White Sox' Carlos Sanchez tops players in Monday, March 28's spring training games

Carlos Sanchez of the White Sox is Box-Toppers spring training Player of the Day for Monday.

Sanchez hit two homers and went 3-for-4, driving in four runs, in the 11-7 win over the Rockies. Sanchez had 3.0 Box-Toppers points in 2015 with the White Sox.

Sanchez had a Box-Toppers game score Monday of +5.0, tied with Whit Merrifield of the Royals, who was Player of the Game in the 11-3 win over the Padres. But Sanchez won Player of the Day on a tiebreaker—he had more runs batted in (4 vs. 3).    

National League Player of the Day—Cardinals pitcher Carlos Martinez allowed one run over six innings, striking out four, in the 3-1 win over the Mets. Martinez had 13.7 Box-Toppers points in 2015, leading all Cardinals players and ranking 11th among NL pitchers.

National League Batter of the Day—Joey Votto of the Reds homered and went 4-for-5, scoring twice and driving in two runs, in the 9-8, walk-off win over the Brewers. Votto had 5.0 Box-Toppers points in 2015, most among returning Reds batters in 2016. Votto has 53.7 career Box-Toppers points since 2007, which ranks fourth among active NL first basemen. He has two seasons with 10.0 or more Box-Toppers points (2008 and 2009). In 2008, his 11.0 points ranked 10th among NL batters.

American League Batter of the Day—There is no separate AL Batter of the Day for Monday because the overall Player of the Day was an AL batter, Carlos Sanchez.

Scoring—No Box-Toppers points are awarded in spring training games, but if it were the regular season, Sanchez would earn 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, Martinez would earn 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day and Votto would earn 1.5 points for being NL Batter of the Day. All of Monday’s other Players of the Game (listed in the chart below) would earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point.

Note—Fifteen spring training games were scheduled for Monday—13 are listed below. One game is not included because it ended in a tie (Cubs vs. Dodgers) and one other game was cancelled (Marlins vs. Nationals).

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.

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score

3/28 Score Team Player AB R H BI BB K IP H R ER BB K
MLB 5.0 White Sox Carlos Sánchez 2B 4 2 3 4 0 0 - - - - - -
5.0 Royals Whit Merrifield LF 4 3 3 3 1 1 - - - - - -
5.0 Astros George Springer RF 3 3 3 2 0 0 - - - - - -
NL 5.0 Cardinals Carlos Martínez (W, 1-0) - - - - - - 6.0 3 1 1 0 4
5.0 `Yankees Luis Cessa - - - - - - 3.0 1 0 0 1 4
4.0 Twins Daniel Palka PH-DH 1 1 1 3 0 0 - - - - - -
4.0 `Blue Jays Marcus Stroman - - - - - - 4.0 3 0 0 0 3
BAT 3.0 Reds Joey Votto 1B 5 2 4 2 0 0 - - - - - -
3.0 Dodgers Justin Turner 3B 3 1 1 4 0 0 - - - - - -
3.0 Mariners Brock Hebert 2B 1 1 1 2 0 0 - - - - - -
2.0 Orioles Nolan Reimold DH 3 1 2 2 1 0 - - - - - -
2.0 Dbacks David Peralta RF 2 2 1 1 1 0 - - - - - -
1.0 Indians Yan Gomes C 4 1 2 2 0 0 - - - - - -
`Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save.

Giants' Bumgarner, nearly perfect, tops players for Saturday, Sept. 12, rises to 9th in player rankings

Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to ninth place in season player rankings.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2015 season as of Sept. 12.  


Player Pos Team BTP
1 Arrieta, Jake 2738 pi sp chi nl 22.1
2 Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 21.7
3 deGrom, Jacob 3343 pi sp nym nl 20.4
4 Hernandez, Felix 2064 pi sp sea al 19.4
5 Keuchel, Dallas 3050 pi sp hou al 19.4
6 Price, David 2593 pi sp tor al 19.1
7 Greinke, Zack 1871 pi sp lad nl 18.0
8 Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp chi al 17.1
9 Bumgarner, Madison 2753 pi sp sf nl 17.0
10 Cole, Gerrit 3232 pi sp pit nl 17.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Bumgarner pitched a complete-game, one-hit shutout, striking out nine, in the 8-0 win over the Padres. Bumgarner was perfect through 7 2/3 innings before allowing the only hit and only baserunner of the game.

