Astros’ Valdez tops players Sunday, Aug. 18; Brewers’ Rea tops NL players

Astros pitcher Framber Valdez is Sunday'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
▪️ Sunday’s sidelights sidebar
▪️ Upcoming pitching matchups
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Astros pitcher Framber Valdez is Sunday's Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Valdez struck out nine over seven scoreless innings, allowing three hits and one walk in the 2-0 win over the White Sox.

Valdez earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 11.4 for the season, 12th among all players and sixth among American League pitchers.

Valdez becomes the 28th player to reach 10 Box-Toppers points in 2024. It is his third season and third straight season with 10 points. His best season was 2022 with the Astros when he had 16.0 Box-Toppers points, fifth among AL pitchers. In 2023, he had 10.0 points with the Astros, 26th among AL pitchers.

National League Player of the Day

Brewers pitcher Colin Rea struck out five over seven scoreless innings, allowing two hits and no walks, in the 2-0 win over the Guardians.

Rea earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 10.4 for the season, 23rd among all players and ninth among NL pitchers.

Rea becomes the 29th player to reach 10 Box-Toppers points in 2024. It is his first season with 10 or more points. His previous best season was 2023 with the Brewers when he had 5.0 points, 57th among NL pitchers.

National League Player of the Day is Brewers pitcher Colin Rea.

American League Batter of the Day

Brandon Lowe of the Rays homered and went 2-for-4, scoring twice and driving in two runs, in the 8-7, 12-inning win over the Diamondbacks.

Lowe earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day, giving him 6.0 for the season, 10th among AL batters.

American League Batter of the Day is Brandon Lowe of the Rays.

National League Batter of the Day

There is no separate NL Batter of the Day for Sunday because no NL batter won Player of the Game honors in the 15 games completed.

Royals pitcher Brady Singer becomes the 30th player in 2024 to reach 10 Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Sunday.

Notable

Royals pitcher Brady Singer becomes the 30th player in 2024 to reach 10 Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Sunday.

Singer (6IP 5H 0R BB 6K W in the 8-1 win over the Reds) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 10.0 for the season, 27th among all players and 16th among AL pitchers.

This is Singer’s second season with 10 or more points. He previously did it in 2022 with the Royals when he had 11.4 points, 18th among AL pitchers. In 2023, he had 5.0 points with the Royals, 55th among AL pitchers.

Also notable

Two players with more than 100 career Box-Toppers points earned Player of the Game honors Sunday:

Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Sunday’s win over the Cardinals.

Kershaw

Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (6IP 4H 0R BB 2K W in the 2-1 win over the Cardinals) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 272.4 career points, second among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began, behind Randy Johnson (282.5). (It should be noted that Johnson began his career in 1988, before the advent of Box-Toppers tracking. If his entire career were tracked, rough projections put his Box-Toppers point total at 380.)

Kershaw leads active players in career points ahead of Rangers pitcher Max Scherzer (253.7) and leads active NL pitchers in career points ahead of Chris Sale of the Braves (167.7).

Kershaw now has 2.0 Box-Toppers points in 2024, 99th among NL pitchers.

Braves pitcher Charlie Morton is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Sunday’s win over the Angels.

Morton

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in 2024 Box-Toppers points (BTP) through Sunday, Aug. 18:
  Player Pos Team BTP
1 Dylan Cease pi sp Padres 17.4
2 Tarik Skubal pi sp Tigers 17.1
3 Zack Wheeler pi sp Phillies 16.7
4 Shota Imanaga pi sp Cubs 15.7
5 Luis Gil pi sp Yankees 15.4
6 Chris Sale pi sp Braves 14.4
7 Tanner Bibee pi sp Guardians 13.0
8 Bailey Ober pi sp Twins 12.4
9 Aaron Judge dh cf Yankees 12.0
10 George Kirby pi sp Mariners 11.7
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Braves pitcher Charlie Morton (5.1IP 2H R 2BB 7K W in the 3-1 win over the Angels) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 113.5 career points, rising to 61st place among all players since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995. With his 1.0 point Sunday, Morton passes five players on the “all-time” career points list—Kevin Brown (112.8), Sammy Sosa (113.2), Dan Haren (113.2), Guardians pitcher Carlos Carrasco (113.2) and Chris Carpenter (113.3). Morton now trails 60th-ranked player Ervin Santana (114.4).

