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Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to take the lead in season player rankings.
Also Wednesday, Brewers pitcher Brandon Woodruff rises to fourth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning National League Player of the Day honors.
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The New York Yankees are the top-ranked team in Box-Toppers’ 2019 preseason rankings, rising from second place at the end of the 2018 season.
The 2018 World Series-champion Boston Red Sox fall from first at the end of last season to second place in the 2019 preseason rankings.
Meanwhile, the Cincinnati Reds made the biggest offseason improvement in players’ accumulated Box-Toppers points, while the Arizona Diamondbacks had the biggest decline.
Read MoreYankees pitcher Luis Severino is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to second place in season player rankings.
Severino struck out eight over six scoreless innings, allowing one hit and one walk, in the 12-1 win over the Marlins.
Read MoreAnalysis of the 2,429 games played and tracked by Box-Toppers in 2015 shows pitchers bested batters with more Player of the Game honors, more Box-Toppers points and far and away the most Player of the Day honors.
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(Apologies: Other duties have put us behind updating Box-Toppers. Playing catch up …)
Billy Hamilton of the Reds is Thursday, Aug. 13’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Hamilton homered and went 4-for-4, scoring four times and driving in two runs, in the 10-3 win over the Dodgers.
| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 18.4 |
| 2 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 16.7 |
| 3 | Price, David 2593 | pi sp | tor al | 16.1 |
| 4 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 16.0 |
| 5 | Gray, Sonny 3259 | pi sp | oak al | 15.8 |
| 6 | Hernandez, Felix 2064 | pi sp | sea al | 15.4 |
| 7 | Harvey, Matt 3075 | pi sp | nym nl | 15.4 |
| 8 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | lad nl | 15.0 |
| 9 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | chi al | 14.4 |
| 10 | Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | chi nl | 14.4 |
American League Player of the Day—Mitch Moreland of the Rangers hit a two-run homer and a two-run double, going 4-for-4, in the 6-5 win over the Twins.
American League and National League Batters of the Day—There are no separate AL and NL Batters of the Day for Thursday because the overall Players of the Day were batters—Billy Hamilton and Mitch Moreland. In fact, batters were unusually dominant Thursday and were Players of the Game in seven of the nine games played.
Notable—Giants pitcher Ryan Vogelsong was the highest-ranked player to earn Player of the Game honors Thursday. Vogelsong (5IP 3H R 8K W in the 3-1 win over the Nationals) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 8.0 for the season and ranks 40th among all players, 17th among NL pitchers.
Scoring—Hamilton earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Moreland earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player 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
| 8/13 | Score | Team | Player | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 6.0 | Reds | Billy Hamilton, CF | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| NL | 5.0 | Rangers | Mitch Moreland, 1B | 4 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 5.0 | Cubs | Kyle Schwarber, LF | 4 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 5.0 | Yankees | Stephen Drew, 2B | 3 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.0 | Mets | Juan Lagares, PH-CF | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.0 | Giants | Ryan Vogelsong (W,8-8) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 8 | ||
| 2.2 | Angels | Jose Alvarez (W,3-3) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 2.0 | Pirates | Pedro Alvarez, 1B | 4 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | Blue Jays | Ryan Goins, SS | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Box-Toppers’ leading rookies easily won each league’s Rookie of the Year Award Monday.
First baseman Jose Abreu of the White Sox won the American League award unanimously and Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom won the National League award with 26 out of 30 first place votes.
Read MoreThe rookies with the most Box-Toppers points in each league—Jose Abreu of the White Sox and Jacob deGrom of the Mets—are among the finalists for baseball’s Rookie of the Year honors.
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Royals pitcher James Shields is Monday’s Player of the Day. Shields pitched seven scoreless innings and struck out 10 in the 6-0 win over the Rays.
Shields had a Box-Toppers game score of 13.0, the same as Mariners pitcher Hisashi Iwakuma (Player of the Game in the 2-0 win over the Twins), but Shields won overall Player of the Day on a tie-breaker—Shields allowed fewer hits than Iwakuma, three vs. four.
Padres pitcher Ian Kennedy is National League Player of the Day. Kennedy struck out nine over seven innings, allowing one run, in the 6-1 win over the Rockies.
Jonathan Singleton of the Astros is American League Batter of the Day. Singleton homered, doubled and went 3-for-4 with two runs and four RBIs in the 12-7 win over the Rangers. This was Singleton’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time he has earned Player of the Game honors. He is the 3,376th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995. He made his Major League debut June 3 and was playing in his 32nd game.
Billy Hamilton of the Reds is NL Batter of the Day. Hamilton tripled and went 2-for-4, driving in four runs, in the 9-3 win over the Cubs.
Shields receives 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day. Kennedy receives 1.7 for NL Player of the Day. Singleton and Hamiton each receive 1.5 for being top Batter of the Day in their league.
All of Monday’s other Players of the Game (listed in the chart below) receive 1.0 Box-Toppers point.
Box-Toppers watches the daily performances of selected star players and Box-Toppers points leaders. To see how they performed Monday, click here.
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.
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score
| 707 | Score | Team | Player | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | 13.0 | Royals | James Shields (W, 9-4) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 10 | |
| 13.0 | Mariners | Hisashi Iwakuma (W, 7-4) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | ||
| 9.0 | Athletics | Jesse Chavez (W, 7-5) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 9 | ||
| 8.2 | White Sox | Scott Carroll (W, 3-5) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | ||
| NL | 8.0 | Padres | Ian Kennedy (W, 7-9) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 9 | |
| BAT | 5.0 | Astros | Jonathan Singleton 1B | 4 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 3.0 | Orioles | Manny Machado 3B | 6 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| BAT | 3.0 | Reds | Billy Hamilton CF | 4 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 3.0 | Dbacks | David Peralta LF | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | Phillies | Chase Utley 2B | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | Mets | Carlos Torres (W, 4-4) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 2.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2.0 | Yankees | Dellin Betances (S, 1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 2.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 2.0 | Cardinals | Pat Neshek (W, 3-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 1.0 | Angels | Chris Iannetta C | 4 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
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.