Christian Arroyo of the Red Sox is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Thursday’s spring training games.
Arroyo hit a grand slam and went 2-for-3, scoring twice and driving in five runs, in the 15-3 win over the Phillies.
Read MorePadres’ Martinez tops players in Wednesday, March 1’s spring training games
Padres pitcher Nick Martinez is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Wednesday’s spring training games.
Martinez struck out four over four scoreless innings, allowing one hit and one walk, in the 5-1, seven-inning win over the Rangers.
Read MoreTwins’ Julien tops players in Tuesday, Feb. 28’s spring training games
Edouard Julien of the Twins is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Tuesday’s spring training games.
Julien hit two home runs, including a three-run shot, and went 2-for-3, scoring twice and driving in four runs, in the 10-7 win over the Braves.
Read MoreRays’ Franco tops players in Monday, Feb. 27’s spring training games
Wander Franco of the Rays is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Monday’s spring training games.
Franco homered, doubled and went 3-for-3, scoring twice and driving in four runs, in the 14-2 win over the Orioles.
Read MoreYankees’ Schmidt tops players in Sunday, Feb. 26’s spring training games
Yankees pitcher Clarke Schmidt is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Sunday’s spring training games.
Schmidt struck out five over two scoreless, hitless innings, allowing no walks and picking up the win, in the 7-0 win over the Braves.
Read MoreOrioles’ Kjerstad tops players in Saturday, Feb. 25’s 1st full slate of spring games
Heston Kjerstad of the Orioles is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Saturday’s spring training games.
Kjerstad hit two home runs and went 3-for-3, scoring three times and driving in two runs, in the 10-5 win over the Twins.
Read MoreRoyals’ Pasquantino tops players in 1st day of spring games, Friday, Feb. 24
Vinnie Pasquantino of the Royals is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Friday’s first spring training games of 2023.
Pasquantino homered and went 2-for-2, scoring twice and driving in two runs, in the 6-5 win over the Rangers.
Read MoreAn overview of Box-Toppers category leaders over several time frames after 2022
No single player leads more than two of Box-Toppers’ main leaderboards at the end of 2022.
Max Scherzer, who led five of the leaderboards at the close of 2021, most of any player, is now one of six players to lead two of the 18 leaderboards after the 2022 season.
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A look at Box-Toppers top 100 players of ‘all-time’ after the 2022 season
Could 2023 be the season Clayton Kershaw passes Randy Johnson for the “all-time” lead in career Box-Toppers points?
Or could this coming season be the year when Kershaw loses the lead among active players in career Box-Toppers points to either Max Scherzer or Justin Verlander?
Read MoreA look at Box-Toppers’ top 100 players for 2021-22 and 2017-22
Angels pitcher Shohei Ohtani is Box-Toppers’ top-ranked player over the past two seasons while Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer ranks first in points over the past six seasons.
Ohtani earned 40.8 Box-Toppers points combined in 2021 and 2022 to lead all players in that span, while Scherzer earned 104.6 from 2017-2022, most in that span.
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A look at Box-Toppers’ top 100 players for 2022
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.
Read MoreHow 2023 Hall of Fame candidates fared in Box-Toppers
Third baseman Scott Rolen was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame Tuesday in his sixth year on the baseball writers’ ballot.
Box-Toppers did not vote Rolen for induction in a separate internet baseball writers ballot, favoring four other candidates who were not elected.
Read MoreA look at Box-Toppers season-by-season AL & NL pitching & batting leaders, 1995-2022
In 2022, Justin Verlander led American League pitchers in season Box-Toppers points for the third time in his career, tied for the seventh-most times a player has led a season points category.
Also in 2022, the New York Mets and Miami Marlins each had their first Box-Toppers points category leader—Pete Alonso and Sandy Alcantara— leaving the Pittsburgh Pirates as the only team to never have a player lead a category since tracking began in 1995.
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Verlander rises from 6th to 5th on Box-Toppers’ ‘all-time’ top 10 list during 2022
During the 2022 season, Justin Verlander rose from sixth to fifth place on Box-Toppers “all-time” career points top 10 list.
It was the only player movement among Box-Toppers “all-time” career points top 10 players overall, among the top 10 pitchers and among the top 10 batters. Retired pitcher Randy Johnson still leads all players in career Box-Toppers points with 282.5 (tracking began in 1995).
Read MoreMax Scherzer leads players in Box-Toppers points over past 6 seasons (2017-22)
Mets pitcher Max Scherzer leads players in Box-Toppers points since the start of 2017.
Scherzer has 104.6 Box-Toppers points over the period 2017-2022, 2.2 points ahead of second-ranked player Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole, who has 102.4 points over that span.
Read MoreShohei Ohtani leads players in Box-Toppers points over past 2 seasons (2021-22)
Angels pitcher Shohei Ohtani has more Box-Toppers points over the past two seasons than any other player.
Ohtani has earned 40.8 Box-Toppers points over 2021 and 2022. He ranked second among all players in 2021 with 24.7 Box-Toppers points and 12th among all players in 2021 with 16.1 points. Ohtani ranked second among American League pitchers in 2022 and third among AL pitchers in 2021.
Read MoreBox-Toppers’ big dippers—players whose 2022 point total declined most from 2021: Max Scherzer leads list
Mets pitcher Max Scherzer had the biggest decline in Box-Toppers points from 2021 to 2022.
Scherzer led all players in 2021 with 25.1 Box-Toppers points when he was with the Nationals and Dodgers. Scherzer earned 10.0 Box-Toppers points in 2022. While that was still 24th among National League pitchers, it was a 15.1-point decline from 2021, the biggest among all players.
Read MoreA detailed look at Box-Toppers points leaders for 2022: Top players by position in each league
Here is a detailed look at Box-Toppers point leaders for 2022.
The chart accompanying this post shows points leaders for the season by several different categories and classifications.
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Yankees, Mets lead Box-Toppers offseason team rankings, landing biggest free agents
The New York Yankees and New York Mets lead Box-Toppers offseason rankings after landing the winter’s two biggest free agents.
The Yankees rank first after Carlos Rodon Thursday agreed to a free agent deal. Rodon earned 19.8 Box-Toppers points in 2022 with the Giants, sixth overall and third among National League pitchers. He ranked second among all free agents going into the 2023 season.
Read MoreA look at how 2022 Reliever of the Year winners Diaz, Clase fared in Box-Toppers points
Edwin Diaz of the Mets and Emmanuel Clase of the Guardians were named 2022 Relievers of the Year by Major League Baseball Tuesday.
Diaz, the winner in the National League, ranked second among all NL closing pitchers with 7.0 Box-Toppers points. But Clase, winner in the American League, ranked far outside the top three AL closers—in 24th place—with 2.0 Box-Toppers points.
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