Passing Carrasco, Morton now ranks 10th among active, signed players in career points, fifth among active NL pitchers.

Morton has 9.4 Box-Toppers points in 2024, 14th among NL pitchers.

Another notable thing

Nationals pitcher Jacob Barnes earned his first Box-Toppers Player of the Game honor in more than six years Sunday.

Sunday’s sidelights sidebar

Top pitching matchup

▪️Blake Snell, Giants
8.0 Box-Toppers points in 2024, 54th
▪️JP Sears, Athletics
7.7 Box-Toppers points in 2024, 62nd
Result—SF 4, OAK 2 (F/10)
Snell was Player of the Game with +7.0 B-T game score (7IP 6H R 2BB 10K ND).
Sears had +7.2 B-T game score in loss (7.2IP 7H R 0BB 9K ND).
Snell earns 1.0 B-T point, giving him 9.0 in 2024, rising to 40th among all players.

High scores, no points

Highest Box-Toppers game scores for the day among players who did not earn Player of the Game honors:
▪️+7.2—JP Sears, Athletics (7.2IP 7GH R 0BB 9K ND)
Was not Player of the Game in loss vs. SF.
Player of the Game—Blake Snell, Giants (7IP 6H R 2BB 10K ND) with +7.0 game score.
▪️+5.0—Marcus Stroman, Yankees (6IP 4H 0R 2BB 5K ND)
Was not Player of the Game in loss vs. DET.
Player of the Game—Zach McKinstry, Tigers (1-1 R BI) with +2.0 game score.
▪️+4.0—Shota Imanaga, Cubs (5IP 4H R BB 6K L)
Was not Player of the Game in loss vs. TOR.
Player of the Game—Bowden Francis, Blue Jays (7IP 3H 0R 0BB 7K W) with +11.0 game score.

Lowest Box-Toppers game scores

Out of 455 total players Sunday, 126 pitchers
-14.0-Jake Woodford, Pirates (4IP 9H 7R 5ER BB 4K L vs. SEA)
-13.8—Jorge Alcalá, Twins
-13.0—Merrill Kelly, Diamondbacks
-12.0—Caesy Legumina, Reds
-10.0—Tyler Mahle, Rangers

Lowest Box-Toppers game scores by batters

Out of 329 total batters Sunday
-5.0—Shea Langeliers, Athletics 0-5 3K
-5.0—JJ Bleday, Athletics 0-5 2K
-5.0—Ernie Clement, Blue Jays 0-5 2K
-5.0—Eugenio Suárez, Diamondbacks 0-5 2K
-5.0—Jarren Duran, Red Sox 0-5 K
Box-Toppers uses Baseball-Reference.com, MLB.com and other sources to compile this information.

Barnes (1.1IP 0H 0R 0BB K W in the 6-4 win over the Phillies) last earned Player of the Game honors April 18, 2018, when he was with the Brewers. That was his Box-Toppers debut and only previous Player of the Game honor, which happened in his 109th career game. Sunday was his 312th career game.

Since playing for the Brewers in 2018, Barnes, 34, has played for the Royals, Angels, Mets, Blue Jays, Tigers, Yankees and Cardinals before moving to the Nationals in 2024.

Barnes now has 2.0 career Box-Toppers points.

Debut

Three players made their Box-Toppers debut Sunday, each with their first career Player of the Game honor:

  • Rangers pitcher Gerson Garabito (4IP 0H 0R BB 3K ND in the 6-5, 10-inning win over the Twins) made his Major League debut May 26 and was playing in his 10th career game.

  • Rockies pitcher Angel Chivilli (1.1IP 0H 0R 0BB 2K W in the 3-2 win over the Padres) made his Major League debut June 3 and was playing in his 14th career game.

  • Zach McKinstry of the Tigers (1-1 R BI in the 3-2, 10-inning win over the Yankees) made his Major League debut Sept. 16, 2020, and was playing in his 356th career game.

Scoring

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

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

  • Lowe earns 1.5 points for being AL Batter of the Day.

