Astros’ Valdez tops players for Tuesday, Aug. 1 with no-hitter; Strider regains NL lead

Astros pitcher Framber Valdez, pitching a no-hitter, is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

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▪️ Box-Toppers Player of the Game winners.
▪️ Box-Toppers points of the day’s top players.
▪️ Top 10 players in 2023 Box-Toppers points.
▪️ A B-T look at upcoming pitching matchups.
▪️ Subscribe to Box-Toppers Email Newsletter.

Astros pitcher Framber Valdez, pitching a no-hitter, is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 in Box-Toppers season player rankings for 2023. Players are ranked by Box-Toppers points (BTP) earned this season through Tuesday, Aug. 1.

Player Pos Team BTP
1 Ohtani, Shohei 3933 dh pi sp ana al 17.4
2 Strider, Spencer 4626 pi sp atl nl 14.4
3 Luzardo, Jesus 4282 pi sp fla nl 13.1
4 Gausman, Kevin 3191 pi sp tor al 13.0
5 Bassitt, Chris 3413 pi sp tor al 12.4
6 Burnes, Corbin 4029 pi sp mil nl 11.7
7 Bautista, Felix 4668 pi cp bal al 11.0
8 Gallen, Zac 4171 pi sp ari nl 10.7
9 Garrett, Braxton 4341 pi sp fla nl 10.7
10 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp tex al 10.4
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Also Tuesday, Braves pitcher Spencer Strider rises to second place in Box-Toppers season player rankings, reclaiming the Box-Toppers points lead among National League pitchers, after earning NL Player of the Day honors.

Player of the Day

Valdez pitched a complete-game, no-hit shutout, striking out seven and walking one, in the 2-0 win over the Guardians.

Valdez faced the minimum 27 batters, allowing only one baserunner on a walk to Oscar Gonzalez in the fifth inning. Gonzalez was forced out two batters later in a double play. Valdez completed the no-hitter with only 93 pitches.

It is the third no-hitter of 2023 and the second to be completed by one pitcher—the other was the perfect game by Yankees pitcher Domingo German on June 28.

Valdez earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 9.0 for the season, 18th among all players and 10th among American League pitchers.

Valdez had a +15.0 Box-Toppers game score Tuesday, the same as Rangers pitcher Andrew Heaney, who was Player of the Game in the 2-0 win over the White Sox (6IP 2H 0R 0BB 11K W). Though he pitched a no-hitter, Valdez just edged out Heaney for Player of the Game honors on a tiebreaker because he had more innings pitched—nine vs. six.

And though Valdez pitched a no-hitter, his +15.0 Box-Toppers game score was just the 16th-best of the season. The best was +19.0 by Braves pitcher Spencer Strider on April 24 (8IP 2H 0R 0BB 13K W in the 11-0 win over the Marlins).

National League Player of the Day is Braves pitcher Spencer Strider.

National League Player of the Day

Braves pitcher Spencer Strider struck out nine over 6 2/3 innings, allowing one run, five hits and two walks, in the 5-1 win over the Angels.

Strider earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 14.4 for the season, rising from fourth to second in season player rankings, trailing Shohei Ohtani of the Angels (17.4 points). Strider regains the 2023 Box-Toppers points lead among NL pitchers, passing Jesus Luzardo of the Marlins (13.1). Strider has now also exceeded the 13.4 points he earned in his 2022 rookie season with the Braves.

National League Batter of the Day is Mike Tauchman of the Cubs.

National League Batter of the Day

Mike Tauchman of the Cubs hit a three-run homer, a sacrifice fly and went 2-for-3, scoring three times and driving in four runs, in the 20-9 win over the Reds.

Tauchman earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being NL Batter of the Day, giving him 5.0 for the season, 15th among NL batters.

American League Batter of the Day is Gunnar Henderson of the Orioles.

American League Batter of the Day

Gunnar Henderson of the Orioles homered and went 3-for-5, scoring twice and driving in four runs, in the 13-3 win over the Blue Jays.

Royals pitcher Zack Greinke is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Tuesday’s win over the Mets.

