Twins' Kyle Gibson tops players in Saturday, March 26's spring training games

Twins pitcher Kyle Gibson is Box-Toppers spring training Player of the Day for Saturday.

Gibson pitched six scoreless innings, allowing three hits and striking out eight, in the 3-0 win over the Pirates. Gibson had 8.0 Box-Toppers points in 2015, most among Twins players and 33rd among American League pitchers.

National League Player of the Day—Matt Duffy of the Giants homered and went 3-for-4, scoring three times and driving in two runs, in the 5-2 win over the Cubs. Duffy had 6.2 Box-Toppers points in 2015, fourth among NL third basemen.

American League Batter of the Day—Audry Perez of the Orioles hit a three-run homer an went 2-for-2, scoring twice and driving in four runs, in the 16-8 win over the Red Sox. Perez has played in three regular season Major League games, but has yet to earn Player of the Game honors and so has no Box-Toppers points.

National League Batter of the Day—There is no separate NL Batter of the Day for Saturday because the overall NL Player of the Day is a batter, Matt Duffy.

Scoring—No Box-Toppers points are awarded in spring training games, but if it were the regular season, Gibson would earn 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, Duffy would earn 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day and Perez would earn 1.5 points for AL Batter of the Day. All of Saturday’s other Players of the Game (listed in the chart below) would earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point.

Note—Eighteen spring training games were scheduled for Saturday—15 are listed below. Two games are not included because they ended in ties (Mets vs. Braves and Diamondbacks vs. Brewers) and one other game was postponed (Marlins vs. Astros).

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

3/26	Score	Team	Player	AB	R	H	BI	BB	K		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
MLB	11.0	Twins	Kyle Gibson (W, 3-1)	-	-	-	-	-	-		6.0	3	0	0	0	8
	8.1	`Astros	Chris Devenski	-	-	-	-	-	-		4.1	3	0	0	0	7
	7.0	`Yankees	Bryan Mitchell	-	-	-	-	-	-		4.0	1	0	0	0	4
BAT	6.0	Orioles	Audry Pérez C	2	2	2	4	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	5.0	Tigers	Justin Upton LF	4	3	4	2	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
NL	4.0	Giants	Matt Duffy 3B	4	3	3	2	0	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	4.0	Rockies	Trevor Story SS	3	3	3	1	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.1	Rays	Jake Odorizzi (W, 1-1)	-	-	-	-	-	-		6.1	5	1	1	2	6
	3.1	Reds	Caleb Cotham (W, 1-0)	-	-	-	-	-	-		2.1	2	0	0	0	3
	3.1	Reds	Tony Cingrani (Sv, 1)	-	-	-	-	-	-		1.1	0	0	0	0	2
	3.0	Mariners	Kyle Seager 3B	4	1	3	3	0	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.1	Dodgers	Chris Hatcher (W, 1-1)	-	-	-	-	-	-		1.1	0	0	0	0	1
	2.0	Royals	Eric Hosmer 1B	2	2	1	1	1	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	Angels	Todd Cunningham PR-CF	1	2	0	1	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	Nationals	Tanner Roark (W, 2-0)	-	-	-	-	-	-		5.0	6	0	0	1	4
		`Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save.

Red Sox' Jackie Bradley (2HR 5-6 5R 7BI) tops players for Saturday, Aug. 15

(Other duties have put us behind updating Box-Toppers. Playing catch up …)

Jackie Bradley Jr. of the Red Sox is Box-Toppers Player of the Day for Saturday, Aug. 15.

Also, Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander rose to 34th place in Box-Toppers points among all players since 1995.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2015 season as of Aug. 15.  

