With the 2013 All-Star Game here, it's time for a Box-Toppers examination of the choices for the game by fans and the managers.
Overall, not bad. The players with the highest Box-Toppers points totals in each league were almost always named to the American League and National League teams.
For example, Box-Toppers points leader and Diamondbacks pitcher Patrick Corbin was named to the NL roster (though Mets pitcher Matt Harvey was named the game's starter). And AL points leader and Indians pitcher Justin Masterson was named to the AL roster (though Tigers pitcher Max Scherzer was named AL starter).
The player with the most Box-Toppers points this season who was not selected as an All-Star is Cardinals pitcher Shelby Miller, who has 11.4 Box-Toppers points, the fifth highest among NL pitchers and more than NL starter Harvey (11.0).
Other notable snubs (a full list is in the chart below) include:
- Tigers pitcher Anibal Sanchez, the AL player with the most Box-Toppers points (8.0) left off the roster.
- Yunel Escobar of the Rays, who has more Box-Toppers points than any other AL shortstop (4.5).
- J.P. Arencibia of the Blue Jays, who has more points than any other AL catcher (5.5).
- Athletics outfielders Yoenis Cespedes and Josh Reddick, who are among the top three AL outfielders in Box-Toppers points. Both have 4.5.
- Ryan Zimmerman of the Nationals, who has more points than any other NL third basemen (6.7).
The elected starters for the AL are generally stronger than the starters for the NL in terms of Box-Toppers points and player rankings (see the charts at right). Five players are among the top one or two players in Box-Toppers points at their position among AL starters, while only three players in the NL can say the same.
The chart shows the players Box-Toppers points for the season, BTP, and their rank according to their field position in their league. Generally speaking, the the lower the rank by position number, the better. For example, Chris Davis, Miguel Cabrera, David Ortiz and Carlos Gonzalez all rank No. 1 among players in their respective positions. However, elected NL starter Carlos Beltran of the Cardinals, ranks only 39th among NL outfielders in Box-Toppers points for the season.
While the NL starting line-up is not as strong as the AL line-up, the NL reserves include most of the players leading in Box-Toppers points at their position. For example, in the reserves and pitchers chart at the right below the elected starters, you can see that four NL players leading in Box-Toppers points in their position were selected to the team by NL manager Bruce Bochy of the Giants. They include:
- Brian McCann of the Braves, leading among NL catchers with 7.0 Box-Toppers points.
- Paul Goldschmidt of the Diamondbacks, leading among NL first basemen with 9.7 Box-Toppers points.
- Matt Carpenter of the Cardinals, leading among NL second basemen with 6.0 Box-Toppers points.
- Everth Cabrera of the Padres, leading among NL shortstops with 4.5 Box-Toppers points.
Often, players are chosen to the All-Star for sentimental and nostalgic reasons. That might seem to be the case for Yankees closer Mariano Rivera, who has only 1.0 Box-Toppers point this season and ranks 137th among AL pitchers in points. And though he's having a strong year (30 saves in 32 chances and a 1.83 ERA), he hasn't picked up a lot of Box-Toppers points since he hasn't been the player who most contributed to the win in most of the games in which he's appeared. Still, Rivera has a very strong career Box-Toppers total. He has 122.4 career Box-Toppers points, 26th among all players since 1995 and second among closing pitchers only to Trevor Hoffman (129.4). Even if he weren't having a great year statistically, his career Box-Toppers numbers would cry out for his selection to the All-Star Game in this, the year he is retiring.
Box-Toppers is set up to determine the players who most help their team win the most games. Top players from the winning team of each game are determined by a formula using standard box score statistics. These top players earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point for being Player of the Game. Among each day's top players, bonus points are awarded for the top players and batters of the day in each league. Players accumulate points through the season to provide a data point for comparison, such as determining which players are most worthy as All-Stars.
| ALL-STAR GAME TOP SNUBS | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AL PLAYERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | RANK BY POS. |
| Anibal Sanchez | PI SP | Tigers | 8.0 | 10 |
| Derek Holland | PI SP | Rangers | 7.7 | 11 |
| Joe Saunders | PI SP | Mariners | 7.7 | 12 |
| R.A. Dickey | PI SP | Blue Jays | 6.7 | 13 |
