Rays 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.
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Lindor, Tatis have lowest career Box-Toppers point totals among top 10 big money contracts
Francisco Lindor and Fernando Tatis Jr. had the lowest career Box-Toppers point totals among the 10 players with baseball’s biggest money contracts at the time of their signing.
The two players signed the biggest offseason contracts prior to the 2021 season. Lindor signed a 10-year, $341 million contract with the Mets, the third-largest contract in baseball history and Tatis signed a 14-year, $340 million contract with the Padres, baseball’s fourth-largest.
Read MoreBlue Jays’ Matz tops players for Monday, April 5; Dodgers’ May tops NL players
Blue Jays pitcher Steven Matz is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Matz struck out nine over 6 1/3 innings, allowing one run, two hits and one walk, in the 6-2 win over the Rangers.
Read More8 of 14 RBI leaders among top 100 players in Box-Toppers points for 2020
Eight of the top 14 runs batted in leaders were among the top 100 players in Box-Toppers points in 2020.
Six of those players were also among their league’s top 10 batters during the pandemic-shortened season.
Read MoreHow 2020’s top home run hitters fared in Box-Toppers rankings—Luke Voit led batters in both homers & Box-Toppers points
An overview of Box-Toppers category leaders over several time frames after 2020
Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole holds the lead in three of Box-Toppers’ main leaderboards at the end of 2020, most of any player.
Cole leads all players in Box-Toppers points over the past two seasons (2019-2020) and also leads American League pitchers over the past two seasons and past six seasons (2015-2020). Cole has 39.6 Box-Toppers points over 2019-20 and 90.1 over 2015-20.
Read MoreMax Scherzer leads players in Box-Toppers points since start of 2015
Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer leads players in Box-Toppers points since the start of 2015.
Scherzer has 116.2 Box-Toppers points over the period 2015-2020, 14.6 points ahead of Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw, who has 101.6 points over that span.
Read MoreGerrit Cole leads players in Box-Toppers points over past 2 seasons (2019-20)
Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole has more Box-Toppers points over the past two seasons than any other player.
Cole has earned 39.6 Box-Toppers points over 2019 and 2020. He led all players in 2019 with 32.2 Box-Toppers points, the fourth-highest single-season total since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995. In the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, he had 7.4 Box-Toppers points, 12th among all players and fifth among American League pitchers.
Read MoreA look at Box-Toppers’ top 100 players for 2019-20 and 2015-20
Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole is Box-Toppers’ top-ranked player over the past two seasons while Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer ranks first in points over the past six seasons.
Cole earned 39.6 Box-Toppers points combined in 2019 and 2020 to lead all players in that span, while Scherzer earned 116.2 from 2015-2020, most in that span.
Read MorePlayers named to ‘All-MLB’ teams rarely coincided with 2020 Box-Toppers points leaders
Selections for Major League Baseball’s 2020 “All-MLB” teams announced this past week rarely coincided with the season’s Box-Toppers points leaders.
Only one All-MLB First Team batter was among the Box-Toppers points leaders at his position—Marcell Ozuna of the Braves led all designated hitters with 4.5 Box-Toppers points. However, three of the four All-MLB First Team starting pitchers were also among the top three players in Box-Toppers points for 2020—Shane Bieber of the Indians (11.4), Trevor Bauer of the Reds (10.0) and Yu Darvish of the Cubs (9.7).
Read MoreHow 2020 Silver Sluggers winners fared in Box-Toppers rankings
Only 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 MoreA look at Box-Toppers All-Star teams for past season (2020) and past 2 seasons (2019-20)
A look at Box-Toppers All-Star teams for 2020 seems incomplete. So for added context, Box-Toppers is also looking at the All-Star teams over the past two seasons, 2019-20.
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Indians’ Shane Bieber maintains lead in Box-Toppers season player rankings for 4th week
Indians pitcher Shane Bieber maintains his lead in Box-Toppers weekly season player rankings report for the fourth week.
Meanwhile, Cubs pitcher Yu Darvish rises to lead National League pitchers, Adam Duvall of the Braves rises to lead NL batters and Kyle Tucker of the Astros maintains his lead among American League batters.
Read MoreReds’ Suarez tops players for Saturday, Sept. 5; Pujols breaks record for most consecutive seasons earning Box-Toppers points (20)
Eugenio Suarez of the Reds is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Saturday, Albert Pujols of the Angels breaks the record for most consecutive seasons earning Box-Toppers points, earning Player of the Game honors in his 20th consecutive season.
Plus, two players rise in Box-Toppers season player rankings top 10 list after both earned Player of the Game honors Saturday: White Sox pitcher Lucas Giolito rises to third place and Twins pitcher Kenta Maeda rises to sixth place.
Read MoreYankees’ Happ tops players for Saturday, Aug. 29; Cubs’ Darvish rises to 2nd in player rankings
Yankees pitcher J.A. Happ is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Saturday, Cubs pitcher Yu Darvish rises to second place overall and first among National League pitchers after earning Player of the Game honors. Plus, Kyle Tucker of the Astros rises to 10th place—the only batter among the overall top 10—and rises to first place among American League batters after earning Player of the Game honors.
Read MorePhillies’ Aaron Nola tops players for Monday, Aug. 10; Astros’ McCullers tops AL players
Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Nola struck out 10 over eight innings, allowing one run, two hits and one walk, in the 13-8 win over the Braves.
Read MoreWho led in Box-Toppers points on each team in 2019? A look at each club’s top pitcher & batter
Pitchers led their team’s players in Box-Toppers points on 25 of 30 teams in 2019. Batters led all team’s players on the other five. Chart shows the players who led his team’s pitchers and batters in Box-Toppers points in 2019.
Read MoreBox-Toppers 2014-19 All-Star teams
The Box-Toppers All-Star teams for 2014-19 consist of the best players over the past six seasons, which includes seven of the 27 players who are also on Box-Toppers 2018-19 All-Star teams.
Also, among the 27 players on the teams, there are eight players who are on Box-Toppers 2019 All-Star teams and six who are on All-Star teams over all three time spans—for 2019, for 2018-19 and for 2014-19. Leading the 2014-19 All-Stars is Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer, who ranks first in Box-Toppers points over that six-season period with 134.3.
Read MoreA look at how WAR leaders fared in Box-Toppers points in 2019: We don't seem to be looking at the same game
Those who figure Wins Above Replacement and those who figure Box-Toppers points (me) often don’t seem to be looking at the same game.
But we are. We are looking at the exact same Major League Baseball game. In recent years, Box-Toppers has seen pitchers come to so overwhelmingly dominate the game that they’ve pushed batters’ relative achievements into the background. But WAR seems to persist in the notion that it is batters who are primarily the stars of the game, contributing more to help their teams win than pitchers.
Read MoreHow 2019’s top home run hitters fared in Box-Toppers rankings—leader Pete Alonso ranked outside top 100
Pete Alonso of the Mets led all players in home runs in 2019 but was one of three top 10 home run hitters to rank outside the top 100 in season Box-Toppers points.
Meanwhile, Nelson Cruz of the Twins, who led all batters in Box-Toppers points in 2019 with 12.5, ranked tied for seventh in home runs with 41. Two of Box-Toppers’ top three-ranked National League batters—Cody Bellinger of the Dodgers and Christian Yelich of the Brewers—were also among the top 10 home run hitters in 2019.
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