	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	deGrom, Jacob 3343	pi sp	nym nl	18.4
2	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	16.7
3	Price, David 2593	pi sp	tor al	16.1
4	Scherzer, Max 2588	pi sp	dc nl	16.0
5	Gray, Sonny 3259	pi sp	oak al	15.8
6	Hernandez, Felix 2064	pi sp	sea al	15.4
7	Harvey, Matt 3075	pi sp	nym nl	15.4
8	Greinke, Zack 1871	pi sp	lad nl	15.0
9	Keuchel, Dallas 3050	pi sp	hou al	14.7
10	Sale, Chris 2806	pi sp	chi al	14.4

What are those numbers after players' names?

Player of the Day—Bradley hit two homers and three doubles, going 5-for-6, scoring five times and driving in seven runs, in the 22-10 win over the Mariners.

National League Player of the Day—Diamondbacks pitcher Patrick Corbin struck out eight over six scoreless innings, allowing three hits, in the 8-4 win over the Braves.

National League Batter of the Day—Matt Duffy of the Giants doubled twice, scored twice and drove in four runs, in the 12-6 win over the Nationals.

American League Batter of the Day—There is no separate AL Batter of the Day for Saturday, Aug. 15, because the overall Player of the Day was AL batter Jackie Bradley Jr. of the Red Sox.

Notable—Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander rose to 34th place in Box-Toppers points among all players since 1995 after earning Player of the Game honors Saturday.

Verlander (7IP 3H 0R 7K ND in the 4-2 win over the Astros) earned 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 120.9 for his career. He passed two players on the “all-time” list (since record keeping began in 1995), Jered Weaver (120.4 Box-Toppers points) and Cole Hamels (120.8 points). Verlander trails 33rd-place player Gary Sheffield (124.1).

Verlander’s 120.9 Box-Toppers points ranks third among active AL pitchers, behind CC Sabathia of the Yankees (178.0 Box-Toppers points) and Felix Hernandez of the Mariners (158.7 points).

Verlander has 2.7 Box-Toppers points for the season.

Also notable—Chris Davis of the Orioles has the highest Box-Toppers season player ranking of all 15 who earned Player of the Game honors Saturday.

Davis (2HR 2-4 2R 3BI in the 4-3 win over the Athletics) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 8.0 for the season. He ranks 41st among all players and third among AL batters.

Debuts—Two players made their Box-Toppers debut Saturday, the first time in their career they earned Player of the Game honors.

• Twins pitcher Tyler Duffey (6IP H 0R 7K W in the 4-1 win over the Indians) made his Major League debut Aug. 5 and was playing in his second career game. He is the 3,558th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
• Addison Russell of the Cubs (2B 2-3 2R in the 6-3 win over the White Sox) made his Major League debut April 21 and was playing in his 98th career game. He is the 3,559th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Bradley earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Corbin earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day. Duffy earns 1.5 Box-Toppers 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

8/15	Score	Team	Player	AB	R	H	BI	BB	K		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
MLB	11.0	Red Sox	Jackie Bradley Jr., RF	6	5	5	7	0	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	9.0	`Tigers	Justin Verlander	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	3	0	0	2	7
NL	8.2	Dbacks	Patrick Corbin (W,3-3)	-	-	-	-	-	-		6.0	3	0	0	3	8
	7.0	Yankees	Masahiro Tanaka (W,9-5)	-	-	-	-	-	-		9.0	5	1	1	3	8
	7.0	Twins	Tyler Duffey (W,1-1)	-	-	-	-	-	-		6.0	1	0	0	5	7
	7.0	Pirates	Joe Blanton (W,4-2)	-	-	-	-	-	-		3.0	1	0	0	1	6
	5.0	Rangers	Shin-Soo Choo, RF	4	3	3	3	1	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	4.0	Royals	Jarrod Dyson, CF	4	2	3	3	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
BAT	3.0	Giants	Matt Duffy, 3B	5	2	2	4	0	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	Brewers	Scooter Gennett, 2B	4	1	4	2	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	Orioles	Chris Davis, 1B	4	2	2	3	0	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	Cardinals	Mark Reynolds, 1B	4	2	2	3	0	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	Dodgers	Yasiel Puig, RF	3	2	2	1	1	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	Padres	Kevin Quackenbush (W,2-2)	-	-	-	-	-	-		2.0	1	0	0	0	1
	1.0	Cubs	Addison Russell, SS	3	2	2	0	0	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
		`Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save.

