**Box-Toppers three top-ranked rookies are named to Box-Toppers 2024 All-Rookie Team: Yankees pitcher Luis Gil, Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes and Cubs pitcher Shota Imanaga.**

Box-Toppers 2024 All-Rookie Team includes Rookies of the Year Gil, Skenes

Shawn Plank January 11, 2025

The past season’s Rookie of the Year winners—Yankees pitcher Luis Gil and Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes—are among the Box-Toppers 2024 All-Rookie Team players.

Gil is placed on the Box-Toppers All-Rookie Team as the second starting pitcher and Skenes is placed as the third starter. Gil ranked second among rookie starting pitchers with 17.4 Box-Toppers points and Skenes ranked third with 13.0 Box-Toppers points. Both finished behind Cubs pitcher Shota Imanaga, Box-Toppers’ top-ranked rookie pitcher, who earned 20.7 Box-Toppers points in 2024.

Box-Toppers points leaders Aaron Judge of the Yankees (left), Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers (middle) and Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal (left) also were winners of the 2024 Players Choice Awards as voted by members of the players’ union.

Box-Toppers points leaders Judge, Ohtani, Skubal win 2024 Players Choice Awards

Shawn Plank January 2, 2025

Three Box-Toppers category leaders also won Players Choice Awards for 2024 as voted by the players’ union:

Aaron Judge of the Yankees was voted American League Outstanding Player and also was Box-Toppers’ choice as AL Most Valuable Player.
Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers was voted National League Outstanding Player and was also Box-Toppers’ choice as NL Most Valuable Player.
Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal was voted AL Outstanding Pitcher and also was Box-Toppers’ choice as NL Cy Young Award winner.

Imanaga makes biggest leap in Box-Toppers points; 2 others win B-T Comeback Player

Shawn Plank December 20, 2024

While Cubs pitcher Shota Imanaga is Box-Toppers’ most improved player in 2024, our choices for Comeback Players of the Year are Yankees pitcher Nestor Cortes and Braves pitcher Reynaldo Lopez.

Meanwhile, one of the consensus choices for Comeback Player of the Year—Braves pitcher Chris Sale—ranks 13th among Box-Toppers’ most-improved players in 2024.

Box-Toppers analysis: Why Ichiro Suzuki is not a Hall-of-Famer

Shawn Plank December 2, 2024

As baseball writers push for Ichiro Suzuki to not only be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame but to become only the second player voted in unanimously, what chucklehead will oppose that?

It pains me to say: Me. Let me explain.

Despite earning Most Valuable Player and Rookie of the Year Awards and getting 3,000 hits, Suzuki was not the key player very often in his team’s wins. There was almost always some other teammate outperforming Suzuki in team wins. Suzuki never led his team in a season in Box-Toppers points and never even led his team’s batters.

Postseason awards wrap-up: Box-Toppers leaders win 4 of 6 major honors in 2024

Shawn Plank November 24, 2024

Box-Toppers’ choices for baseball’s major postseason player awards won four of six 2024 honors:

Aaron Judge of the Yankees won the American League Most Valuable Player Award.
Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers won the National League Most Valuable Player Award.
Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal won the AL Cy Young Award.
Yankees pitcher Luis Gil won the AL Rookie of the Year Award.

Box-Toppers batting leaders Judge, Ohtani win Most Valuable Player awards

Shawn Plank November 21, 2024

Aaron Judge of the Yankees and Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers, who both led their league’s batters in Box-Toppers points in 2024, won the season’s Most Valuable Player Awards Thursday.

Judge, who led American League batters with 13.0 Box-Toppers points, won the AL award and Ohtani, who led National League batters with 11.0 Box-Toppers points, won the NL award.

Yankees pitcher Luis Gil is voted AL Rookie of the Year and Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes is voted NL Rookie of the Year. Cubs pitcher Shota Imanaga, Box-Toppers’ choice for top NL rookie, finished fourth in voting.

