player Pos Team BTP
1 Dylan Cease pi sp Padres 17.4
2 Tarik Skubal pi sp Tigers 14.4
3 Luis Gil pi sp Yankees 14.4
4 Zack Wheeler pi sp Phillies 13.7
5 Shota Imanaga pi sp Cubs 13.7
6 Chris Sale pi sp Braves 12.4
7 Tanner Bibee pi sp Guardians 12.0
8 George Kirby pi sp Mariners 11.7
9 Tanner Houck pi sp Red Sox 11.4
10 Seth Lugo pi sp Royals 11.1
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Player of the Day

Ramirez homered, doubled, hit a sacrifice fly and went 2-for-3, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 10-3 win over the Orioles.

Ramirez earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 7.4 for the season, 51st among all players and fourth among American League batters.

This is just the third time this season that a batter has won overall Player of the Day honors. On the other 122 days of the season, pitchers have won overall Player of the Day honors. There were nnly five games completed Friday, short of the usual 15 daily games, making it easier and more possible for a batter to win overall Player of the Day honors. Ramirez did it with a relatively low +4.0 Box-Toppers game score. The other two times this season a batter won Player of the Game honors:

  • March 21—Jake Cronenworth of the Padres was Player of the Day with a +6.0 Box-Toppers game score. It was the only game of the day, the second game of the 2024 season, played in South Korea.

  • June 20—Ryan Mountcastle of the Orioles was Player of the Day with a +4.0 Box-Toppers game score. Nine games were played that day.

In 2023, batters won overall Player of the Day honors 12 times in 183 days of the regular season.

National League Player of the Day is Braves pitcher Charlie Morton.

National League Player of the Day

Braves pitcher Charlie Morton struck out six over six innings, allowing one run (none earned), four hits and three walks, in the 4-2 win over the Marlins.

Morton earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 7.4 for the season, 49th among all players and 20th among NL pitchers.

Morton also now has 111.5 career Box-Toppers points, rising to 66th place among all players since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995. With his 1.7 points Thursday, he passes three players on the “all-time” career points list—Jeff Kent (110.2), Tom Glavine (110.6) and Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola (111.4). (It should be noted that Kent and Glavine began their careers before the advent of Box-Toppers tracking in 1995. Box-Toppers estimates Kent would have about 125 points if his career from 1992 were tracked and that Glavine would have about 170 points if his career from 1987 were tracked.)

Morton now trails 65th-ranked player, Kevin Brown (112.8).

Passing Nola, Morton now ranks 11th among active, signed players in career points, fifth among active NL pitchers.

National League Batter of the Day is Dansby Swanson of the Cubs.

National League Batter of the Day

Dansby Swanson of the Cubs doubled and went 2-for-3, scoring once and driving in two runs, in the 5-4 win over the Cardinals.

American League Batter of the Day

There is no separate AL Batter of the Day for Thursday because the overall Player of the Day is AL batter Jose Ramirez.

Royals pitcher Seth Lugo rises to 10th place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Thursday.

Thursday’s sidelights sidebar

Top pitching matchup

▪️Sonny Gray, Cardinals
8.4 Box-Toppers points in 2024, 16th among NL pitchers
▪️Shota Imanaga, Cubs
13.7 Box-Toppers points in 2024, 3rd among NL pitchers
Result—CHC 5, STL 4
Neither starter was Player of the Game.
Gray had +6.0 B-T game score in loss (7IP 5H 2R BB 9K ND).
Imanaga had -4.8 B-T game score (6.2IP 10H 4R 0BB 7K ND).
Player of the Game—Dansby Swanson, Cubs (2B 2-3 R 2BI) with +2.0 game score.

High scores, no points

Highest Box-Toppers game scores for the day among players who did not earn Player of the Game honors:
▪️+6.0—Sonny Gray, Cardinals (7IP 5H 2R BB 9K ND)
Was not Player of the Game in loss vs. CHC.
Player of the Game—Dansby Swanson, Cubs (2B 2-3 R 2BI) with +2.0 game score.
▪️+6.0—Carson Fulmer, Angels (6IP 3H 2R BB 8K ND)
Was not Player of the Game in loss vs. COL.
Player of the Game—Tyler Kinley, Rockies (1IP 0H 0R 0BB K Sv) with +2.0 game score.
▪️+3.0—Vinnie Pasquantino, Royals (2HR 2-5 2R 4BI)
Was not Player of the Game in win vs. DET.
Player of the Game—Teammate Seth Lugo (8IP 4H R BB 3K W) with +4.0 game score.

