Braves’ Morton tops players for Wednesday, Aug. 23; Royals’ Ragans tops AL players

Braves pitcher Charlie Morton is Wednesday’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.
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Braves pitcher Charlie Morton is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Morton struck out 11 over seven scoreless innings, allowing two hits and one walk, in the 7-0 win over the Mets.

Morton earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 9.0 for the season, 31st among all players and 12th among National League pitchers.

Morton also now has 103.1 career Box-Toppers points, 79th-most among all players since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995. With his 2.0 points Wednesday, he passes two players on the “all-time” career points list—Ken Griffey Jr. (102.2) and Miguel Tejada (102.3). Morton now trails 78th-ranked player Jamie Moyer (104.0). Morton ranks 16th among active players in career points, eighth among active NL pitchers.

American League Player of the Day

Royals pitcher Cole Ragans struck out 11 over six scoreless innings, allowing two hits and no walks, in the 4-0 win over the Athletics.

Ragans earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 2.7 for the season, 88th among AL pitchers.

Ragans had a +15.0 Box-Toppers game score Wednesday, same as Charlie Morton. But Morton beat Ragans for overall Player of the Day on a tiebreaker because he had more innings pitched—seven vs. six.

American League Player of the Day is Royals pitcher Cole Ragans.

American League Batter of the Day

Aaron Judge of the Yankees hit three home runs, including a grand slam, in the 9-1 win over the Nationals. Judge went 3-for-4, scoring three times and driving in six runs.

Judge earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day, giving him 10.0 for the season, 23rd among all players and third among AL batters, behind Shohei Ohtani of the Angels (18.4) and Kyle Tucker of the Astros (11.0).

Judge becomes the 25th player to reach 10 Box-Toppers points in 2023, the third batter and the second to reach 10 solely as a batter (Ohtani has earned 8.7 of his 18.4 points as a batter, the other 9.7 as a pitcher). This is Judge’s third season with 10 or more points and his second straight. He earned 11.7 points in 2017 with the Yankees, second among AL batters and 13.2 in 2022 with the Yankees, first among AL batters.

American League Batter of the Day is Aaron Judge of the Yankees.

National League Batter of the Day

Elly De La Cruz of the Reds hit a three-run homer, tripled and went 2-for-5, scoring twice and driving in six runs, in the 9-4 win over the Angels.

De La Cruz earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being NL Batter of the Day, giving him 3.5 for the season, 56th among NL batters.

National League Batter of the Day is Elly De La Cruz of the Reds.

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 Wednesday, Aug. 23.

Player Pos Team BTP
1 Ohtani, Shohei 3933 pi sp dh ana al 18.4
2 Strider, Spencer 4626 pi sp atl nl 17.4
3 Luzardo, Jesus 4282 pi sp fla nl 15.1
4 Gausman, Kevin 3191 pi sp tor al 14.7
5 Gallen, Zac 4171 pi sp ari nl 13.7
6 Peralta, Freddy 3965 pi sp mil nl 13.7
7 Bassitt, Chris 3413 pi sp tor al 13.4
8 Lopez, Pablo 4028 pi sp min al 13.4
9 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp tex al 13.4
10 Miller, Bryce 4797 pi sp sea al 13.1
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Scoring

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

  • Ragans earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day.

  • Judge and De La Cruz each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day.

  • All of Wednesday’s other Player of the Game winners (listed in the chart) earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point.

About Box-Toppers

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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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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).

