Royals' Eric Hosmer is Box-Toppers Player of the Game as AL wins 2016 All-Star Game

Eric Hosmer of the Royals is Box-Toppers 2016 All-Star Player of the Game.

Hosmer hit a game-tying, second-inning homer and went 2-for-3, driving in two runs, in the American League’s 4-2 win over the National League.

Hosmer was also named All-Star Game Most Valuable Player.

Hosmer had a Box-Toppers game score Tuesday of +2.0, tied with AL and Royal teammate Salvador Perez as highest scores earned by AL players. But Hosmer won Player of the Game on a tiebreaker because he had more at bats than Perez—3 vs. 2. Perez homered and drove in two runs in his two at bats.

Top pitcher of the game for the AL was Corey Kluber of the Indians (1IP 0H 0R 0BB K W), who also had a Box-Toppers game score of +2.0. Hosmer won Player of the Game honors over Kluber because in cases of game score ties, batters rank ahead of pitchers.

Kluber ranked ahead of two other AL pitchers who had Box-Toppers game scores of +2.0 (Dellin Betances of the Yankees and Kelvin Herrera of the Royals) because Kluber earned the win. Kluber leads AL players in Box-Toppers points this season with 12.5—he ranks fifth among all players.

Hosmer has 3.0 Box-Toppers points for the season, 42nd among AL batters. In 2015, Hosmer had 9.0 Box-Toppers points and ranked ninth among AL batters, his best season. Hosmer has 25.5 career Box-Toppers points, making his Box-Toppers debut in 2011. Since the start of 2011, he ranks 28th among AL batters in career Box-Toppers points.

Overall Box-Toppers points leader, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (20.0), was selected to the NL All-Star team but did not pitch in the game—he is on the disabled list, recovering from a lower back injury.

Manny Machado of the Orioles, who leads AL batters in Box-Toppers points (8.7), went 0-for-3 in the All-Star Game and had a Box-Toppers game score of −3.0.

Matt Carpenter of the Cardinals, who leads NL batters in Box-Toppers points (7.5), was selected to the NL All-Star team but is out with an injury and did not play.

Top player for the NL team was Kris Bryant of the Cubs, who opened scoring with a first-inning solo homer. Bryant went 1-for-2 and had a Box-Toppers game score of +1.0.

Scoring—Just as All-Star Game statistics don’t count in a player’s regular season statistics, no Box-Toppers points are awarded for the All-Star Game.

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.

Box-Toppers game scores of AL All-Star players

Here are all the players who played for the winning American League team in Tuesday’s All-Star Game, listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score. Eric Hosmer had the highest game score and is Box-Toppers All-Star Player of the Game (POG) 

7/12	Score	AL All-Stars	Team	AB	R	H	BI		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
POG	2.0	Eric Hosmer, 1B	Royals	3	1	2	2		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	Salvador Perez, C	Royals	2	1	1	2		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	Corey Kluber (W,1-0)	Indians	-	-	-	-		1.0	0	0	0	0	1
	2.0	Dellin Betances	Yankees	-	-	-	-		1.0	1	0	0	0	2
	2.0	Kelvin Herrera	Royals	-	-	-	-		1.0	0	0	0	0	1
	1.1	Will Harris	Astros	-	-	-	-		0.1	0	0	0	0	1
	1.0	Jose Quintana	White Sox	-	-	-	-		1.0	1	0	0	0	1
	0.0	Jackie Bradley, LF	Red Sox	2	0	2	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	0.0	Mookie Betts, RF	Red Sox	2	1	1	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	0.0	Edwin Encarnacion, DH	Blue Jays	1	1	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	0.0	Cole Hamels	Rangers	-	-	-	-		1.0	2	0	0	0	1
	0.0	Robinson Cano, 2B	Mariners	0	0	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	-1.0	Xander Bogaerts, SS	Red Sox	2	0	1	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	-1.0	David Ortiz, DH	Red Sox	1	0	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	-1.0	Carlos Beltran, RF	Yankees	1	0	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	-1.0	Michael Saunders, RF	Blue Jays	1	0	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	-1.0	Mark Trumbo, LF	Orioles	1	0	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	-1.0	Ian Desmond, CF	Rangers	1	0	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	-1.0	Josh Donaldson, 3B	Blue Jays	1	0	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	-1.0	Miguel Cabrera, 1B	Tigers	1	0	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	-1.0	Chris Sale	White Sox	-	-	-	-		1.0	1	1	1	0	1
	-1.8	Andrew Miller	Yankees	-	-	-	-		0.2	2	0	0	1	1
	-2.0	Mike Trout, CF	Angels	3	0	1	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	-2.0	Francisco Lindor, SS	Indians	2	0	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	-2.0	Matt Wieters, C	Orioles	2	0	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	-3.0	Jose Altuve, 2B	Astros	3	0	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	-3.0	Manny Machado, 3B	Orioles	3	0	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	-4.0	Aaron Sanchez	Blue Jays	-	-	-	-		1.0	2	1	1	1	0