Bumgarner earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 17.0 for the season. He ranks fifth among National League pitchers.

American League Player of the Day—Mike Moustakas of the Royals hit a grand slam and a three-run homer, going 3-for-5, scoring three times and driving in nine runs, in the 14-6 win over the Orioles.

National League Batter of the Day—Corey Seager of the Dodgers homered, doubled and went 4-for-4, scoring three times and driving in three runs, in the 9-5 win over the Diamondbacks.

This was Seager’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Seager made his Major League debut Sept. 3 and was playing in his ninth career game. He is the 3,587th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

American League Batter of the Day—There is no separate AL Batter of the Day for Saturday because the overall AL Player of the Day was batter Mike Moustakas.

Notable—David Ortiz of the Red Sox now has 137.9 career Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Saturday. Ortiz (2HR 3-4 2R 4BI in the 10-4 win over the Rays) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point and maintains his rank of 24th among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers record keeping began. Ortiz trails 23rd-place player Andy Pettitte (138.5). 

Ortiz ranks seventh among all batters since 1995. He ranks third among active batters, behind Alex Rodriguez (187.0) and Albert Pujols (174.3). He has 4.5 Box-Toppers points this season. On Saturday, Ortiz became the 27th player to hit 500 career home runs.

Debuts—In addition to Seager, two other players made their Box-Toppers debut Saturday, the first time in their career they earned Player of the Game honors:

  • Athletics pitcher Sean Nolin (5.2IP 5H R 5K W in the 5-2 win over the Rangers) made his Major League debut May 23, 2013, and was playing in his fourth career game. He is the 3,588th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
  • Carlos Sanchez of the White Sox (2B 2-4 R 2BI in the 8-2 win over the Twins) made his Major League debut July 13, 2014, and was playing in his 132nd career game. He is the 3,589th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Bumgarner earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Moustakas earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day. Seager earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being NL Batter of the Day. All of Saturday’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.

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score

9/12 Score Team Player AB R H BI BB K IP H R ER BB K
MLB 17.0 Giants Madison Bumgarner (W,18-7) - - - - - - 9.0 1 0 0 0 9
AL 10.0 Royals Mike Moustakas, 3B 5 3 3 9 0 1 - - - - - -
9.0 Reds Anthony DeSclafani (W,9-10) - - - - - - 6.0 4 1 1 1 10
9.0 Marlins Jose Fernandez (W,5-0) - - - - - - 5.0 2 0 0 1 7
7.1 Mariners Roenis Elias (W,5-8) - - - - - - 5.1 1 2 0 3 8
7.0 `Phillies Jerad Eickhoff - - - - - - 7.0 3 1 1 3 8
6.1 Pirates Jeff Locke (W,8-10) - - - - - - 6.1 3 1 1 2 7
BAT 6.0 Dodgers Corey Seager, SS 4 3 4 3 1 0 - - - - - -
5.0 Red Sox David Ortiz, DH 4 2 3 4 0 0 - - - - - -
4.0 Blue Jays Jose Bautista, RF 4 3 2 3 2 1 - - - - - -
4.0 Reds Aroldis Chapman (S,30) - - - - - - 1.0 0 0 0 0 3
3.0 Angels Huston Street (S,35) - - - - - - 1.0 0 0 0 0 2
2.0 Blue Jays Ben Revere, LF 6 2 4 2 0 0 - - - - - -
2.0 Mets Jeurys Familia (S,40) - - - - - - 1.0 0 0 0 0 1
1.2 Athletics Sean Nolin (W,1-1) - - - - - - 5.2 5 1 1 2 5
1.0 White Sox Carlos Sanchez, 2B 4 1 2 2 0 1 - - - - - -
`Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save.