Rays' Andriese tops players for Saturday, June 27; Twins' Hunter rises in Box-Toppers 'all-time' player rankings

Rays pitcher Matt Andriese is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Also Saturday, Torii Hunter of the Twins rose to 44th place among all players in Box-Toppers points since 1995 after earning American League Batter of the Day honors.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2015 season as of June 27.  

	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Scherzer, Max 2588	pi sp	dc nl	14.0
2	Hernandez, Felix 2064	pi sp	sea al	13.4
3	Archer, Chris 3194	pi sp	tb al	12.0
4	Cole, Gerrit 3232	pi sp	pit nl	12.0
5	deGrom, Jacob 3343	pi sp	nym nl	11.4
6	Price, David 2593	pi sp	det al	11.1
7	Sale, Chris 2806	pi sp	chi al	10.4
8	Keuchel, Dallas 3050	pi sp	hou al	9.7
9	Martinez, Carlos 3371	pi sp	stl nl	9.7
10	Harvey, Matt 3075	pi sp	nym nl	9.7

What are those numbers after players' names?

Player of the Day—Andriese pitched six scoreless innings, allowing one hit and striking out five, in the 4-1 win over the Red Sox.

National League Player of the Day—Matt Duffy of the Giants homered, doubled and went 3-for-4, scoring three times and driving in two runs, in the 7-5 win over the Rockies.

American League Batter of the Day—Torii Hunter of the Twins homered twice, doubled and went 3-for-4, scoring three times and driving in two runs, in the 5-2 win over the Brewers.

Hunter earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day, giving him 114.4 points for his career and rising to 44th place among all players since 1995 when Box-Toppers record keeping began. With his points Saturday, Hunter passes three players on the “all-time” list: Jon Lester (113.1), Sammy Sosa (113.2) and Chris Carpenter (113.3). Hunter now trails the 43rd-ranked player on the list, Josh Beckett (114.9).

Hunter’s 114.4 career Box-Toppers points ranks 14th among all batters since 1995 and fifth among active batters.

Hunter now has 6.5 Box-Toppers points for the season and ranks second among AL batters, behind Prince Fielder of the Rangers (7.5 Box-Toppers points). This is the most Box-Toppers points Hunter has had in a single season since he had 8.5 in 2010 with the Angels.

National League Batter of the Day—There is no separate NL Batter of the Day for Saturday because the overall NL Player of the Day was a batter (Matt Duffy).

Notable—Justin Upton of the Padres has the highest Box-Toppers player ranking of any of the 11 who earned Player of the Game honors Saturday.

Upton has 7.0 Box-Toppers points and ranks 23rd among all players, second among NL batters, behind Todd Frazier of the Reds (7.2). Upton (HR 2-3 R 2BI in the 7-2 win over the Diamondbacks) earned 1.0 Box-Toppers point for being Player of the Game.

Scoring—Andriese earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Duffy earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day. Hunter earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL 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

6/27	Score	Team	Player	AB	R	H	BI	BB	K		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
MLB	10.0	Rays	Matt Andriese (W, 3-2)	-	-	-	-	-	-		6.0	1	0	0	0	5
	7.1	Rangers	Yovani Gallardo (W, 7-6)	-	-	-	-	-	-		8.1	3	0	0	2	4
BAT	4.0	Twins	Torii Hunter RF	4	3	3	2	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
NL	4.0	Giants	Matt Duffy 3B	4	3	3	2	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	Cardinals	Xavier Scruggs 1B	4	2	3	2	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	Pirates	Starling Marte LF, CF	4	3	3	1	0	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	Yankees	Brian McCann C	4	1	2	4	1	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	Royals	Greg Holland (S, 16)	-	-	-	-	-	-		1.0	0	0	0	0	2
	3.0	Marlins	A.J. Ramos (S, 10)	-	-	-	-	-	-		1.0	0	0	0	0	2
	2.0	Padres	Justin Upton LF	3	1	2	2	1	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	1.2	Angels	Garrett Richards (W, 8-5)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.2	7	2	2	1	6

Mets' Matt Harvey tops players for Tuesday, June 16, rises to 9th in Box-Toppers player rankings

Mets pitcher Matt Harvey is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to ninth in player rankings.

