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Read MoreMets' Niese tops players for Monday, July 6; White Sox' Sale rises to 3rd in Box-Toppers player rankings
Mets pitcher Jonathon Niese is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Monday, White Sox pitcher Chris Sale rose to third place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors. Plus, two players with more than 100 career Box-Toppers points earned Player of the Game Monday—Pirates pitcher A.J. Burnett and Cardinals pitcher John Lackey.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2015 season as of July 6.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 14.0 |
| 2 | Hernandez, Felix 2064 | pi sp | sea al | 13.4 |
| 3 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | chi al | 12.4 |
| 4 | Price, David 2593 | pi sp | det al | 12.1 |
| 5 | Archer, Chris 3194 | pi sp | tb al | 12.0 |
| 6 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | pit nl | 12.0 |
| 7 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 11.4 |
| 8 | Keuchel, Dallas 3050 | pi sp | hou al | 10.7 |
| 9 | Martinez, Carlos 3371 | pi sp | stl nl | 10.7 |
| 10 | Harvey, Matt 3075 | pi sp | nym nl | 9.7 |
Player of the Day—Niese pitched eight scoreless innings, allowing three hits and striking out four, in the 3-0 win over the Giants.
American League Player of the Day—Nick Castellanos of the Tigers homered and went 4-for-5, scoring twice and driving in four runs, in the 12-5 win over the Mariners.
National League Batter of the Day—Howie Kendrick of the Dodgers tripled, doubled and went 4-for-5, scoring twice and driving in a run, in the 10-7 win over the Phillies.
American League Batter of the Day—There is no separate AL Batter of the Day Monday since the overall AL Player of the Day was a batter (Nick Castellanos).
Rankings—White Sox pitcher Chris Sale rose to third place in Box-Toppers player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Monday. Sale (CG 6H 2R 6K W in the 4-2 win over the Blue Jays) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 12.4 for the season. He ranks second among AL pitchers, behind Felix Hernandez of the Mariners (13.4).
Notable—Two pitchers with more than 100 career Box-Toppers points earned Player of the Game honors Monday:
- A.J. Burnett of the Pirates rose to 31st place among players in Box-Toppers points since 1995, when Box-Toppers record keeping began. Burnett (7.2IP 5H R 4K ND in the 2-1 win over the Padres) earned 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 126.8 for his career. With his point, he passes Mariano Rivera (126.4) on the “all-time” list and now trails 30th-place player Roy Oswalt (127.2). Burnett has 5.0 Box-Toppers points on the season, 27th among NL pitchers.
- John Lackey of the Cardinals (7IP 6H 0R 4K in the 6-0 win over the Cubs) earned 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 103.8 for his career. He maintains his spot in 57th place among players in Box-Toppers points since 1995, when record keeping began. He trails 56th-place player Jamie Moyer (104.0). Lackey has 5.7 Box-Toppers points on the season, ranking 21st among NL pitchers.
Debut—Preston Tucker of the Astros made his Box-Toppers debut Monday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Tucker (HR 2B 4-5 2R 2BI in the 9-4 win over the Indians) made his Major League debut May 7 and was playing in his 48th career game. He is the 3,525th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Niese earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Castellanos earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day. Kendrick earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being NL Batter of the Day. All of Monday’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
| 7/6 | Score | Team | Player | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 7.0 | Mets | Jonathon Niese (W, 4-8) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | |
| AL | 5.0 | Tigers | Nick Castellanos 3B | 5 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 5.0 | White Sox | Chris Sale (W, 7-4) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 9.0 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 6 | ||
| 4.0 | Cardinals | John Lackey (W, 7-5) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | ||
| 3.0 | Astros | Preston Tucker RF | 5 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | `Twins | Glen Perkins | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| BAT | 2.0 | Dodgers | Howie Kendrick 2B | 5 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 2.0 | Reds | Eugenio Suarez SS | 4 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | Braves | Kelly Johnson 1B | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.2 | `Pirates | A.J. Burnett | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.2 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | ||
| `Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save. | ||||||||||||||||