Mets’ Canning, Angels’ Brown top players in spring games of Monday, March 10

Mets pitcher Griffin Canning is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Monday’s spring training games.

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Mets pitcher Griffin Canning is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Monday’s spring training games.

Other Player of the Game winners Monday include Sam Brown of the Angels, Albert Almora Jr. of the Marlins, Reds pitcher Hunter Greene and Paul Goldschmidt of the Yankees.

Player of the Day

Canning struck out five over 3 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing one hit and no walks, in the 8-0 win over the Cardinals.

Canning had a Box-Toppers game score of +7.2, best among all Mets players and highest among all Monday Player of the Game winners.

Canning earned 4.7 Box-Toppers points in 2024 with the Angels, 66th among American League pitchers.

If this were a regular season game, Canning would have earned 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day (1.0 point as Player of the Game and 1.0 bonus point as overall Player of the Day). However, no Box-Toppers points are awarded because it’s a preseason exhibition game.

American League Player of the Day is Sam Brown of the Angels.

American League Player of the Day

Sam Brown of the Angels hit a grand slam and went 2-for-2, scoring once and driving in five runs, in the 12-3 win over the Rockies.

Brown was drafted 12th overall in the 2023 amateur draft by the Angels. He’s played one minor league season but has yet to make his Major League debut and so has 0.0 career Box-Toppers points.

If this were a regular season game, Brown would have earned 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day (1.0 point as Player of the Game and 0.7 bonus points as AL Player of the Day).

National League Batter of the Day

Albert Almora Jr. of the Marlins doubled and went 4-for-5, scoring three times and driving in two runs, in the 10-5 win over the Nationals.

Almora earned no Box-Toppers points in 2024, playing all season in the Diamondbacks minor league organization. He has not played in the Major Leagues since 2022 with the Reds and has not earned Box-Toppers points since earning 1.0 in 2019 with the Cubs. He has 5.5 career Box-Toppers points from 2017 to 2019 and has played in 600 total Major League games from 2016 to 2022.

American League Batter of the Day

There is no separate AL Batter of the Day for Monday because the overall AL Player of the Day is batter Sam Brown.

Reds pitcher Hunter Greene has the most 2024 Box-Toppers points among Monday’s Player of the Game winners.

Notable

Reds pitcher Hunter Greene has the most 2024 Box-Toppers points among Monday’s Player of the Game winners.

Greene (4IP 2H R 0BB 5K W in the 9-3 win over the Padres) earned 9.7 Box-Toppers points in 2024, 29th among NL pitchers.

Paul Goldschmidt of the Yankees earned Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors for the second time during the spring training season.

Gerrit Cole #Yankees to undergo Tommy John surgery, likely to miss 2025 season. Cole, 34, earned 9.7 Box-Toppers points in 2024, all in 2nd half of season, 28th among AL pitchers. (He missed 1st half with elbow issues.) Cole has 165.0 career B-T points, 5th among active players.

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— Box-Toppers Baseball (@boxtoppers.bsky.social) Mar 10, 2025 at 5:46 PM

Also notable

Paul Goldschmidt of the Yankees earned Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors for the second time during the 2025 spring training season on Monday.

Goldschmidt (HR 2-2 2R BI in the 10-2 win over the Tigers) was also Player of the Game Feb. 21 in the 4-0 win over the Rays (2B 1-2 0R BI).

Goldschmidt earned just 1.0 Box-Toppers point in 2024 with the Cardinals, but has 88.0 career points earned from 2011 to 2024, most among current active AL batters, ahead of second-place Mike Trout of the Angels (84.2).

Monday’s games

In Monday’s 17 completed spring training games, there were nine Player of the Game winners who had previously earned Box-Toppers points in regular season games. In seven of Monday’s games, the Player of the Game winner was a player who has yet to earn Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors in the regular season and so has 0.0 career Box-Toppers points.

One game ended in a tie (Nationals vs. Marlins). No Player of the Game honors are awarded in tie games.

Scoring

No Box-Toppers points are awarded in exhibition games. Were it a regular season day:

  • Canning would have earned 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day.

  • Brown would have earned 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day.

  • Almora would have earned 1.5 points for being NL Batter of the Day.

