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These five players were 2021 Silver Slugger Award winners and also led their league’s position in Box-Toppers points for the season: Xander Bogaerts of the Red Sox, Aaron Judge of the Yankees, Ozzie Albies of the Braves, Fernando Tatis Jr. of the Padres and Nick Castellanos of the Reds.
Only five of the 17 batters winning Silver Slugger Awards Thursday also were among the leaders at their positions in 2021 Box-Toppers point totals.
The awards are given to the top batter in each position in both leagues, voted on by Major League Baseball coaches and managers.
Read MoreThe two players who won the Hank Aaron Award, given to the best offensive performer in each league, trailed most of the award finalists in 2021 Box-Toppers points.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. of the Blue Jays and Bryce Harper of the Phillies were chosen Tuesday as winners by a panel of eight Hall of Fame players and a Major League Baseball fan vote.
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The Los Angeles Dodgers maintain their lead in Box-Toppers weekly team rankings report.
Meanwhile, the Chicago White Sox maintain their lead among American League teams and the Toronto Blue Jays are the week’s hottest team.
Read MoreWhite Sox pitcher Dylan Cease is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Cease struck out 11 over six scoreless innings, allowing one hit and two walks, in the 7-1 win over the Royals.
Read MoreRays pitcher Tyler Glasnow is the most deserving player not selected to the 2021 Major League Baseball All-Star teams.
Glasnow has 12.7 Box-Toppers points in 2021, fifth among all players and second among American League pitchers.
Read MoreOnly three of the 18 batters winning Silver Slugger Awards this week also were among the leaders at their positions in 2020 Box-Toppers point totals.
The awards are given to the top batter in each position in both leagues, voted on by Major League Baseball coaches and managers. Box-Toppers analyzes traditional box scores and tracks which player most helps his team win the most games, awarding points for the top player in each game.
Read MoreRangers pitcher Lance Lynn is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to third place in season player rankings.
Also Friday, three other players rose in Box-Toppers season player rankings top 10 list after each earned Player of the Game honors—Reds pitcher Sonny Gray rose to fourth, Diamondbacks pitcher Merrill Kelly rose to eighth and Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole rose to 10th.
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Rangers pitcher Lance Lynn is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Sunday, Astros pitcher Gerrit Cole extends his lead in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors. Cole now has 32.2 Box-Toppers points for the season, the fourth-highest single-season total since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995 and most in any season since 2002.
Read MoreRoyals pitcher Mike Montgomery is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Montgomery struck out 12 over seven scoreless innings, allowing four hits and no walks, in the 7-0 win over the Tigers.
Read MoreChristian Yelich of the Brewers is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to ninth place in season player rankings.
Also Monday, Indians pitcher Trevor Bauer rises to first place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning American League Player of the Day honors.
Read MoreAngels pitcher Andrew Heaney is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Heaney struck out 12 over seven scoreless innings, allowing three hits and no walks, in the 1-0 win over the White Sox.
Read MoreNationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to fourth place in season player rankings.
Also Sunday, Diamondbacks pitcher Robbie Ray rises to ninth place in Box-Toppers player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
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Athletics pitcher Kendall Graveman is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Friday, Rangers pitcher Cole Hamels rises to fifth in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 20.0 |
| 2 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 18.7 |
| 3 | Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | cle al | 17.2 |
| 4 | Fernandez, Jose 3147 | pi sp | fla nl | 16.4 |
| 5 | Hamels, Cole 2135 | pi sp | tex al | 15.1 |
| 6 | Cueto, Johnny 2400 | pi sp | sf nl | 14.4 |
| 7 | Lester, Jon 2173 | pi sp | chi nl | 14.4 |
| 8 | Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 14.1 |
| 9 | Happ, J.A. 2536 | pi sp | tor al | 12.7 |
| 10 | Altuve, Jose 3007 | 2b | hou al | 12.5 |
Player of the Day—Graveman pitched a complete-game, two-hit shutout, striking out five and walking none, in the 9-0 win over the White Sox.
National League Player of the Day—Ryan Schimpf of the Padres hit a walk-off, three-run homer in the 7-4, 10-inning win over the Diamondbacks. Schimpf hit two homers in the game and also doubled twice, going 4-for-5, scoring three times and driving in five runs.
American League Batter of the Day—Teoscar Hernandez of the Astros homered and went 3-for-4, scoring three times and driving in three runs, in the 15-8 win over the Orioles.
This was Hernandez’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Hernandez made his Major League debut Aug. 12 and was playing in his seventh career game. He is the 3,713rd player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
National League Batter of the Day—There is no separate NL Batter of the Day for Friday because the overall NL Player of the Day was batter Ryan Schimpf.