  • All of Sunday’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).
8/18 BTG Game Player AB R H BI   IP H R ER BB K
MLB +12.0 HOU 2, CHW 0 Framber Valdez (W, 13‑5) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑   7.0 3 0 0 1 9
  +11.0 TOR 1, CHC 0 Bowden Francis (W, 6‑3) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑   7.0 3 0 0 0 7
NL +10.0 MIL 2, CLE 0 Colin Rea (W, 11‑4) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑   7.0 2 0 0 0 5
  +7.0 `SF 4, OAK 2 (F/10) Blake Snell ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑   7.0 6 1 1 2 10
  +6.1 ATL 3, LAA 1 Charlie Morton (W, 7‑7) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑   5.1 2 1 1 2 7
  +6.0 KC 8, CIN 1 Brady Singer (W, 9‑8) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑   6.0 5 0 0 1 6
  +6.0 `TEX 6, MIN 5 (F/10) Gerson Garabito ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑   4.0 0 0 0 1 3
  +5.0 BAL 4, BOS 2 Albert Suárez (W, 6‑4) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑   6.0 7 0 0 0 6
  +3.1 COL 3, SD 2 Angel Chivilli (W, 1‑1) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑   1.1 0 0 0 0 2
  +3.0 LAD 2, STL 1 Clayton Kershaw (W, 2‑2) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑   6.0 4 0 0 1 2
  +2.1 WSH 6, PHI 4 Jacob Barnes (W, 7‑2) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑   1.1 0 0 0 0 1
BAT +2.0 TB 8, ARI 7 (F/12) Brandon Lowe DH 4 2 2 2   ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
  +2.0 DET 3, NYY 2 (F/10) Zach McKinstry PH 1 1 1 1   ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
  +1.2 MIA 3, NYM 2 Andrew Nardi (W, 3‑1) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑   0.2 0 0 0 1 2
  +1.0 SEA 10, PIT 3 Victor Robles CF 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 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 +/‑
Valdez, Framber 4048 pi sp hou al 11.4 21.4 50.8 52.8 +1.4
Rea, Colin 3582 pi sp mil nl 10.4 15.4 15.4 19.1 +5.4
Singer, Brady 4337 pi sp kc al 10.0 15.0 33.7 33.7 +5.0
Morton, Charlie 2503 pi sp atl nl 9.4 19.4 63.3 113.5 -0.6
Snell, Blake 3688 pi sp sf nl 9.0 23.7 61.9 98.1 -5.7
Lowe, Brandon 4108 dh 2b tb al 6.0 11.5 27.5 27.5 +0.5
Suarez, Albert 3870 pi sp bal al 6.0 6.0 6.0 7.0 +6.0
Francis, Bowden 5034 pi sp mr tor al 3.7 3.7 3.7 3.7 +3.7
Nardi, Andrew 4855 pi mr fla nl 3.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 0.0
Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 2.0 13.1 57.6 272.4 -9.1
Robles, Victor 4087 cf sea al 1.0 1.0 9.0 10.5 +1.0
Barnes, Jacob 3941 pi mr cp dc nl 1.0 1.0 1.0 2.0 +1.0
Chivilli, Angel 5085 pi mr col nl 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 +1.0
Garabito, Gerson 5084 pi mr tex al 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 +1.0
McKinstry, Zach 5086 ph det al 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 +1.0
What are those numbers after players' names?
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
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A Box-Toppers look at Monday’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
ARI Pfaadt, Brandon 4812 9.4 13.1 13.1 13.1
MIA Undecided 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
CIN Undecided 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
TOR Gausman, Kevin 3191 7.0 25.7 56.1 95.1
BAL Rogers, Trevor 4311 2.0 3.0 16.0 16.0
NYM Peterson, David 4347 1.0 4.0 14.0 14.0
PIT Ortiz, Luis 4738 5.0 5.0 6.0 6.0
TEX Undecided 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
LAA Fulmer, Carson 3910 1.7 1.7 1.7 2.7
KC Lugo, Seth 3729 11.1 17.5 26.5 35.5
BOS Houck, Tanner 4342 11.4 13.4 25.1 25.1
HOU Kikuchi, Yusei 4136 6.7 16.7 34.1 34.1
MIN Matthews, Zebby* 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
SD King, Michael 4549 10.7 19.7 25.4 25.4
TB Bradley, Taj 4780 10.4 15.4 15.4 15.4
OAK Boyle, Joe 4948 0.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
CHW Cannon, Jonathan 5036 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
SF Harrison, Kyle 4914 5.0 7.0 7.0 7.0
SEA Woo, Bryan 4842 8.7 17.4 17.4 17.4
LAD Stone, Gavin 4942 6.0 7.0 7.0 7.0
Starters subject to change.
* Player has yet to earn any career Box-Toppers points.
What are those numbers after players' names?
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