Cubs' Hammel tops players for Sunday, April 24; Red Sox' Hembree tops AL players

Cubs pitcher Jason Hammel is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Hammel struck out seven over six scoreless innings, allowing three hits, in the 9-0 win over the Reds. Hammel earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 3.0 for the season, the most of any of Sunday’s Players of the Game. He ranks 14th in season player rankings.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2016 season as of April 24:  

	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Arrieta, Jake 2738	pi sp	chi nl	5.0
2	Volquez, Edinson 2220	pi sp	kc al	4.4
3	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	4.0
4	Velasquez, Vince 3611	pi sp	phi nl	4.0
5	Santiago, Hector 3109	pi sp	ana al	3.7
6	Latos, Mat 2644	pi sp	chi al	3.7
7	Davis, Chris 2478	1b	bal al	3.5
8	Cano, Robinson 2092	2b	sea al	3.5
9	Suarez, Eugenio 3355	3b	cin nl	3.5
10	Salazar, Danny 3223	pi sp	cle al	3.4

What are those numbers after players' names?

American League Player of the Day—Red Sox closing pitcher Heath Hembree pitched three scoreless innings of extra-inning relief, allowing two hits and striking out four, in the 7-5, 12-inning win over the Astros.

This was Hembree’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Hembree made his Major League debut Sept. 3, 2013, and was playing in his 40th career game. He is the 3,620th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

National League Batter of the Day—Alex Presley of the Brewers hit a two-run, pinch-hit homer in the 8-5 win over the Phillies. 

Presley had a Box-Toppers game score of +3, tied with Jason Rogers of the Pirates, who was Player of the Game in the 12-10, 13-inning win over the Diamondbacks (1-1 R 2BI), but Presley won NL Batter of the Day on a tiebreaker—he hit a home run, while Rogers hit a triple.

American League Batter of the Day—Marlon Byrd of the Indians went 2-for-3, scoring once and driving in two runs, in the 6-3 win over the Tigers.

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

• Joc Pederson of the Dodgers (HR 1-1 2R BI in the 12-10 win over the Rockies) made his Major League debut Sept. 1, 2014, and was playing in his 187th career game. He is the 3,621st player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
• Michael Conforto of the Mets (2B 1-3 2BI in the 3-2 win over the Braves) made his Major League debut July 24, 2015, and was playing in his 72nd career game. He is the 3,622nd player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Hammel earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Hembree earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Presley and Byrd each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Sunday’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

4/24	Score	Team	Player	AB	R	H	BI	BB	K		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
MLB	8.0	Cubs	Jason Hammel (W,3-0)	-	-	-	-	-	-		6.0	3	0	0	2	7
AL	5.0	Red Sox	Heath Hembree (W,1-0)	-	-	-	-	-	-		3.0	2	0	0	0	4
	4.0	Rays	Drew Smyly (W,1-2)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	6	1	1	1	6
	4.0	Royals	Yordano Ventura (W,2-0)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	3	1	1	2	4
	4.0	White Sox	David Robertson (S,7)	-	-	-	-	-	-		1.0	0	0	0	0	3
	3.2	`Nationals	Yusmeiro Petit	-	-	-	-	-	-		4.2	2	1	1	3	6
	3.2	Mariners	Nick Vincent (S,1)	-	-	-	-	-	-		1.2	0	0	0	0	2
BAT	3.0	Brewers	Alex Presley, PH-CF	1	1	1	2	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	Pirates	Jason Rogers, 1B	1	1	1	2	1	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	Dodgers	Joc Pederson, CF	1	2	1	1	3	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	Cardinals	Kevin Siegrist (W,3-0)	-	-	-	-	-	-		1.0	0	0	0	0	2
	2.0	Marlins	J.T. Realmuto, C	4	1	4	1	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
BAT	2.0	Indians	Marlon Byrd, RF	3	1	2	2	1	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	Blue Jays	Roberto Osuna (S,6)	-	-	-	-	-	-		1.0	0	0	0	0	1
	0.0	Mets	Michael Conforto, LF	3	0	1	2	0	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
		`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	Pos	Team	16	15-16	11-16	Career	+/-
Hammel, Jason 2235	pi sp	chi nl	3.0	12.7	36.1	49.2	-6.7
Smyly, Drew 3009	pi sp	tb al	3.0	9.0	31.1	31.1	-3.0
Osuna, Roberto 3512	pi cp	tor al	3.0	7.0	7.0	7.0	-1.0
Ventura, Yordano 3294	pi sp	kc al	2.0	13.7	23.4	23.4	-9.7
Robertson, David 2774	pi cp	chi al	2.0	10.0	22.0	23.0	-6.0
Siegrist, Kevin 3260	pi mr	stl nl	2.0	6.0	8.0	8.0	-2.0
Petit, Yusmeiro 2337	pi mr sp	dc nl	2.0	2.0	9.0	18.7	2.0
Hembree, Heath 3620	pi cp	bos al	1.7	1.7	1.7	1.7	1.7
Byrd, Marlon 1751	rf	cle al	1.5	6.5	15.5	40.0	-3.5
Presley, Alex 2900	cf ph	mil nl	1.5	1.5	4.5	4.5	1.5
Realmuto, J.T. 3491	ca	fla nl	1.0	6.0	6.0	6.0	-4.0
Rogers, Jason 3602	3b	pit nl	1.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	0.0
Vincent, Nick 3203	pi cp	sea al	1.0	1.0	4.0	4.0	1.0
Conforto, Michael 3622	lf	nym nl	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0
Pederson, Joc 3621	cf	lad nl	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0

What are those numbers after players' names?