8/23 BTG Game Player AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB +15.0 ATL 7, NYM 0 Charlie Morton (W, 13‑10) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 7.0 2 0 0 1 11
AL +15.0 KC 4, OAK 0 Cole Ragans (W, 5‑4) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 6.0 2 0 0 0 11
BAT +8.0 NYY 9, WSH 1 Aaron Judge DH 4 3 3 6 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+6.0 BAL 7, TOR 0 Dean Kremer (W, 12‑5) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 6.0 5 0 0 0 5
+6.0 SD 4, MIA 0 Seth Lugo (W, 5‑6) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 6.0 3 0 0 1 4
BAT +5.0 CIN 9, LAA 4 Elly De La Cruz SS 5 2 2 6 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+4.1 CHC 6, DET 4 Julian Merryweather (W, 5‑1) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 1.1 0 0 0 0 3
+4.0 `TB 6, COL 5 (F/10) Aaron Civale ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 5.0 4 3 3 0 9
+4.0 `CHW 5, SEA 4 (F/10) Michael Kopech ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 4.0 1 0 0 4 5
+3.2 CIN 7, LAA 3 Lucas Sims (W, 4‑3) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 1.2 0 0 0 1 3
+3.0 SF 8, PHI 6 (F/10) Paul DeJong SS 5 1 3 4 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+3.0 BOS 7, HOU 5 (F/10) Adam Duvall CF 4 2 2 3 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+2.0 MIL 8, MIN 7 (F/10) Willy Adames SS 5 2 2 3 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+2.0 STL 6, PIT 4 Paul Goldschmidt 1B 3 2 2 1 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
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 +/‑
Judge, Aaron 3767 rf dh nyy al 10.0 23.2 42.2 53.4 -3.2
Morton, Charlie 2503 pi sp atl nl 9.0 19.4 67.7 103.1 -1.4
Kopech, Michael 4385 pi sp chi al 8.0 17.0 22.7 22.7 -1.0
Kremer, Dean 4330 pi sp bal al 7.7 15.4 19.1 19.1 0.0
Goldschmidt, Paul 2935 1b stl nl 6.7 14.2 38.2 85.5 -0.8
Adames, Willy 4041 ss mil nl 6.7 12.6 19.1 19.1 +0.8
Civale, Aaron 4173 pi sp tb al 6.0 11.0 28.4 28.4 +1.0
Duvall, Adam 3573 cf rf bos al 4.7 8.2 25.7 38.2 +1.2
Sims, Lucas 3892 pi mr cin nl 4.0 4.0 8.0 9.0 +4.0
Lugo, Seth 3729 pi sp sd nl 3.7 5.7 16.7 21.7 +1.7
DeJong, Paul 3827 ss sf nl 3.5 5.0 18.5 23.0 +2.0
De La Cruz, Elly 4844 3b cin nl 3.5 3.5 3.5 3.5 +3.5
Merryweather, Julian 4366 pi mr chi nl 3.0 3.0 5.0 5.0 +3.0
Ragans, Cole 4889 pi sp kc al 2.7 2.7 2.7 2.7 +2.7
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A Box-Toppers look at Thursday’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
WSH Corbin, Patrick 3027 6.1 10.1 49.2 91.4
NYY King, Michael 4549 6.0 10.7 11.7 11.7
COL Lambert, Peter 4155 3.0 3.0 5.0 5.0
TB Armstrong, Shawn 4204 1.0 1.0 5.0 5.0
BOS Bello, Brayan 4727 2.0 3.0 3.0 3.0
HOU France, J.P. 4811 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0
LAD Pepiot, Ryan 4714 1.0 3.0 3.0 3.0
CLE Williams, Gavin 4865 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0
TOR Berrios, Jose 3791 7.4 16.4 57.3 66.3
BAL Gibson, Kyle 3312 6.7 15.7 41.2 60.2
CHC Steele, Justin 4415 8.1 13.1 16.1 16.1
PIT Undecided 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
TEX Heaney, Andrew 3515 8.7 16.7 39.8 44.8
MIN Lopez, Pablo 4028 13.4 24.1 47.2 47.2
OAK Waldichuk, Ken 4757 1.0 2.0 2.0 2.0
CHW Scholtens, Jesse* 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
CIN Williamson, Brandon 4813 4.7 4.7 4.7 4.7
ARI Kelly, Merrill 4143 8.0 19.0 34.0 34.0
Starters subject to change.
* Player has yet to earn Box-Toppers points.
What are those numbers after players' names?
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