Box-Toppers’ top AL rookie Gil wins AL Rookie of Year; top NL rookie Imanaga finishes 4th

Shawn Plank November 18, 2024

Yankees pitcher Luis Gil, Box-Toppers’ choice for 2024 American League Rookie of the Year, was also voted winner of the honor by baseball writers Monday.

But Paul Skenes of the Pirates, who won the National League Rookie of the Year honor, was second among Box-Toppers’ top three choices for top NL rookie. Cubs pitcher Shota Imanaga, Box-Toppers’ choice for top NL rookie, finished fourth in voting.

Box-Toppers points leaders are finalists in 5 of 6 major postseason player awards

Shawn Plank November 12, 2024

In five of the six major postseason player awards, the 2024 Box-Toppers points leader for each honor is among the finalists announced by baseball writers Monday.

Here are the five awards for which Box-Toppers top-ranked players are among the finalists:

American League Cy Young Award—Tarik Skubal of the Tigers.
National League Cy Young Award—Zack Wheeler of the Phillies.
AL Most Valuable Player—Aaron Judge of the Yankees.
NL Most Valuable Player—Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers.
AL Rookie of the Year—Luis Gil of the Yankees.

A Box-Toppers look at postseason awards—For 1st time in 30 years, our picks may win

Shawn Plank October 28, 2024

Box-Toppers points leaders have never won all four major postseason awards since tracking began in 1995.

But this year, in the 30th season of tracking, there is a chance that the four Box-Toppers points category leaders (both league’s batters and pitchers) may win the four major awards (both league’s Most Valuable Player and Cy Young awards).

Box-Toppers picks Dodgers over Astros in 2024 World Series, plus our awards forecasts

Shawn Plank March 27, 2024

Box-Toppers picks the Los Angeles Dodgers to win the 2024 World Series, beating the predicted American League champion Houston Astros.

Box-Toppers projects the Dodgers will have the most wins among all teams—103—and will be one of three teams with 99 or more wins, along with the Astros and the Atlanta Braves.

Henderson named to Box-Toppers 2023 All-Rookie Team but Carroll falls short

Shawn Plank January 8, 2024

Gunnar Henderson of the Orioles, the American League Rookie of the Year, is among the players on Box-Toppers 2023 All-Rookie Team.

But Corbin Carroll of the Diamondbacks, voted National League Rookie of the Year, is not among the players on the team, having finished sixth among rookie outfielders with 3.0 Box-Toppers points in 2023.

Can Shohei Ohtani continue his lofty, Angelic Box-Toppers rankings with Dodgers?

Shawn Plank December 16, 2023

Shohei Ohtani, who signed a record free-agent deal with the Dodgers, has consistently been among Box-Toppers' highest-ranking players over the past three seasons.

However, his second surgery to repair his pitching elbow's ulnar collateral ligament, raises concerns about his future effectiveness. A Box-Toppers look at Ohtani’s career and the mixed outcomes of pitchers with a second elbow surgery.

Box-Toppers points leaders Ohtani, Henderson win 2023 Players Choice Awards

Shawn Plank December 10, 2023

Only two of Box-Toppers category leaders also won Players Choice Awards for 2023 as voted by the players’ union: Shohei Ohtani of the Angels, who was voted American League Outstanding Player and Gunnar Henderson of the Orioles was voted AL Outstanding Rookie.

Luzardo leads Box-Toppers most improved list; 2 others win B-T Comeback Player

Shawn Plank December 2, 2023

While Marlins pitcher Jesus Luzardo is Box-Toppers’ most improved player in 2023, our choices for Comeback Players of the Year are Eduardo Rodriguez of the Tigers and Jason Heyward of the Dodgers.

Meanwhile, the consensus choices for Comeback Players of the Year—Cody Bellinger and Liam Hendriks—did not rank very highly among Box-Toppers most improved players in 2023.

Box-Toppers leaders win two of the six major postseason awards in 2023: Shohei Ohtani of the Angels wins AL Most Valuable Player and Gunnar Henderson of the Orioles wins AL Rookie of the Year. The other four Box-Toppers leaders did not win awards in their category: Pete Alonso of the Mets was not NL MVP, Chris Bassitt of the Blue Jays was not AL Cy Young Award winner, Spencer Strider of the Braves did not win NL Cy Young and James Outman of the Dodgers was not NL Rookie of the Year.

