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Royals pitcher Cole Ragans is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Thursday’s spring training games.
Other Player of the Game winners Thursday include Brewers pitcher Jacob Misiorowski, Bo Naylor of the Guardians and Matt Chapman of the Giants.
Player of the Day
Ragans struck out six over three scoreless innings, allowing one hit and no walks, in the 9-3 win over the Cubs.
Ragans had a Box-Toppers game score of +8.0, best among all Royals players and highest among all Thursday Player of the Game winners.
Ragans earned 12.0 Box-Toppers points in 2024, 16th among American League pitchers and most among Thursday’s Player of the Game winners.
If this were a regular season game, Ragans 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.
National League Player of the Day
Brewers pitcher Jacob Misiorowski struck out three over three scoreless and hitless innings, allowing no walks, in the 10-0 win over the Athletics.
Misiorowski has pitched three minor league seasons 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, Misiorowski would have earned 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day (1.0 point as Player of the Game and 0.7 bonus points as NL Player of the Day).
American League Batter of the Day
Bo Naylor of the Guardians hit two home runs, including a three-run shot, in the 4-0 win over the Diamondbacks. Naylor went 2-for-3, scoring twice and driving in four runs.
Naylor earned 3.0 Box-Toppers points in 2024.
National League Batter of the Day
Matt Chapman of the Giants hit two home runs and went 2-for-3, scoring twice and driving in two runs, in the 7-3 win over the White Sox.
Chapman earned 10.2 Box-Toppers points in 2024, fourth among NL batters.
Thursday’s games
In Thursday’s 15 completed spring training games, there were eight Player of the Game winners who had previously earned Box-Toppers points in regular season games. In five of Thursday’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.
Two games ended in a tie (Marlins vs. Braves and Angels vs. Mariners). 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:
Ragans would have earned 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day.
Misiorowski would have earned 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day.
Naylor and Chapman would have each earned 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day.
All of Thursday’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.
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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).| 3/6 | BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | +8.0 | KC 9, CHC 3 | Cole Ragans (W, 1‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 3.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |
| NL | +6.0 | MIL 10, ATH 0 | Jacob Misiorowski (W, 2‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 3.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | |
| BAT | +5.0 | CLE 4, ARI 0 | Bo Naylor C | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +5.0 | TB 5, PHI 4 | Brock Jones RF | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +4.0 | TEX 8, SD 2 | Cameron Cauley 2B | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +4.0 | WSH 12, STL 1 | Michael Soroka (W, 1‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 4.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | ||
| +4.0 | MIN 8, NYY 4 | Joe Ryan (W, 1‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 2.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | ||
| BAT | +3.0 | SF 7, CHW 3 | Matt Chapman 3B | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +3.0 | TOR 7, BOS 4 | Davis Schneider LF | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +3.0 | LAD 8, TEX 4 | Dustin May (W, 1‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 3.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | ||
| +2.0 | PIT 9, BAL 5 | Endy Rodríguez C | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +2.0 | ARI 11, SEA 4 | Druw Jones CF | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +1.0 | HOU 5, NYM 1 | Cam Smith 3B | 4 | 1 | 3 | 1 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| 0.0 | MIA 1, ATL 1 | N/A | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| 0.0 | LAA 5, SEA 5 | N/A | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ |
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.)Back to top
| Player of the Game | Pos | Team | ’25 | ’24 | ’20‑24 | Career |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ragans, Cole 4889 | pi sp | kc al | 0.0 | 12.0 | 16.4 | 16.4 |
| Chapman, Matt 3849 | 3b | sf nl | 0.0 | 10.2 | 22.7 | 38.7 |
| Ryan, Joe 4539 | pi sp | min al | 0.0 | 9.7 | 35.8 | 35.8 |
| Naylor, Bo 4885 | ca dh ph | cle al | 0.0 | 3.0 | 6.5 | 6.5 |
| Schneider, Davis 4890 | lf 2b | tor al | 0.0 | 3.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 |
| May, Dustin 4214 | pi sp | lad nl | 0.0 | 0.0 | 9.7 | 11.7 |
| Rodriguez, Endy 4887 | ca | pit nl | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| Soroka, Michael 3956 | pi sp | dc nl | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 14.4 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
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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 2025 (’25)†, last year (’24), over a five-year period (’20-24) and their career point total.Back to top
| Game | Starter | ’25† | ’24 | ’20‑24 | Career |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MIN | Festa, David 5067 | 0.0 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.7 |
| TB | Baz, Shane 4560 | 0.0 | 4.0 | 5.7 | 5.7 |
| PHI | Sanchez, Cristopher 4850 | 0.0 | 11.4 | 15.4 | 15.4 |
| PIT | Jones, Jared 4956 | 0.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 |
| ATL | Lopez, Reynaldo 3712 | 0.0 | 12.8 | 21.2 | 42.0 |
| MIN | Ober, Bailey 4441 | 0.0 | 13.4 | 31.8 | 31.8 |
| MIA | Cabrera, Edward 4641 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 12.1 | 12.1 |
| BOS | Buehler, Walker 3943 | 0.0 | 1.7 | 28.1 | 59.6 |
| LAA | Soriano, Jose 4884 | 0.0 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
| KC | Lugo, Seth 3729 | 0.0 | 14.1 | 25.5 | 38.5 |
| CLE | Cantillo, Joey 5106 | 0.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 |
| ATH | Bido, Osvaldo 4882 | 0.0 | 5.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 |
| SF | Winn, Keaton 4931 | 0.0 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
| CIN | Martinez, Nick 3430 | 0.0 | 9.7 | 22.1 | 28.8 |
| CHC | Rea, Colin 3582 | 0.0 | 10.4 | 15.4 | 19.1 |
| CHW | Smith, Shane* | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| ARI | Gallen, Zac 4171 | 0.0 | 12.4 | 57.8 | 63.5 |
| LAA | Kikuchi, Yusei 4136 | 0.0 | 10.7 | 34.1 | 38.1 |
| SD | Darvish, Yu 3003 | 0.0 | 8.7 | 55.3 | 139.7 |
| MIL | Hudson, Bryan 4957 | 0.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 |
| BAL | Kremer, Dean 4330 | 0.0 | 8.7 | 29.8 | 29.8 |
| DET | Montero, Keider 5057 | 0.0 | 4.7 | 4.7 | 4.7 |
| NYM | Blackburn, Paul 3869 | 0.0 | 4.0 | 12.7 | 15.7 |
| WSH | Williams, Trevor 3792 | 0.0 | 6.0 | 20.4 | 35.4 |
| HOU | Arrighetti, Spencer 5022 | 0.0 | 6.7 | 6.7 | 6.7 |
| STL | Mikolas, Miles 3034 | 0.0 | 4.0 | 22.8 | 40.2 |
| TOR | Rodriguez, Yariel 4979 | 0.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 |
| NYY | Stroman, Marcus 3327 | 0.0 | 3.0 | 26.4 | 65.2 |
| LAD` | Sauer, Matt* | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| SEA | Undecided | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| TEX | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 43.5 | 140.2 |
| COL | Dollander, Chase* | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
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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