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The leaders in three specific pitching categories—earned run average, wins and strikeouts—were among the overall top 10 players in Box-Toppers points.
However, the leaders in three specific batting categories—batting average, home runs and runs batted in—did not fare well in Box-Toppers points. All three ranked outside the top 200 overall players in Box-Toppers points and also ranked outside the top 10 players among their league’s batters.
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Looking at the top 10 players in the Wins Above Replacement (WAR) statistic for each of the past 25 seasons, gives the impression batters are holding steady as the dominant force in baseball.
Yet, in recent years, batters are striking out more and hitting for lower batting averages against pitchers who are holding batters down and stealing their lunch money. Looking at the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points for each of the past 25 seasons provides a more accurate reflection of the game—one in which batters performed well and even dominated through about 2009, until pitchers’ announced their presence with authority from 2010 on.
Read MoreSix of the 10 top strikeout leaders in 2021 were also among the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points for the season.
Blue Jays pitcher Robbie Ray led all players with 248 strikeouts. He ranked sixth overall in Box-Toppers points with 17.7, second among American League pitchers. Ray won the AL Cy Young Award.
Read MoreFive of the top 11 runs batted in leaders were among the top 100 players in Box-Toppers points in 2021. All five were also among their league’s top 10 batters in Box-Toppers rankings.
However, Salvador Perez of the Royals, who led all players with 121 RBIs, had just 4.5 Box-Toppers points in 2021, 222nd among all players and 44th among American League batters.
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Julio Urias of the Dodgers, who led all pitchers in wins in 2021 with 20, also ranked fourth among all players in Box-Toppers points with 19.1.
Among the 13 pitchers with 14 or more wins in 2021, Urias is one of five who were among the top 10 in Box-Toppers points for the season. Meanwhile, Max Scherzer of the Dodgers, who led all players in Box-Toppers points in 2021, also had Box-Toppers’ highest Sincere Win Differential (SWD) of +10.1.
Read MoreWhile six of the top 12 home run hitters in 2021 ranked among their league’s top 10 batters in Box-Toppers points for the season, the two top home run hitters ranked low.
Salvador Perez of the Royals and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. of the Blue Jays led all players with 48 home runs each in 2021, but both were the lowest ranked among the 12 top home run hitters in Box-Toppers points, both ranking outside the overall top 200 players.
Read MoreSeven of the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points in 2021 also recorded among the 10 lowest earned run averages for the season.
Brewers pitcher Corbin Burnes, who had the lowest ERA (2.43), ranked fifth in Box-Toppers points for 2021 (18.1), fourth among National League pitchers. Dodgers pitcher Max Scherzer, who led all players with 25.1 Box-Toppers points, had the second-lowest ERA (2.46).
Read MoreOnly one of the top 10 batting average leaders for 2021 is among Box-Toppers’ top 100 ranked players for the season.
Nick Castellanos of the Reds, whose .309 batting average ranked ninth among all players, ranked 35th among all players with 11.5 Box-Toppers points. That also led all NL batters.
Read MoreIndians pitcher Shane Bieber, who led all players in Box-Toppers points in 2020, also led all pitchers in strikeouts during the season.
Ten of the top 11 strikeouts leaders were also among the top 14 overall players in Box-Toppers points in 2020.
Read MoreEight of the top 14 runs batted in leaders were among the top 100 players in Box-Toppers points in 2020.
Six of those players were also among their league’s top 10 batters during the pandemic-shortened season.
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The two pitchers with the most wins in 2020 were also among the top three in Box-Toppers points for the season.
Shane Bieber of the Indians and Yu Darvish of the Cubs both had eight wins in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, most among all pitchers. Bieber had 11.4 Box-Toppers points, most of all players and Darvish had 9.7 points, third-most and second among National League pitchers.
Read MoreThe two pitchers with the lowest earned run averages in 2020—Shane Bieber and Trevor Bauer—were also Box-Toppers’ two top-ranked players for the season.
In fact, six of the seven ERA leaders for 2020 rank among the top 10 overall players in Box-Toppers points for the season.
Read MoreFive of the top 10 players in batting average for 2020 are among Box-Toppers’ top 100 players.
DJ LeMahieu of the Yankees led all players with a .364 batting average in the pandemic-shortened, 60-game 2020 season. He had 3.5 Box-Toppers points, 75th among all players and 13th among American League batters.
Read MoreHow did baseball’s statistical leaders do in Box-Toppers points in 2019?
The leaders in three specific pitching categories—earned run average, wins and strikeouts—were among the overall top 10 players in Box-Toppers points. However, the leaders in three specific batting categories—batting average, home runs and runs batted in—did not fare well in Box-Toppers points. All three ranked outside the top 100 overall players in Box-Toppers points and also ranked outside the top 10 players among their league’s batters.
Read MoreThose who figure Wins Above Replacement and those who figure Box-Toppers points (me) often don’t seem to be looking at the same game.
But we are. We are looking at the exact same Major League Baseball game. In recent years, Box-Toppers has seen pitchers come to so overwhelmingly dominate the game that they’ve pushed batters’ relative achievements into the background. But WAR seems to persist in the notion that it is batters who are primarily the stars of the game, contributing more to help their teams win than pitchers.
Read MoreAstros pitcher Gerrit Cole, who led all players in Box-Toppers points in 2019, also led all pitchers in strikeouts during the season.
In fact, each of the top six-ranked players in Box-Toppers points were among the top 11 strikeout leaders in 2019.
Read MoreSeven of the 11 top runs batted in leaders were among their league’s top 10 batters in Box-Toppers points in 2019.
However, overall RBI leader Anthony Rendon of the Nationals ranked outside the top 10 National League batters in Box-Toppers points.
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Justin Verlander of the Astros, who led all pitchers in wins 2019 with 21, ranked second among all players in Box-Toppers points with 27.5.
Verlander’s teammate, Gerrit Cole, who led all players in Box-Toppers points in 2019 with 32.2, ranked second in wins with 20.
Of the 12 pitchers with 16 or more wins in 2019, five of them ranked among the top 10 in Box-Toppers points and 10 of them ranked among the top 50 in Box-Toppers points.
Read MorePete Alonso of the Mets led all players in home runs in 2019 but was one of three top 10 home run hitters to rank outside the top 100 in season Box-Toppers points.
Meanwhile, Nelson Cruz of the Twins, who led all batters in Box-Toppers points in 2019 with 12.5, ranked tied for seventh in home runs with 41. Two of Box-Toppers’ top three-ranked National League batters—Cody Bellinger of the Dodgers and Christian Yelich of the Brewers—were also among the top 10 home run hitters in 2019.
Read MoreBox-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.