Dodgers pitcher Scott Kazmir is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2016 season as of July 2:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 20.0 |
| 2 | Fernandez, Jose 3147 | pi sp | fla nl | 13.4 |
| 3 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 12.0 |
| 4 | Cueto, Johnny 2400 | pi sp | sf nl | 11.7 |
| 5 | Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | cle al | 10.8 |
| 6 | Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | chi nl | 10.7 |
| 7 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | chi al | 10.7 |
| 8 | Salazar, Danny 3223 | pi sp | cle al | 10.5 |
| 9 | Hamels, Cole 2135 | pi sp | tex al | 10.4 |
| 10 | Syndergaard, Noah 3472 | pi sp | nym nl | 10.0 |
Kazmir pitched six scoreless innings, striking out 10 and allowing three hits and no walks, in the 6-1 win over the Rockies.
Kazmir earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 103.4 for his career, rising to 62nd place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. With his points Saturday, he passes four players on the “all-time” list—Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner (101.7), Carlos Beltran of the Yankees (101.9), Ken Griffey Jr. (102.2) and Miguel Tejada (102.3). Kazmir trails 61st-ranked player Jamie Moyer (104.0).
Kazmir has 7.0 Box-Toppers points for the season, 14th among NL pitchers.
American League Player of the Day—C.J. Cron of the Angels hit two homers and doubled, going 6-for-6, scoring five times and driving in five runs, in the 21-2 win over the Red Sox.
Cron had a Box-Toppers game score of +10 Saturday, the highest score for any batter earning Player of the Game honors this season. June 27’s Player of the Day Kris Bryant of the Cubs also had a Box-Toppers game score of +10, but Cron’s score ranks higher than Bryant’s because Cron had more at bats—6 vs. 5.
National League Batter of the Day—Wellington Castillo of the Diamondbacks hit a go-ahead, eighth-inning, three-run homer in the 6-5 win over the Giants. Castillo also doubled and went 2-for-4, scoring twice and driving in four runs.
American League Batter of the Day—There is no separate AL Batter of the Day for Saturday because the overall AL Player of the Day was batter C.J. Cron.
100 career points—In addition to Kazmir, two other players with more than 100 career Box-Toppers points earned Player of the Game honors Saturday:
- Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander (7IP 4H 2R BB 8K W in the 3-2 win over the Rays) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 128.6 for his career. He rises to 31st among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began, passing two players on the “all-time” list—A.J. Burnett (127.8) and Vladimir Guerrero (128.3). Verlander now trails 30th-ranked player Trevor Hoffman (129.4). Verlander has 4.0 Box-Toppers points for the season, 30th among AL pitchers.
- Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright (7IP 7H 0R 2BB 5K W in the 3-0 win over the Brewers) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 106.3 for his career. He rises to 57th among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began, passing three players on the “all-time” list—Aramis Ramirez (105.8), Adrian Beltre of the Rangers (105.8) and Frank Thomas (106.2). Wainwright now trails 56th-ranked player Lance Berkman (108.1). Wainwright has 4.5 Box-Toppers points for the season, 35th among NL pitchers.
Notable—Padres pitcher Drew Pomeranz has the most 2016 Box-Toppers points of any of the 15 who earned Player of the Game honors Saturday.
Pomeranz (7IP 5H R 0BB 7K ND in the 2-1 win over the Yankees) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 8.7 for the season, 17th among all players, 12th among NL pitchers.
Debut—Reds pitcher Josh Smith made his Box-Toppers debut Saturday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors.
Smith (1.1IP 0H 0R 0BB K W in the 9-4 win over the Nationals) made his Major League debut June 23, 2015, and was playing in his 22nd career game. He is the 3,674th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Kazmir earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Cron earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Castillo earns 1.5 points for being NL Batter of the Day. All of Saturday’s other Players of the Game (listed in the chart below) 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.
Top player from each game
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score
| 7/2 | Score | Game | Player of Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 13.0 | LAD 6/COL 1 | Scott Kazmir (W,7-3) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | |
| AL | 10.0 | LAA 21/BOS 2 | C.J. Cron, 1B | 6 | 5 | 6 | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 7.0 | DET 3/TB 2 | Justin Verlander (W,8-6) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 8 | ||
| 7.0 | `SD 2/NYY 1 | Drew Pomeranz | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 7 | ||
| 6.0 | MIN 17/TEX 5 | Max Kepler, RF | 5 | 2 | 2 | 7 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 5.2 | KC 6/PHI 2 | Danny Duffy (W,4-1) | - | - | - | - | 8.2 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 8 | ||
| 5.0 | ATL 9/MIA 1 | Lucas Harrell (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | ||
| 4.1 | `NYM 4/CHC 3 | Addison Reed (H,17) | - | - | - | - | 1.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | ||
| 4.0 | SEA 12/BAL 6 | Seth Smith, LF | 5 | 2 | 3 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| BAT | 4.0 | ARI 6/SF 5 | Welington Castillo, C | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 3.0 | TOR 9/CLE 6 | Josh Donaldson, DH | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | STL 3/MIL 0 | Adam Wainwright (W,7-5) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | ||
| 2.1 | CIN 9/DC 4 | Josh Smith (W,1-1) | - | - | - | - | 1.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 2.0 | CHW 7/HOU 6 | Dioner Navarro, DH | 4 | 0 | 2 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | PIT 4/OAK 2 | Juan Nicasio (W,6-6) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| `Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save. | ||||||||||||||
Box-Toppers point totals of the day’s top players
Here are Box-Toppers point totals of each of the Players of the Game. Players are ranked by their Box-Toppers point total for the current season (16). Also shown are each players’ Box-Toppers point total for this season and last (15-16), the period 2011-2016 (11-16) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2016 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2015 total (+/-).| Player of Game | Pos | Team | 16 | 15-16 | 11-16 | Career | +/- |
| Pomeranz, Drew 3061 | pi sp | sd nl | 8.7 | 11.7 | 19.7 | 19.7 | 5.7 |
| Donaldson, Josh 3144 | 3b | tor al | 8.2 | 18.1 | 38.1 | 38.1 | -1.7 |
| Kazmir, Scott 1947 | pi sp | lad nl | 7.0 | 19.7 | 47.6 | 103.4 | -5.7 |
| Nicasio, Juan 2888 | pi sp | pit nl | 6.0 | 7.0 | 22.4 | 22.4 | 5.0 |
| Duffy, Danny 2915 | pi sp | kc al | 5.7 | 9.7 | 24.7 | 24.7 | 1.7 |
| Wainwright, Adam 2150 | pi sp | stl nl | 4.5 | 7.5 | 55.6 | 106.3 | 1.5 |
| Verlander, Justin 2112 | pi sp | det al | 4.0 | 10.4 | 73.6 | 128.6 | -2.4 |
| Cron, C.J. 3338 | dh 1b | ana al | 2.7 | 8.7 | 9.7 | 9.7 | -3.3 |
| Smith, Seth 2489 | rf lf | sea al | 2.0 | 3.0 | 21.0 | 35.2 | 1.0 |
| Kepler, Max 3664 | rf | min al | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| Castillo, Wellington 3251 | ca | ari nl | 1.5 | 5.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 | -2.0 |
| Navarro, Dioner 2087 | dh ca | chi al | 1.0 | 2.0 | 10.0 | 19.0 | 0.0 |
| Reed, Addison 3023 | pi mr | nym nl | 1.0 | 2.0 | 10.0 | 10.0 | 0.0 |
| Harrell, Lucas 2988 | pi sp | atl nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 5.7 | 5.7 | 1.0 |
| Smith, Josh 3674 | pi mr | cin nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