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Notable

Royals pitcher Zack Greinke now has 224.5 career Box-Toppers points—sixth-most since 1995—after earning Player of the Game honors Tuesday.

Greinke (5IP 4H R 0BB 3K ND in the 7-6, 10-inning win over the Mets) trails fifth-ranked player, Astros pitcher Justin Verlander (238.6). Greinke ranks fourth among active players in career points. Until a few days ago, Greinke led active AL players in career points, but now falls to third because two active players with more career points moved this week on trade deadline deals from the National League back to the American League—Max Scherzer was traded from the New York Mets to the Texas Rangers and Justin Verlander was traded from the New York Mets back to the Houston Astros. With that, Greinke is now third among active AL pitchers, behind Scherzer (248.7) and Verlander (238.6).

Greinke earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point Tuesday, giving him 2.0 for the season.

Scoring

  • Valdez earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day.

  • Strider earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day.

  • Tauchman and Henderson each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day.

  • All of Tuesday’s other Player of the Game winners (listed in the chart) 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.

Box-Toppers strives for accuracy. See a mistake in a post? A wrong name, wrong team, grammar error, spelling goof, etc.? Thanks for pointing it out! Contact Box-Toppers here. Let's fix it and make it right.

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Box‑Toppers Player of the Game winners

Here is the top player from each of the day’s games listed from highest to lowest Box‑Toppers game score (BTG).

7/31 BTG Game Player AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB +15.0 HOU 2, CLE 0 Framber Valdez (W, 9‑7) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 9.0 0 0 0 1 7
+15.0 TEX 2, CHW 0 Andrew Heaney (W, 8‑6) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 6.0 2 0 0 0 11
+8.0 TB 5, NYY 2 Zach Eflin (W, 12‑6) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 6.0 3 0 0 0 5
NL +6.2 ATL 5, LAA 1 Spencer Strider (W, 12‑3) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 6.2 5 1 1 2 9
BAT +6.0 CHC 20, CIN 9 Mike Tauchman RF 3 3 2 4 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+5.0 MIN 3, STL 2 Pablo López (W, 6‑6) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 6.0 4 1 1 0 5
BAT +4.0 BAL 13, TOR 3 Gunnar Henderson DH 5 2 3 4 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+3.0 SD 8, COL 5 Juan Soto LF 5 2 2 4 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+3.0 PIT 4, DET 1 David Bednar (S, 22) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 1.0 0 0 0 0 2
+2.0 LAD 7, OAK 3 Freddie Freeman 1B 5 2 4 1 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+2.0 MIL 6, WSH 4 Brice Turang 2B 4 2 2 2 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+2.0 PHI 3, MIA 1 Seranthony Domínguez (S, 1) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 1.0 0 0 0 0 1
+2.0 BOS 6, SEA 4 Kenley Jansen (S, 24) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 1.0 0 0 0 0 1
+2.0 `KC 7, NYM 6 (F/10) Zack Greinke ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 5.0 4 1 1 0 3
+1.0 SF 4, ARI 3 Brandon Crawford SS 4 1 2 2 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
MLB—Overall Box‑Toppers Player of the Day, worth 2.0 total Box‑Toppers points.
AL—Overall American League Player of the Day, worth 1.7 total Box‑Toppers points.
NL—Overall National League Player of the Day, worth 1.7 total Box‑Toppers points.
BAT—Top AL or NL Batter of the Day, worth 1.5 total Box‑Toppers points.
All other players listed here earn Player of the Game honors, worth 1.0 Box‑Toppers point.
` Pitcher had a no‑decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save.
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Box-Toppers point totals of the day’s Player of the Game winners

