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Angels pitcher Shohei Ohtani is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to first place in season player rankings.
Also Wednesday, three other players rise in Box-Toppers season player rankings top 10 list after each earned Player of the Game honors—Giants pitcher Carlos Rodon (sixth place), Mariners pitcher Logan Gilbert (seventh) and Brewers pitcher Brandon Woodruff (10th).
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Diamondbacks pitcher Rubby De La Rosa is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | chi nl | 5.0 |
| 2 | Volquez, Edinson 2220 | pi sp | kc al | 4.4 |
| 3 | Hill, Rich 2215 | pi sp | oak al | 4.4 |
| 4 | Machado, Manny 3087 | 3b ss | bal al | 4.2 |
| 5 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 4.0 |
| 6 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | chi al | 4.0 |
| 7 | Cueto, Johnny 2400 | pi sp | sf nl | 4.0 |
| 8 | De La Rosa, Rubby 3342 | pi sp mr | ari nl | 4.0 |
| 9 | Velasquez, Vince 3611 | pi sp | phi nl | 4.0 |
| 10 | Santiago, Hector 3109 | pi sp | ana al | 3.7 |
De La Rosa struck out 10 over seven scoreless innings, allowing two hits, in the 3-0 win over the Cardinals.
De La Rosa earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 4.0 for the season and rises to eighth in Box-Toppers season player rankings.
American League Player of the Day—Manny Machado of the Orioles hit a grand slam and doubled, going 2-for-4 with three runs and five RBIs, in the 10-2 win over the White Sox.
Machado earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 4.2 for the season and rises to fourth in Box-Toppers season player rankings, first among AL batters.
National League Batter of the Day—Nick Markakis of the Braves doubled and went 4-for-5, driving in three runs, in the 5-3 win over the Red Sox.
American League Batter of the Day—There is no separate AL Batter of the Day because the overall AL Player of the Day was a batter, Manny Machado.
Debut—Anthony Gose of the Tigers made his Box-Toppers debut Thursday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors.
Gose (HR 2B 2-4 2R 2BI in the 7-3 win over the Athletics) made his Major League debut July 17, 2012, and was playing in his 360th career game. He is the 3,623rd player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—De La Rosa earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, Machado earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day and Markakis earns 1.5 points for being NL Batter of the Day. All of Thursday’s other Players of the Game (listed in the chart below) 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.
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score
| 4/28 | Score | Team | Player | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 13.0 | Dbacks | Rubby De La Rosa (W,3-3) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 10 | |
| 11.0 | `Phillies | Aaron Nola | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | ||
| AL | 6.0 | Orioles | Manny Machado, 3B-SS | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| BAT | 2.0 | Braves | Nick Markakis, RF | 5 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 2.0 | Tigers | Anthony Gose, CF | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | Cubs | Kris Bryant, LF | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | Marlins | Jose Fernandez (W,2-2) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 8 | ||
| `Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save. | ||||||||||||||||
| Player | Pos | Team | 16 | 15-16 | 11-16 | Career | +/- |
| Machado, Manny 3087 | 3b ss | bal al | 4.2 | 11.7 | 15.2 | 15.2 | -3.3 |
| De La Rosa, Rubby 3342 | pi sp mr | ari nl | 4.0 | 10.0 | 14.0 | 14.0 | -2.0 |
| Markakis, Nick 2116 | rf | atl nl | 3.0 | 7.5 | 18.5 | 45.1 | -1.5 |
| Nola, Aaron 3569 | pi sp | phi nl | 2.7 | 4.7 | 4.7 | 4.7 | -7.0 |
| Bryant, Kris 3465 | 3b lf | chi nl | 2.0 | 10.5 | 10.5 | 10.5 | -6.5 |
| Fernandez, Jose 3147 | pi sp | fla nl | 2.0 | 6.7 | 32.7 | 32.7 | -2.7 |
| Gose, Anthony 3623 | cf | det al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
Mets pitcher Steven Matz is Box-Toppers spring training Player of the Day for Friday.
Matz struck out six over five scoreless innings, allowing no hits, in the 8-1 win over the Cubs. Matz had 3.5 Box-Toppers points in 2015 with the Mets.
American League Player of the Day—Angels pitcher Hector Santiago pitched five scoreless innings, allowing three hits and striking out four, in the 5-1 win over the Dodgers. Santiago had 8.0 Box-Toppers points in 2015 with the Angels.
American League Batter of the Day—Anthony Gose of the Tigers hit a three-run homer and went 3-for-3, scoring twice, in the 9-4 win over the Rays. Gose has played in 342 regular season Major League games, but has yet to earn Player of the Game honors and so has no career Box-Toppers points.
National League Batter of the Day—Rickie Weeks of the Diamondbacks doubled and went 2-for-3, driving in two runs, in the 7-4 win over the Royals. Weeks had 1.0 Box-Toppers point in 2015 with the Mariners. He has 36.1 career Box-Toppers points since 2005. His best year was 2007 with the Brewers when he had 6.2 points.
Scoring—No Box-Toppers points are awarded in spring training games, but if it were the regular season, Matz would earn 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Santiago would earn 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Gose and Weeks would each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s top Batter of the Day. All of Friday’s other Players of the Game (listed in the chart below) would earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point.
Note—Fourteen spring training games were scheduled for Thursday—12 are listed below. Two games are not included because they ended in ties (Rays vs. Braves and Rockies vs. Mariners).
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.
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score
| 4/1 | Score | Team | Player | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 9.0 | Mets | Steven Matz (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | |
| AL | 6.0 | Angels | Héctor Santiago (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | |
| BAT | 5.0 | Tigers | Anthony Gose CF | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 5.0 | Giants | Jake Peavy (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | ||
| 4.2 | Indians | Cody Anderson (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | ||
| 4.0 | Astros | Josh Fields (SV, 1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 3.0 | Orioles | Garabez Rosa 2B | 3 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | Yankees | Lane Adams PH-DH | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | Nationals | Jonathan Papelbon (SV, 1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2.0 | Red Sox | Luis Ysla (SV, 1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 2.0 | White Sox | Nate Jones (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| BAT | 1.0 | Dbacks | Rickie Weeks DH | 3 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
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. Players earn Box-Toppers points 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.