Reds' Anthony DeSclafani tops players for Saturday, Aug. 27; Mets' Syndergaard rises to 9th in Box-Toppers rankings

Reds pitcher Anthony DeSclafani is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2016 season as of Aug. 27:  

	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Scherzer, Max 2588	pi sp	dc nl	20.7
2	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	20.0
3	Fernandez, Jose 3147	pi sp	fla nl	18.4
4	Kluber, Corey 3200	pi sp	cle al	17.2
5	Hamels, Cole 2135	pi sp	tex al	16.8
6	Lester, Jon 2173	pi sp	chi nl	15.4
7	Cueto, Johnny 2400	pi sp	sf nl	14.4
8	Strasburg, Stephen 2736	pi sp	dc nl	14.1
9	Syndergaard, Noah 3472	pi sp	nym nl	14.0
10	Arrieta, Jake 2738	pi sp	chi nl	13.7

What are those numbers after players' names?

Also Saturday, Mets pitcher Noah Syndergaard rises to ninth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.

Player of the Day—DeSclafani pitched a complete-game, four-hit shutout, striking out nine and walking one, in the 13-0 win over the Diamondbacks.

American League Player of the Day—White Sox pitcher Jose Quintana struck out eight over 7 2/3 innings, allowing two runs, five hits and one walk, in the 9-3 win over the Mariners.

American League Batter of the Day—Starlin Castro of the Yankees homered and went 4-for-6, scoring three times and driving in three runs, in the 13-5 win over the Orioles.

National League Batter of the Day—Charlie Blackmon of the Rockies hit two homers and went 3-for-6, scoring three times and driving in three runs, in the 9-4, 11-inning win over the Nationals.

Rankings—Mets pitcher Noah Syndergaard rises to ninth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Saturday.

Syndergaard (7IP 2H R 2BB 7K W in the 12-1 win over the Phillies) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 14.0 for the season, rising from 10th to ninth place for the season. He ranks seventh among NL pitchers.

Debut—Two players made their Box-Toppers debut Saturday, the first time in their careers they earned Player of the Game honors:

• Athletics pitcher Daniel Coulombe (1.1IP 0H 0R 0BB 3K W in the 3-2 win over the Cardinals) made his Major League debut Sept. 16, 2014, and was playing in his 43rd career game. He is the 3,720th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
• Alex Bregman of the Astros (HR 2-4 2R 3BI in the 6-2 win over the Rays) made his Major League debut July 25 and was playing in his 30th career game. He is the 3,721st player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—DeSclafani earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Quintana earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Castro and Blackmon each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s 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

8/27	Score	Game	Player of Game	AB	R	H	BI		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
MLB	13.0	CIN 13, ARI 0	Anthony DeSclafani (W,8-2)	-	-	-	-		9.0	4	0	0	1	9
	8.0	NYM 12, PHI 1	Noah Syndergaard (W,12-7)	-	-	-	-		7.0	2	1	1	2	7
	7.0	`PIT 9, MIL 6	Juan Nicasio (H,4)	-	-	-	-		3.0	1	0	0	0	5
AL	6.2	CHW 9, SEA 3	Jose Quintana (W,11-9)	-	-	-	-		7.2	5	2	1	1	8
	6.0	TEX 7, CLE 0	A.J. Griffin (W,6-3)	-	-	-	-		6.0	5	0	0	1	6
	5.2	ATL 3, SF 1	Mike Foltynewicz (W,7-5)	-	-	-	-		7.2	5	1	1	1	6
	5.0	LAA 3, DET 2	Jhoulys Chacin (W,5-8)	-	-	-	-		4.0	3	0	0	1	5
	4.1	OAK 3, STL 2	Daniel Coulombe (W,2-1)	-	-	-	-		1.1	0	0	0	0	3
BAT	4.0	NYY 13, BAL 5	Starlin Castro, 2B	6	3	4	3		-	-	-	-	-	-
	4.0	TOR 8, MIN 7	Edwin Encarnacion, 1B	3	2	2	3		-	-	-	-	-	-
	4.0	LAD 3, CHC 2	Julio Urias (W,5-2)	-	-	-	-		6.0	6	1	1	2	8
BAT	3.0	COL 9, WSH 4 (11)	Charlie Blackmon, CF	6	3	3	3		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	HOU 6, TB 2	Alex Bregman, 3B	4	2	2	3		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	SD 1, MIA 0	Kevin Quackenbush (S,1)	-	-	-	-		1.0	0	0	0	0	2
	2.0	BOS 8, KC 3	Dustin Pedroia, 2B	5	1	4	2		-	-	-	-	-	-
		`Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save.

Box-Toppers point totals of the day’s top players

Here are Box-Toppers point totals of each of the Players of the Game. Players are ranked by their Box-Toppers point total for the current season (16). Also shown are each players’ Box-Toppers point total for this season and last (15-16), the period 2011-2016 (11-16) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2016 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2015 total (+/-).  

Player of Game	Pos	Team	16	15-16	11-16	Career	+/-
Syndergaard, Noah 3472	pi sp	nym nl	14.0	24.4	24.4	24.4	3.6
Quintana, Jose 3040	pi sp	chi al	9.4	15.4	34.2	34.2	3.4
Encarnacion, Edwin 2098	dh 1b	tor al	8.0	18.4	46.6	67.1	-2.4
Nicasio, Juan 2888	pi sp mr	pit nl	8.0	9.0	24.4	24.4	7.0
Castro, Starlin 2767	2b ss	nyy al	7.0	11.5	24.5	25.5	2.5
Griffin, A.J. 3074	pi sp	tex al	4.7	4.7	19.4	19.4	4.7
DeSclafani, Anthony 3441	pi sp	cin nl	4.0	11.7	11.7	11.7	-3.7
Foltynewicz, Mike 3455	pi sp	atl nl	4.0	6.7	6.7	6.7	1.3
Blackmon, Charlie 2891	cf	col nl	4.0	6.5	12.0	12.0	1.5
Chacin, Jhoulys 2711	pi mr sp	ana al	4.0	4.0	18.4	26.1	4.0
Urias, Julio 3652	pi sp	lad nl	4.0	4.0	4.0	4.0	4.0
Pedroia, Dustin 2320	2b	bos al	3.0	3.0	23.4	35.5	3.0
Quackenbush, Kevin 3462	pi mr cp	sd nl	2.0	4.0	4.0	4.0	0.0
Bregman, Alex 3721	3b	hou al	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0
Coulombe, Daniel 3720	pi mr	oak al	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0

What are those numbers after players' names?