Awards wrap-up: Box-Toppers leaders win 2 of 6 major postseason honors in 2023

Shawn Plank November 21, 2023

Box-Toppers’ choices for baseball’s major postseason awards won two of six of the 2023 honors.

Shohei Ohtani of the Angels won the American League Most Valuable Player Award and Gunnar Henderson of the Orioles won the AL Rookie of the Year Award.

Shohei Ohtani of the Angels and Ronald Acuña Jr. of the Braves were voted 2023 Most Valuable Player award winners. While Ohtani was also Box-Toppers’ choice as AL MVP, Pete Alonso of the Mets was Box-Toppers’ NL MVP leader over Acuña.

Box-Toppers’ pick Ohtani wins AL MVP, but Acuña wins NL MVP over our pick, Alonso

Shawn Plank November 16, 2023

Shohei Ohtani of the Angels was voted 2023 American League Most Valuable Player Wednesday. He was also Box-Toppers’ choice as AL MVP.

However, in the National League, Ronald Acuna Jr. of the Braves was voted MVP—he finished second in Box-Toppers’ NL MVP ballot behind Pete Alonso of the Mets.

Gunnar Henderson of the Orioles is voted AL Rookie of the Year and Corbin Carroll of the Diamondbacks is voted NL Rookie of the Year. James Outman of the Dodgers, Box-Toppers’ choice for top NL rookie, finished third in voting.

Box-Toppers’ top AL rookie Henderson wins AL Rookie of the Year; top NL rookie Outman finishes 3rd

Shawn Plank November 13, 2023

Gunnar Henderson of the Orioles, Box-Toppers’ choice for 2023 American League Rookie of the Year, was also voted winner of the honor by baseball writers Monday.

But Corbin Carroll of the Diamondbacks, who won the National League Rookie of the Year honor, was not among Box-Toppers’ top three choices for top NL rookie. James Outman of the Dodgers, Box-Toppers’ choice for top NL rookie, finished third in voting.

Box-Toppers choices for major postseason awards: AL MVP—Shohei Ohtani, Angels; NL MVP—Pete Alonso, Mets; AL Cy Young—Chris Bassitt, Blue Jays; NL Cy Young—Spencer Strider, Braves; AL Rookie of the Year—Gunnar Henderson, Orioles; NL Rookie of the Year—James Outman, Dodgers.

A look at Box-Toppers’ leaders for postseason awards, plus an award finalist overview

Shawn Plank November 12, 2023

You’re going to hate Box-Toppers’ choices for postseason player honors.

That’s the impression I get from listening to and reading baseball commentators who by August were already declaring players as not even de facto but actual “don’t-argue-with-me-because-I’m-right-and-there’s-clearly-no-dispute” award winners.

Box-Toppers’ Rookies of the Year: Outman outmans Carroll in NL; Henderson is top in AL

Shawn Plank November 9, 2023

Gunnar Henderson of the Orioles is Box-Toppers American League Rookie of the Year, while James Outman of the Dodgers is Box-Toppers National League Rookie of the Year.

While Henderson is a favorite for AL Rookie of the Year, Corbin Carroll of the Diamondbacks is the overwhelming favorite for NL Rookie of the Year, even though he is not among Box-Toppers’ top NL rookies.

A look at Box-Toppers’ top 100 players for 2022

Shawn Plank February 2, 2023

Astros pitcher Justin Verlander tops Box-Toppers list of the top 100 players of 2022.

Verlander had 26.0 Box-Toppers points during the regular season. Verlander came back after sitting out most of the previous two seasons, recovering from Tommy John surgery. He earned 1.0 Box-Toppers point in 2020 and none in 2021. His 26.0 point gain from 0.0 in 2021 to 26.0 in 2022 is the largest single-season point gain for any player since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995.