Rankings—Rangers pitcher Cole Hamels rises from seventh to fifth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Friday.
Hamels (7.1IP 3H R 2BB 10K W in the 6-2 win over the Rays) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 15.1 for the season. He ranks second among AL pitchers, behind Corey Kluber of the Indians (17.2).
Hamels also now has 141.3 career Box-Toppers points, ranked 26th since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails 25th-ranked player, Giants pitcher Jake Peavy (141.8).
Notable—Two players became the 25th and 26th players this season to reach 10 Box-Toppers points after they earned Player of the Game honors Friday:
Debut—David Dahl of the Rockies made his Box-Toppers debut Friday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors.
Dahl (HR 2-4 2R BI in the 7-6, 11-inning win over the Cubs) made his Major League debut July 25 and was playing in his 24th career game. He is the 3,714th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Graveman earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Schmipf earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Hernandez earns 1.5 points for being AL Batter of the Day. All of Friday’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.
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score
| 8/19 | Score | Game | Player of Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 12.0 | OAK 9, CHW 0 | Kendall Graveman (W,9-8) | - | - | - | - | 9.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | |
| 11.2 | NYY 7, LAA 0 | Masahiro Tanaka (W,10-4) | - | - | - | - | 7.2 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | ||
| 10.1 | TEX 6, TB 2 | Cole Hamels (W,13-4) | - | - | - | - | 7.1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 10 | ||
| 10.0 | `CLE 3, TOR 2 | Trevor Bauer | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 13 | ||
| NL | 7.0 | SD 7, ARI 4 (10) | Ryan Schimpf, 2B | 5 | 3 | 4 | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 6.0 | BOS 10, DET 2 | Rick Porcello (W,17-3) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 8 | ||
| BAT | 5.0 | HOU 15, BAL 8 | Teoscar Hernandez, CF | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 5.0 | CIN 9, LAD 2 | Joey Votto, 1B | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | MIA 6, PIT 5 | J.T. Realmuto, C | 3 | 2 | 3 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | SF 8, NYM 1 | Conor Gillaspie, PH | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | WSH 7, ATL 6 | Clint Robinson, 1B | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | STL 4, PHI 3 (11) | Seung Hwan Oh (W,3-2) | - | - | - | - | 2.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | ||
| 1.0 | COL 7, CHC 6 (11) | David Dahl, CF | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | SEA 7, MIL 6 | Adam Lind, PH-1B | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | KC 5, MIN 4 (11) | Chien-Ming Wang (W,6-0) | - | - | - | - | 2.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| `Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save. | ||||||||||||||
| Player of Game | Pos | Team | 16 | 15-16 | 11-16 | Career | +/- |
| Hamels, Cole 2135 | pi sp | tex al | 15.1 | 30.5 | 82.1 | 141.3 | -0.3 |
| Tanaka, Masahiro 3305 | pi sp | nyy al | 10.7 | 18.7 | 31.4 | 31.4 | 2.7 |
| Bauer, Trevor 3065 | pi sp | cle al | 10.4 | 19.8 | 28.5 | 28.5 | 1.0 |
| Votto, Joey 2366 | 1b | cin nl | 8.5 | 13.5 | 30.2 | 62.2 | 3.5 |
| Porcello, Rick 2573 | pi sp | bos al | 7.0 | 11.0 | 32.7 | 41.7 | 3.0 |
| Realmuto, J.T. 3491 | ca | fla nl | 5.5 | 10.5 | 10.5 | 10.5 | 0.5 |
| Graveman, Kendall 3444 | pi sp | oak al | 5.0 | 9.7 | 9.7 | 9.7 | 0.3 |
| Schimpf, Ryan 3686 | 2b 3b | sd nl | 4.2 | 4.2 | 4.2 | 4.2 | 4.2 |
| Oh, Seung Hwan 3693 | pi cp | stl nl | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
| Lind, Adam 2238 | 1b ph | sea al | 3.7 | 10.2 | 30.2 | 57.8 | -2.8 |
| Gillaspie, Conor 3218 | 3b ph | sf nl | 2.0 | 2.0 | 8.5 | 8.5 | 2.0 |
| Hernandez, Teoscar 3713 | cf | hou al | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 |
| Robinson, Clint 3475 | 1b | dc nl | 1.0 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 | -2.5 |
| Wang, Chien-Ming 2023 | pi cp | kc al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 5.0 | 28.1 | 1.0 |
| Dahl, David 3714 | cf | col nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
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. Players earn Box-Toppers points 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.