Here are Box-Toppers point totals of each of the Player of the Game winners. Players are ranked by their Box-Toppers point total in 2023 (’23). Also shown is their point total for this season and last (’22-23), the period 2018-2023 (’18-23) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2023 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2022 total (+/-).
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Player of the Game Pos Team ’23 ’22‑23 ’18‑23 Career +/‑
Strider, Spencer 4626 pi sp atl nl 14.4 27.8 27.8 27.8 +1.0
Valdez, Framber 4048 pi sp hou al 9.0 25.0 40.4 40.4 -7.0
Lopez, Pablo 4028 pi sp min al 9.0 19.7 42.8 42.8 -1.7
Eflin, Zach 3679 pi sp tb al 8.0 11.7 34.5 39.5 +4.3
Heaney, Andrew 3515 pi sp tex al 7.7 15.7 38.8 43.8 -0.3
Bednar, David 4499 pi cp pit nl 6.0 12.0 14.0 14.0 0.0
Soto, Juan 3994 lf sd nl 6.0 8.5 30.0 30.0 +3.5
Freeman, Freddie 2887 1b lad nl 5.5 14.0 39.7 81.4 -3.0
Tauchman, Mike 4212 cf chi nl 5.0 5.0 6.5 6.5 +5.0
Henderson, Gunnar 4739 dh 3b ph bal al 4.0 7.2 7.2 7.2 +0.8
Jansen, Kenley 2871 pi cp bos al 3.0 7.0 21.0 64.4 -1.0
Greinke, Zack 1871 pi sp kc al 2.0 6.7 48.3 224.5 -2.7
Crawford, Brandon 2878 ss sf nl 2.0 2.0 21.0 39.2 +2.0
Turang, Brice 4779 2b ph mil nl 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 +2.0
Dominguez, Seranthony 3968 pi cp mr phi nl 1.0 4.0 5.0 5.0 -2.0
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A Box-Toppers look at Wednesday’s pitching matchups

A Box-Toppers look at the upcoming day’s probable pitching matchups. Teams are paired below with visiting teams on top and home teams on the bottom. Each team’s starting pitcher is shown with their Box-Toppers point total from 2023 (’23), over a two-year period (’22-23), over a six-year period (’18-23) and their career point total.
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Game Starter ’23 ’22‑23 ’18‑23 Career
LAA Giolito, Lucas 3900 3.0 7.0 43.1 46.1
ATL Chirinos, Yonny 4039 1.0 1.0 10.0 10.0
DET Rodriguez, Eduardo 3480 8.0 8.0 42.8 62.2
PIT Bido, Osvaldo 4882 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
MIL Miley, Wade 3006 3.0 4.0 26.4 66.5
WSH Gore, MacKenzie 4582 5.0 9.7 9.7 9.7
CLE Bibee, Tanner 4792 6.7 6.7 6.7 6.7
HOU Undecided 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
SD Musgrove, Joe 3705 7.0 24.4 54.5 60.2
COL Freeland, Kyle 3763 5.7 11.7 33.1 39.1
BOS Crawford, Kutter 4660 3.0 7.0 7.0 7.0
SEA Gilbert, Logan 4439 8.7 22.8 29.8 29.8
PHI Wheeler, Zack 3204 10.0 24.4 66.2 78.9
MIA Garrett, Braxton 4341 10.7 16.4 18.4 18.4
TB McClanahan, Shane 4399 9.7 26.1 30.8 30.8
NYY Cole, Gerrit 3232 8.0 23.4 103.4 146.3
BAL Rodriguez, Grayson 4790 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0
TOR Kikuchi, Yusei 4136 7.0 12.7 24.4 24.4
MIN Ryan, Joe 4539 7.0 21.7 24.4 24.4
STL Hudson, Dakota 4035 0.0 4.0 16.4 16.4
CHW Cease, Dylan 4231 7.0 27.4 43.8 43.8
TEX Dunning, Dane 4317 1.0 5.4 10.4 10.4
CIN Williamson, Brandon 4813 3.7 3.7 3.7 3.7
CHC Smyly, Drew 3009 5.0 13.7 25.7 61.2
NYM Senga, Kodai 4762 9.7 9.7 9.7 9.7
KC Ragans, Cole* 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
ARI Cecconi, Slade* 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
SF Webb, Logan 4258 7.0 16.7 34.9 34.9
OAK Harris, Hogan 4846 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
LAD Gonsolin, Tony 4211 3.7 15.1 27.5 27.5
Starters subject to change.
* Player has yet to earn Box-Toppers points.
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