Lowest Box-Toppers game scores

Out of 141 total players Thursday, 37 pitchers
-11.9—Trevor Rogers, Orioles (4.1IP 6H 5R 3BB 3K L vs. CLE)
-9.8—Ryan Helsley, Cardinals
-7.8—Albert Suárez, Orioles
-6.8—Brenan Hanifee, Tigers

Lowest Box-Toppers game scores by batters

Out of 104 total batters Thursday
-5.0—Brenton Doyle, Rockies 0-5 3K
-5.0—Willson Contreras, Cardinals 0-5 K
-5.0—Ezequiel Tovar, Rockies 0-5 K
-4.0—Ian Happ, Cubs 0-4 3K
-4.0—Ryan Mountcastle, Orioles 0-4 3K
Box-Toppers uses Baseball-Reference.com, MLB.com and other sources to compile this information.

Rankings

Royals pitcher Seth Lugo rises to 10th place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Thursday.

Lugo (8IP 4H R BB 3K W in the 7-1 win over the Tigers) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 11.1 for the season. He ranks sixth among AL pitchers.

Scoring

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

  • Morton earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day.

  • Swanson earns 1.5 points for being NL Batter of the Day.

  • All of Thursday’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).
8/1 BTG Game Player AB R H BI   IP H R ER BB K
MLB +4.0 CLE 10, BAL 3 José Ramírez 3B 3 2 2 3   ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
  +4.0 KC 7, DET 1 Seth Lugo (W, 13‑5) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑   8.0 4 1 1 1 3
NL +4.0 ATL 4, MIA 2 Charlie Morton (W, 6‑6) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑   6.0 5 1 0 2 6
BAT +2.0 CHC 5, STL 4 Dansby Swanson SS 3 1 2 2   ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
  +2.0 COL 5, LAA 4 (F/10) Tyler Kinley (S, 6) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑   1.0 0 0 0 0 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 2024 (’24). Also shown is their point total for this season and last (’23-24), the period 2019-2024 (’19-24) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2024 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2023 total (+/-).
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Player of the Game Pos Team ’24 ’23‑24 ’19‑24 Career +/‑
Lugo, Seth 3729 pi sp kc al 11.1 17.5 26.5 35.5 +4.7
Morton, Charlie 2503 pi sp atl nl 7.4 17.4 61.3 111.5 -2.6
Ramirez, Jose 3436 3b cle al 7.4 13.6 43.3 64.3 +1.2
Kinley, Tyler 4617 pi cp mr col nl 3.0 3.0 5.0 5.0 +3.0
Swanson, Dansby 3751 ss chi nl 2.5 5.0 23.2 32.2 0.0
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A Box-Toppers look at Friday’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 2024 (’24), this year and last year (’23-24), over a six-year period (’19-24) and their career point total.
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Game Starter ’24 ’23‑24 ’19‑24 Career
STL Fedde, Erick 4065 5.7 5.7 22.5 24.2
CHC Assad, Javier 4899 5.0 9.7 9.7 9.7
ARI Pfaadt, Brandon 4812 7.4 11.1 11.1 11.1
PIT Ortiz, Luis 4738 5.0 5.0 6.0 6.0
KC Ragans, Cole 4889 8.0 12.4 12.4 12.4
DET Skubal, Tarik 4414 14.4 25.1 44.5 44.5
MIL Montas, Frankie 3803 3.0 3.0 35.5 38.5
WSH Irvin, Jake 4805 9.0 12.0 12.0 12.0
TOR Gausman, Kevin 3191 6.0 24.7 55.1 94.1
NYY Stroman, Marcus 3327 3.0 10.7 34.4 65.2
BAL Kremer, Dean 4330 6.0 15.7 27.1 27.1
CLE Carrasco, Carlos 2885 1.7 3.4 25.8 113.2
SF Harrison, Kyle 4914 5.0 7.0 7.0 7.0
CIN Abbott, Andrew 4839 5.0 16.0 16.0 16.0
MIA Bellozo, Valente* 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
ATL Schwellenbach, Spencer 5035 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0
BOS Crawford, Kutter 4660 5.7 11.4 15.4 15.4
TEX Urena, Jose 3492 1.0 1.0 4.0 24.4
CHW Martin, Davis 4657 0.0 0.0 5.0 5.0
MIN Ryan, Joe 4539 8.7 17.4 34.8 34.8
TB Baz, Shane 4560 0.0 0.0 1.7 1.7
HOU Kikuchi, Yusei 4136 3.7 13.7 31.1 31.1
NYM Blackburn, Paul 3869 3.0 7.7 11.7 14.7
LAA Anderson, Tyler 3656 6.0 8.0 30.4 43.4
COL Gomber, Austin 3985 2.0 3.0 16.0 20.7
SD Vasquez, Randy 4841 1.0 2.0 2.0 2.0
LAD Stone, Gavin 4942 5.0 6.0 6.0 6.0
OAK Estes, Joey 5000 3.7 3.7 3.7 3.7
PHI Phillips, Tyler 5064 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0
SEA Woo, Bryan 4842 7.0 15.7 15.7 15.7
Starters subject to change.
* Player has yet to earn any career Box-Toppers points.
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