Harvey pitched seven scoreless innings, striking out six and allowing four hits, in the 3-2 win over the Blue Jays. Harvey earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 9.7 for the season. He ranks fifth among NL pitchers.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2015 season as of June 16.  

	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Hernandez, Felix 2064	pi sp	sea al	12.4
2	Cole, Gerrit 3232	pi sp	pit nl	12.0
3	Scherzer, Max 2588	pi sp	dc nl	11.0
4	Archer, Chris 3194	pi sp	tb al	11.0
5	Sale, Chris 2806	pi sp	chi al	10.4
6	Price, David 2593	pi sp	det al	10.1
7	deGrom, Jacob 3343	pi sp	nym nl	9.7
8	Martinez, Carlos 3371	pi sp	stl nl	9.7
9	Harvey, Matt 3075	pi sp	nym nl	9.7
10	Gray, Sonny 3259	pi sp	oak al	9.4

What are those numbers after players' names?

American League Player of the Day—Indians pitcher Trevor Bauer pitched seven scoreless innings, striking out seven and allowing four hits, in the 6-0 win over the Cubs.

American League Batter of the Day—Manny Machado of the Orioles hit two home runs and went 3-for-4, scoring three times and driving in three runs, in the 19-3 win over the Phillies.

National League Batter of the Day—Clint Robinson of the Nationals homered and went 4-for-5, scoring three times and driving in two runs, in the 16-4 win over the Rays.

Debut—Matt Duffy of the Giants made his Box-Toppers debut Tuesday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Duffy (HR 3-4 2R 3BI in the 6-2 win over the Mariners) made his Major League debut Aug. 1, 2014, and was playing in his 87th career game. He is the 3,504th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Harvey earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Bauer earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day. Machado and Robinson each earn 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Tuesday’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

6/16	Score	Team	Player	AB	R	H	BI	BB	K		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
MLB	9.0	Mets	Matt Harvey (W, 7-4)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	4	0	0	0	6
AL	7.0	Indians	Trevor Bauer (W, 6-3)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	4	0	0	3	7
BAT	5.0	Orioles	Manny Machado 3B	4	3	3	3	1	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	5.0	Astros	Luis Valbuena 3B	3	2	2	4	1	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	5.0	Pirates	Charlie Morton (W, 5-0)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	4	0	0	1	3
	5.0	Royals	Chris Young (W, 6-2)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	5	0	0	0	3
BAT	4.0	Nationals	Clint Robinson 1B, RF	5	3	4	2	1	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	4.0	Giants	Matt Duffy 3B	4	2	3	3	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	4.0	Athletics	Tyler Clippard (S, 10)	-	-	-	-	-	-		1.0	0	0	0	0	3
	3.1	Red Sox	Wade Miley (W, 6-6)	-	-	-	-	-	-		6.1	5	2	2	2	8
	3.1	Cardinals	Michael Wacha (W, 9-2)	-	-	-	-	-	-		6.1	3	2	2	1	5
	3.0	Marlins	Giancarlo Stanton RF	4	2	2	3	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	Angels	Garrett Richards (W, 7-4)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	4	1	0	3	4
	3.0	Reds	Aroldis Chapman (S, 14)	-	-	-	-	-	-		1.0	1	0	0	0	3
	0.0	Rangers	Robinson Chirinos C	4	1	2	1	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-