Last year's All-Star Game: David Price of the Rays is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in 2015 All-Star Game, though Angels' Mike Trout named MVP

Reds' Johnny Cueto tops players for Thursday, May 15 with shutout, rises to 2nd in Box-Toppers player rankings

Reds pitcher Johnny Cueto, Thursday’s Player of the Day, rises to second place in Box-Toppers season player rankings and is now the top-ranked National League pitcher.

Cueto pitched a complete game shutout, allowing three hits and striking out eight, in the 5-0 win over the Padres. He earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 7.7 for the season. He passes Adam Wainwright of the Cardinals (7.0 Box-Toppers points) to lead NL pitchers in player rankings. He trails only Troy Tulowitzki of the Rockies (9.1 Box-Toppers points), the overall leader. (See the updated top 10 player rankings for the season on the home page.)

(Cueto and Yankees pitcher Masahiro Tanaka both have 7.7 Box-Toppers points but Cueto is ranked higher because of the tie-breaker: He has more points than Tanaka over 2013-2014—11.7 vs. 7.7.)

Yankees pitcher Dellin Betances is American League Player of the Day. Betances pitched 2 1/3 innings of scoreless middle relief, striking out six, in the 1-0 win over the Mets. This was Betances’ Box-Toppers debut, the first time he has earned Player of the Game honors. He is the 3,333rd player to debut in Box-Toppers since record-keeping began in 1995. He made his Major League debut on Sept. 22, 2011, and was pitching in his 23rd game.

Edwin Encarnacion of the Blue Jays is AL Batter of the Day. Encarnacion homered twice and doubled, going 3-for-4 and driving in three runs, in the 4-2 win over the Indians.

Michael Morse of the Giants is National League Batter of the Day. Morse homered, went 3-for-4 and drove in three runs, in the 6-4 win over the Marlins.

Notables: Cardinals pitcher Michael Wacha earned Player of the Game honors for batting. He had a two-run RBI in the 5-3 win over the Cubs. He is the third pitcher this season to earn Player of the Game honors for batting.

Mike Trout of the Angels, currently ranked seventh among all players in Wins Above Replacement at 2.4, according to Baseball-Reference.com, earned his first Box-Toppers point of the season Thursday. Trout hit a walk-off, three-run home run—his only hit in four at-bats—in the 6-5 win over the Rays. With 1.0 Box-Toppers point this season, Trout currently ranks 257th in Box-Toppers player rankings.

Cueto receives 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day. Betances receives 1.7 for AL Player of the Day. Encarnacion and Morse each receive 1.5 for being top Batter of the Day in their league.

All of Thursday’s other Players of the Game (listed in the chart below) receive 1.0 Box-Toppers point.

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.

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score

515	Score	Team	Player	AB	R	H	BI	BB	K		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
MLB	12.0	Reds	Johnny Cueto (W, 4-2)	-	-	-	-	-	-		9.0	3	0	0	2	8
AL	8.1	Yankees	Dellin Betances (W, 2-0)	-	-	-	-	-	-		2.1	0	0	0	0	6
	7.0	Twins	Phil Hughes	-	-	-	-	-	-		6.0	5	1	1	0	8
	5.0	Padres	Tyson Ross (W, 5-3)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	3	1	1	5	8
BAT	4.0	Blue Jays	Edwin Encarnacion DH	4	2	3	3	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
BAT	3.0	Giants	Michael Morse 1B	4	1	3	3	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.2	`Orioles	Darren O`Day (H, 5)	-	-	-	-	-	-		1.2	0	0	0	0	1
	2.0	Cardinals	Michael Wacha P	2	1	1	2	0	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	1.0	Brewers	Rickie Weeks 2B	4	1	3	1	0	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	1.0	Angels	Mike Trout CF	4	1	1	3	0	2		-	-	-	-	-	-

` Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save.