| AL PITCHERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | NL PITCHERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | hou al | 24.2 | 1 | Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 18.7 | |
| 2 | Verlander, Justin 2112 | pi sp | hou al | 23.8 | 2 | Hader, Josh 3881 | pi cp | mil nl | 16.7 | |
| 3 | Morton, Charlie 2503 | pi sp | tb al | 16.8 | 3 | Ryu, Hyun-Jin 3139 | pi sp | lad nl | 15.4 | |
| 4 | Bieber, Shane 4005 | pi sp | cle al | 16.1 | 4 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 14.4 | |
| 5 | Clevinger, Mike 3707 | pi sp | cle al | 14.4 | 5 | Corbin, Patrick 3027 | pi sp | dc nl | 14.4 | |
| 6 | Minor, Mike 2894 | pi sp | tex al | 13.7 | 6 | Buehler, Walker 3943 | pi sp | lad nl | 14.4 | |
| 7 | Giolito, Lucas 3900 | pi sp | chi al | 13.7 | 7 | Castillo, Luis Miguel 3840 | pi sp | cin nl | 14.4 | |
| 8 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | hou al | 13.2 | 8 | Paddack, Chris 4093 | pi sp | sd nl | 14.1 | |
| 9 | Lynn, Lance 2992 | pi sp | tex al | 12.0 | 9 | Gray, Sonny 3259 | pi sp | cin nl | 13.4 | |
| 10 | Yarbrough, Ryan 3962 | pi sp mr | tb al | 11.4 | 10 | Hendricks, Kyle 3386 | pi sp | chi nl | 13.4 | |
| AL BATTERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | NL BATTERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | |||
| 1 | Cruz, Nelson Ramon 2224 | dh | min al | 11.0 | 1 | Yelich, Christian 3334 | rf | mil nl | 10.7 | |
| 2 | Torres, Gleyber 3972 | ss | nyy al | 10.5 | 2 | Freeman, Freddie 2887 | 1b | atl nl | 10.2 | |
| 3 | Bregman, Alex 3721 | 3b ss | hou al | 10.0 | 3 | Bellinger, Cody 3781 | rf | lad nl | 10.2 | |
| 4 | Pujols, Albert 1438 | 1b | ana al | 10.0 | 4 | Bell, Josh E. 3682 | 1b | pit nl | 9.7 | |
| 5 | Devers, Rafael 4038 | 3b | bos al | 9.5 | 5 | Arenado, Nolan 3306 | 3b | col nl | 9.0 | |
| 6 | Betts, Mookie 3404 | rf | bos al | 8.7 | 6 | Ozuna, Marcell 3190 | lf | stl nl | 9.0 | |
| 7 | Trout, Mike 2949 | cf | ana al | 8.7 | 7 | Escobar, Eduardo 3135 | 3b 2b | ari nl | 8.0 | |
| 8 | Soler, Jorge 3403 | dh | kc al | 8.7 | 8 | Goldschmidt, Paul 2935 | 1b | stl nl | 7.5 | |
| 9 | Chapman, Matt 3849 | 3b | oak al | 8.0 | 9 | Cabrera, Asdrubal 2362 | 3b | dc nl | 7.5 | |
| 10 | Semien, Marcus 3302 | ss | oak al | 7.7 | 10 | Donaldson, Josh 3144 | 3b | atl nl | 7.5 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Astros pitcher Gerrit Cole leads Box-Toppers weekly player rankings report for the second straight week.
Christian Yelich of the Brewers rises this week to lead National League batters in 2019 Box-Toppers points, passing previous leader Cody Bellinger of the Dodgers.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2019 season through the games of Sept. 5.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | hou al | 24.2 |
| 2 | Verlander, Justin 2112 | pi sp | hou al | 23.8 |
| 3 | Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 18.7 |
| 4 | Morton, Charlie 2503 | pi sp | tb al | 16.8 |
| 5 | Hader, Josh 3881 | pi cp | mil nl | 16.7 |
| 6 | Bieber, Shane 4005 | pi sp | cle al | 16.1 |
| 7 | Ryu, Hyun-Jin 3139 | pi sp | lad nl | 15.4 |
| 8 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 14.4 |
| 9 | Corbin, Patrick 3027 | sp pi | dc nl | 14.4 |
| 10 | Buehler, Walker 3943 | pi sp | lad nl | 14.4 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Plus, Stephen Strasburg of the Nationals continues to lead NL pitchers in Box-Toppers points and Nelson Cruz of the Twins continues to lead AL batters.
Cole now has 24.2 Box-Toppers points, picking up 1.7 points in the past week. He leads teammate Justin Verlander (23.8) both overall and among AL pitchers.
While Cole leads for the second straight week, he actually lost the lead to Verlander for one day during the week, when on Sunday Verlander pitched a no-hitter, earning Player of the Day honors and moved ahead of Cole. However, Cole came back the next day earning AL Player of the Day honors to regain the lead.
National League batters—Christian Yelich of the Brewers rises to lead the category with 10.7 Box-Toppers points, passing Cody Bellinger of the Dodgers (10.2), who led the past five weeks. Bellinger falls to third among NL batters, behind Yelich and Freddie Freeman of the Braves (10.2). Yelich ranks 30th among all players.
Yelich’s 10.7 points is tied for the lowest Box-Toppers point total to lead NL batters in a season. Nolan Arenado of the Rockies also had 10.7 points in 2016. That is also the lowest point total to lead any major category (AL and NL pitching and batting) in a single season.
National League pitchers—Strasburg leads NL pitchers for the second week with 18.7 points, picking up 2.0 points in the past week. He leads second-place NL pitcher, closer Josh Hader of the Brewers (16.7).
With about three weeks left in the season, it is possible that a new record could be set in this category: The lowest Box-Toppers point total to lead NL pitchers in a single season is 19.1 by John Smoltz of the Braves in 2006. Strasburg needs 0.4 points to reach 19.1.
American League batters—Nelson Cruz of the Twins leads AL batters for the fifth straight week with 11.0 Box-Toppers points, picking up no points in the past week. Cruz leads second-place AL batter, Gleyber Torres of the Yankees (10.5 points). Cruz ranks 29th among all players.
The lowest Box-Toppers point total to lead AL batters in a season is 12.1 by Edwin Encarnacion of the Indians in 2017.
Top 10 changes—There are no new players in the overall top 10 this week.
The #BT40—The Box-Toppers 40 (#BT40) is made up of the 40 players on Box-Toppers’ four top 10 category lists—AL and NL pitchers and batters. The #BT40 are listed in the chart at the top of this page.
Three players joined the #BT40 this week:
Mookie Betts of the Red Sox rises to sixth place among AL batters with 8.7 points.
Marcus Semien of the Athletics rises to 10th place among AL batters with 7.7 points.
Josh Donaldson of the Braves rises to 10th place among NL batters with 7.5 points.
Those three displaced these three players: J.D. Martinez of the Red Sox, Gio Urshela of the Yankees and Bryce Harper of the Phillies.
It should be noted that the #BT40 are not the overall top 40 players, but the top 10 in each of four categories. The lowest-ranking player among the #BT40 is Josh Donaldson of the Braves (7.5 points, 10th among NL batters), who ranks 77th overall.
So far this season, 2,103 games have been completed (86.5 percent of all 2,430 scheduled), with 2,504.6 total Box-Toppers points awarded to 705 different players, who have earned Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors. There are 360 players who have more than 2.0 Box-Toppers points. There are 156 players who have made their Box-Toppers debut so far this season (five in the past week), the first time in their career they earned Player of the Game honors.
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.
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