Blog
Nationals pitcher Jake Irvin is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Wednesday’s spring training games.
Meanwhile, Blue Jays pitcher Chris Bassitt, who led American League pitchers in 2023 with 20.1 Box-Toppers points, is Wednesday’s AL Player of the Day.
Read More
Cubs pitcher Jason Hammel is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 20.0 |
| 2 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 18.7 |
| 3 | Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | cle al | 17.2 |
| 4 | Fernandez, Jose 3147 | pi sp | fla nl | 16.4 |
| 5 | Cueto, Johnny 2400 | pi sp | sf nl | 14.4 |
| 6 | Hamels, Cole 2135 | pi sp | tex al | 14.1 |
| 7 | Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 14.1 |
| 8 | Lester, Jon 2173 | pi sp | chi nl | 13.4 |
| 9 | Happ, J.A. 2536 | pi sp | tor al | 12.7 |
| 10 | Altuve, Jose 3007 | 2b | hou al | 12.5 |
Also Tuesday, Indians pitcher Corey Kluber rises to third place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Player of the Day—Hammel pitched seven scoreless innings, striking out seven and allowing two hits and three walks, in the 4-1 win over the Brewers.
Hammel earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 11.0 for the season, becoming the 23rd player this season with 10 or more Box-Toppers points. Hammel ranks 17th among all players and 12th among NL pitchers.
American League Player of the Day—Red Sox pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez pitched four scoreless innings, allowing no hits, walking two and striking out seven, in the 5-3 win over the Orioles. Rodriguez did not earn the win, picking up a no decision, because he did not pitch the requisite five innings to earn the win, exiting the game with an injury.
National League Batter of the Day—DJ LeMahieu of the Rockies homered, tripled and went 3-for-3, scoring three times and driving in two runs, in the 6-2 win over the Nationals.
American League Batter of the Day—Luke Maile of the Rays doubled and went 3-for-4, scoring once and driving in four runs, in the 15-1 win over the Padres.
This was Maile’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Maile made his Major League debut Sept. 1, 2015, and was playing in his 35th career game. He is the 3,709th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Rankings—Indians pitcher Corey Kluber rises to third place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Tuesday.
Kluber (6IP 7H R 2BB 7K W in the 3-1 win over the White Sox) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 17.2 for the season. He extends his lead among AL pitchers ahead of second-place Cole Hamels of the Rangers (14.1).
Notable—Royals pitcher Danny Duffy becomes the 24th player this season with 10 or more Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Tuesday.
Duffy (7.2IP 3H R 2BB 5K W in the 6-1 win over the Tigers) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 10.7 for the season. Duffy ranks 19th among all players and sixth among AL pitchers.
Streak—Troy Tulowitzki of the Blue Jays has now earned Box-Toppers points in 10 straight seasons after earning his first Player of the Game honor of 2016 on Tuesday.
Tulowitzki (HR 4-5 2R 2BI in the 12-6 win over the Yankees) earned his first Box-Toppers point in 2007 with the Rockies and has 59.8 career points, 15th among active AL batters and first among active AL shortstops. His best year was 2014 with the Rockies, when he had 11.6 Box-Toppers points, the season leader among NL batters. In 2015, he had 6.0 Box-Toppers points with the Rockies and the Blue Jays.
Debut—In addition to Maile, two other players made their Box-Toppers debut Tuesday, with their first career Player of the Game honors:
Scoring—Hammel earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Rodriguez earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. LeMahieu and Maile each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Tuesday’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.
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score
| 8/16 | Score | Game | Player of Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 9.0 | CHC 4, MIL 1 | Jason Hammel (W,13-5) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 | |
| AL | 9.0 | `BOS 5, BAL 3 | Eduardo Rodriguez | - | - | - | - | 4.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | |
| 7.0 | MIN 4, ATL 2 | Ervin Santana (W,6-9) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | ||
| 7.0 | LAD 15, PHI 5 | Kenta Maeda (W,12-7) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 9 | ||
| 5.2 | KC 6, DET 1 | Danny Duffy (W,10-1) | - | - | - | - | 7.2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | ||
| BAT | 5.0 | COL 6, WSH 2 | DJ LeMahieu, 2B | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| BAT | 4.0 | TB 15, SD 1 | Luke Maile, C | 4 | 1 | 3 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | CHC 4, MIL 0 | Trevor Cahill (W,2-3) | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | ||
| 4.0 | `TEX 5, OAK 4 (10) | Alex Claudio | - | - | - | - | 4.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | ||
| 3.0 | TOR 12, NYY 6 | Troy Tulowitzki, SS | 5 | 2 | 4 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | CIN 6, MIA 3 | Tucker Barnhart, C | 3 | 1 | 1 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | STL 8, HOU 5 | Seung Hwan Oh (S,12) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 2.0 | NYM 7, ARI 5 | T.J. Rivera, 3B-2B | 4 | 2 | 4 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | CLE 3, CHW 1 | Corey Kluber (W,13-8) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 | ||
| 1.0 | LAA 7, SEA 6 | Jett Bandy, C | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 0.0 | PIT 4, SF 3 | Andrew McCutchen, CF | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| `Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save. | ||||||||||||||
| Player of Game | Pos | Team | 16 | 15-16 | 11-16 | Career | +/- |
| Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | cle al | 17.2 | 30.6 | 61.4 | 61.4 | 3.8 |
| Hammel, Jason 2235 | pi sp | chi nl | 11.0 | 20.7 | 44.1 | 57.2 | 1.3 |
| Duffy, Danny 2915 | pi sp | kc al | 10.7 | 14.7 | 29.7 | 29.7 | 6.7 |
| LeMahieu, DJ 3091 | 2b | col nl | 7.0 | 14.0 | 20.0 | 20.0 | 0.0 |
| Maeda, Kenta 3609 | pi sp | lad nl | 7.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 |
| McCutchen, Andrew 2637 | cf | pit nl | 4.5 | 15.0 | 45.7 | 51.4 | -6.0 |
| Santana, Ervin 2005 | pi sp | min al | 4.0 | 9.4 | 47.8 | 97.3 | -1.4 |
| Oh, Seung Hwan 3693 | pi cp | stl nl | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 |
| Rodriguez, Eduardo 3480 | pi sp | bos al | 2.7 | 8.7 | 8.7 | 8.7 | -3.3 |
| Cahill, Trevor 2658 | pi mr sp | chi nl | 2.0 | 3.0 | 26.1 | 39.2 | 1.0 |
| Maile, Luke 3709 | ca | tb al | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 |
| Tulowitzki, Troy 2308 | ss | tor al | 1.0 | 7.0 | 39.1 | 59.8 | -5.0 |
| Barnhart, Tucker 3519 | ca | cin nl | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 0.0 |
| Claudio, Alex 3459 | pi mr | tex al | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 0.0 |
| Bandy, Jett 3711 | ca | ana al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| Rivera, T.J. 3710 | 3b 2b | nym nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
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.