  • All of Monday’s other Player of the Game winners (listed in the chart) would have earned 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).
3/10 BTG Game Player of the Game AB R H BI   IP H R ER BB K
MLB +7.2 NYM 8, STL 0 Griffin Canning (W, 1‑0)   3.2 1 0 0 0 5
  +7.0 SF 8, COL 2 Hayden Birdsong (S, 1)   3.0 0 0 0 0 4
AL +6.0 LAA 12, COL 3 Sam Brown 1B 2 1 2 5  
  +6.0 TOR 8, HOU 3 Jake Bloss (S, 1)   3.0 1 0 0 1 5
  +5.0 LAD 6, ARI 2 Yoshinobu Yamamoto (W, 1‑0)   5.0 4 1 1 1 7
  +5.0 CIN 9, SD 3 Hunter Greene (W, 1‑1)   4.0 2 1 1 0 5
  +4.2 BAL 6, PIT 3 Matt Bowman (W, 1‑1)   1.2 1 0 0 0 4
BAT +4.0 MIA 10, WSH 5 Albert Almora  Jr.CF 5 3 4 2  
  +4.0 TB 4, ATL 3 Mason Englert (S, 1)   1.0 0 0 0 0 3
  +3.0 CHW 10, ATH 3 Kyle Teel DH 5 2 3 3  
  +3.0 CLE 5, KC 2 Will Wilson 3B 3 1 2 3  
  +3.0 NYY 10, DET 2 Paul Goldschmidt 1B 2 2 2 1  
  +3.0 CHC 7, CLE 4 Darius Hill RF 2 2 2 1  
  +2.0 MIL 7, SEA 5 Joey Ortiz 2B 3 0 2 3  
  +1.0 PHI 4, MIN 1 Cal Stevenson RF 3 1 2 1  
  0.0 WSH 9, MIA 9 N/A  
No points are awarded for exhibition games, but were this an actual regular season day, this is how points would be awarded:
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.
N/A—Not applicable. No Player of the Game was chosen because the game ended in a tie.
All other players listed here would 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. No points are awarded during spring training games, so all players have 0.0 Box-Toppers points for 2025. Players are ranked by their Box-Toppers point total in 2024 (’24). Also shown is their point total for the period 2020-2024 (’20-24) and each players’ career point total. (Player of the Game winners not listed here have yet to earn Box-Toppers points during the regular season.)
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Player of the Game Pos Team ’25 ’24 ’20‑24 Career
Greene, Hunter 4651 pi sp cin nl 0.0 9.7 21.4 21.4
Yamamoto, Yoshinobu 4964 pi sp lad nl 0.0 6.4 6.4 6.4
Canning, Griffin 4134 pi sp nym nl 0.0 4.7 15.7 22.4
Ortiz, Joey 4987 3b mil nl 0.0 3.0 3.0 3.0
Birdsong, Hayden 5063 pi sp sf nl 0.0 2.0 2.0 2.0
Goldschmidt, Paul 2935 1b nyy al 0.0 1.0 25.7 88.0
Bowman, Matt 3699 pi mr bal al 0.0 1.0 1.0 5.0
Englert, Mason 4782 pi mr tb al 0.0 0.0 2.0 2.0
Almora, Albert 3764 cf ph fla nl 0.0 0.0 0.0 5.5
What are those numbers after players' names?
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A Box-Toppers look at Tuesday’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 2025 (’25)†, last year (’24), over a five-year period (’20-24) and their career point total.
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Game Starter ’25† ’24 ’20‑24 Career
NYM Megill, Tylor 4464 0.0 2.7 18.4 18.4
HOU Brown, Hunter 4729 0.0 12.0 23.1 23.1
PHI Abel, Mick* 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
BOS Giolito, Lucas 3900 0.0 0.0 27.4 48.1
DET Flaherty, Jack 3971 0.0 12.0 27.7 57.3
ATL Holmes, Grant 5127 0.0 2.0 2.0 2.0
MIA Weathers, Ryan 4388 0.0 5.0 7.7 7.7
STL Fedde, Erick 4065 0.0 8.7 23.5 27.2
BAL Suarez, Albert 3870 0.0 7.0 7.0 8.0
NYY Schmidt, Clarke 4581 0.0 4.0 10.4 10.4
NYY Schlitter, Cam* 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
PIT Skenes, Paul 5005 0.0 13.0 13.0 13.0
MIN Morris, Andrew* 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
TOR Bassitt, Chris 3413 0.0 7.7 58.9 71.6
COL Freeland, Kyle 3763 0.0 2.0 21.7 41.1
CIN Singer, Brady 4337 0.0 10.0 33.7 33.7
CLE Nikhazy, Doug* 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
LAD  Sasaki, Roki* 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
LAA Suarez, Jose 4425 0.0 1.0 17.4 17.4
TEX Mahle, Tyler 3929 0.0 0.0 22.4 32.4
MIL Misiorowski, Jacob* 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
CHC Steele, Justin 4415 0.0 8.0 27.1 27.1
KC Ragans, Cole 4889 0.0 12.0 16.4 16.4
ARI Kelly, Merrill 4143 0.0 2.0 33.0 41.0
CHW Cannon, Jonathan 5036 0.0 2.0 2.0 2.0
SD Cease, Dylan 4231 0.0 21.1 65.9 67.9
ATH Springs, Jeffrey 4372 0.0 5.0 22.4 22.4
SF Verlander, Justin 2112 0.0 2.0 41.4 247.0
Starters subject to change.
Games shown are spring training games between MLB teams. Doesn't include games vs. non-MLB teams.
† Players don’t earn Box-Toppers points in spring training games, only regular season games, so no pitcher has earned any points in 2025.
* Player has yet to earn any career Box-Toppers points.
What are those numbers after players' names?
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