| Hiroki Kuroda | PI SP | Yankees | 6.7 | 14 |
| Josh Donaldson | 3B | Athletics | 6.5 | 2 |
| Yunel Escobar | SS | Rays | 4.5 | 1 |
| J.P. Arencibia | CA | Blue Jays | 5.5 | 1 |
| Yoenis Cespedes | OF | Athletics | 4.5 | 2 |
| Josh Reddick | OF | Athletics | 4.5 | 3 |
| NL PLAYERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | RANK BY POS. |
| Shelby Miller | PI SP | Cardinals | 11.4 | 5 |
| Zack Greinke | PI SP | Dodgers | 10.7 | 8 |
| Lance Lynn | PI SP | Cardinals | 10.4 | 9 |
| Gio Gonzalez | PI SP | Nationals | 8.7 | 11 |
| Mat Latos | PI SP | Reds | 8.7 | 12 |
| Ryan Zimmerman | 3B | Nationals | 6.7 | 1 |
| ALL-STAR GAME ELECTED STARTERS | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AL PLAYERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | RANK BY POS. |
| Chris Davis | 1B | Orioles | 10.2 | 1 |
| Robinson Canó | 2B | Yankees | 7.0 | 2 |
| J. J. Hardy | SS | Orioles | 3.0 | 4 |
| Miguel Cabrera | 3B | Tigers | 13.4 | 1 |
| Joe Mauer | C | Twins | 5.0 | 2 |
| Mike Trout | OF | Angels | 3.5 | 9 |
| Adam Jones | OF | Orioles | 3.5 | 10 |
| José Bautista | OF | Blue Jays | 1.5 | 32 |
| David Ortiz | DH | Red Sox | 8.2 | 1 |
| NL PLAYERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | RANK BY POS. |
| Joey Votto | 1B | Reds | 1.5 | 14 |
| Brandon Phillips | 2B | Reds | 5.0 | 2 |
| Troy Tulowitzki | SS | Rockies | 2.0 | 7 |
| David Wright | 3B | Mets | 1.0 | 12 |
| Yadier Molina | C | Cardinals | 3.0 | 5 |
| Carlos Beltrán | OF | Cardinals | 1.5 | 39 |
| Carlos González | OF | Rockies | 9.5 | 1 |
| Bryce Harper | OF | Nationals | 6.9 | 2 |
| ALL-STAR GAME RESERVES & PITCHERS | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AL PLAYERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | RANK BY POS. |
| Jason Castro | C | Astros | 2.0 | 7 |
| Salvador Pérez | C | Royals | 0.0 | 18 |
| Prince Fielder | 1B | Tigers | 3.5 | 7 |
| Jason Kipnis | 2B | Indians | 7.0 | 1 |
| Dustin Pedroia | 2B | Red Sox | 1.5 | 9 |
| Ben Zobrist | 2B | Rays | 2.0 | 6 |
| Manny Machado | 3B | Orioles | 1.0 | 14 |
| Jhonny Peralta | SS | Tigers | 1.0 | 11 |
| Nelson Cruz | OF | Rangers | 4.5 | 1 |
| Alex Gordon | OF | Royals | 1.0 | 42 |
| Torii Hunter | OF | Tigers | 1.0 | 43 |
| Edwin Encarnación | DH | Blue Jays | 5.7 | 2 |
| Justin Masterson | PI SP | Indians | 13.7 | 1 |
| Matt Moore | PI SP | Rays | 13.1 | 2 |
| Chris Sale | PI SP | White Sox | 10.7 | 3 |
| Félix Hernández | PI SP | Mariners | 10.4 | 4 |
| Clay Buchholz | PI SP | Red Sox | 10.1 | 5 |
| Yu Darvish | PI SP | Rangers | 10.0 | 6 |
| Max Scherzer | PI SP | Tigers | 9.7 | 7 |
| Hisashi Iwakuma | PI SP | Mariners | 9.7 | 8 |
| Justin Verlander | PI SP | Tigers | 8.0 | 9 |
| Bartolo Colón | PI SP | Athletics | 6.7 | 15 |
| Greg Holland | PI CP | Royals | 6.0 | 20 |
| Glen Perkins | PI CP | Twins | 6.0 | 21 |
| Chris Tillman | PI SP | Orioles | 4.0 | 35 |
| Joe Nathan | PI CP | Rangers | 3.0 | 59 |
| Grant Balfour | PI CP | Athletics | 3.0 | 60 |
| Brett Cecil | PI MR | Blue Jays | 2.0 | 93 |
| Jesse Crain | PI MR | White Sox | 2.0 | 96 |
| Steve Delabar | PI MR CP | Blue Jays | 1.0 | 112 |
| Mariano Rivera | PI CP | Yankees | 1.0 | 137 |
| NL PLAYERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | RANK BY POS. |
| Buster Posey | C | Giants | 6.0 | 2 |
| Brian McCann | C | Braves | 7.0 | 1 |
| Paul Goldschmidt | 1B | Diamondbacks | 9.7 | 1 |
| Allen Craig | 1B | Cardinals | 1.0 | 15 |
| Freddie Freeman | 1B | Braves | 6.5 | 2 |
| Matt Carpenter | 2B | Cardinals | 6.0 | 1 |
| Marco Scutaro | 2B | Giants | 0.0 | 18 |
| Pedro Álvarez | 3B | Pirates | 6.2 | 2 |
| Everth Cabrera | SS | Padres | 4.5 | 1 |
| Jean Segura | SS | Brewers | 2.5 | 6 |
| Domonic Brown | OF | Phillies | 3.5 | 15 |
| Michael Cuddyer | OF | Rockies | 6.5 | 3 |
| Carlos Gómez | OF | Brewers | 2.0 | 35 |
| Andrew McCutchen | OF | Pirates | 2.0 | 27 |
| Patrick Corbin | PI SP | Diamondbacks | 14.4 | 1 |
| Clayton Kershaw | PI SP | Dodgers | 12.7 | 2 |
| Madison Bumgarner | PI SP | Giants | 11.7 | 3 |
| Adam Wainwright | PI SP | Cardinals | 11.7 | 4 |
| Matt Harvey | PI SP | Mets | 11.0 | 6 |
| Jordan Zimmermann | PI SP | Nationals | 10.7 | 7 |
| Cliff Lee | PI SP | Phillies | 9.4 | 10 |
| José Fernández | PI SP | Marlins | 8.0 | 14 |
| Aroldis Chapman | PI CP | Reds | 6.0 | 18 |
| Jason Grilli | PI CP | Pirates | 5.7 | 29 |
| Travis Wood | PI CP | Cubs | 5.0 | 33 |
| Jeff Locke | PI SP | Pirates | 5.0 | 36 |
| Craig Kimbrel | PI CP | Braves | 3.0 | 52 |
| Edward Mujica | PI CP | Cardinals | 3.0 | 58 |
| Sergio Romo | PI CP | Giants | 2.0 | 77 |
| Mark Melancon | PI MR | Pirates | 1.0 | 121 |
BTP: Box-Toppers points for the current season.
RANK BY POS.: A players ranking among players in the same position for the current season.
