Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum is Wednesday’s Player of the Day and rises to ninth place in Box-Toppers player rankings for the season.
Also Wednesday, Astros pitcher Dallas Keuchel rose to eighth place in Box-Toppers player rankings and A.J. Pollock of the Diamondbacks earned National League Batter of the Day for the second day in a row.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2015 season as of May 20.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Hernandez, Felix 2064 | pi sp | sea al | 8.7 |
| 2 | Archer, Chris 3194 | pi sp | tb al | 7.0 |
| 3 | Miller, Shelby 3134 | pi sp | atl nl | 7.0 |
| 4 | Harvey, Matt 3075 | pi sp | nym nl | 6.7 |
| 5 | Harper, Bryce 3011 | lf rf | dc nl | 6.5 |
| 6 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 6.0 |
| 7 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | pit nl | 6.0 |
| 8 | Keuchel, Dallas 3050 | pi sp | hou al | 5.7 |
| 9 | Lincecum, Tim 2288 | pi sp | sf nl | 5.7 |
| 10 | Harang, Aaron 1599 | pi sp | phi nl | 5.1 |
Player of the Day—Lincecum pitched seven scoreless innings, giving up three hits, in the 4-0 win over the Dodgers. Lincecum earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points, giving him 5.7 for the season, moving up to ninth place in Box-Toppers player rankings, fifth among NL pitchers.
Lincecum also now has 115.0 career Box-Toppers points and rises to 41st among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers record keeping began. With his 2.0 points Wednesday, Lincecum passed four players on that list—Josh Beckett (114.9), Mark Buehrle (114.7), Chris Carpenter (113.3) and Sammy Sosa (113.2). Lincecum’s 115.0 career points ranks ninth among active pitchers currently in the NL.
American League Player of the Day—Indians pitcher Shaun Marcum struck out six over 6 2/3 innings, allowing two runs and four hits, in the 4-3 win over the White Sox.
National League Batter of the Day—A.J. Pollock of the Diamondbacks went 3-for-4, scoring four runs, including a steal of home—one of his three stolen bases—in the 6-1 win over the Marlins. This was the second straight day Pollock earned NL Batter of the Day honors.
American League Batter of the Day—Mike Trout of the Angels homered and went 2-for-3, scoring three runs, in the 4-3 win over the Blue Jays.
Rankings—Astros pitcher Dallas Keuchel rose to eighth place in Box-Toppers player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Wednesday. Keuchel (7IP R W in the 6-1 win over the Athletics) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 5.7 for the season. He ranks third among AL pitchers.
Debuts—Two players made their Box-Toppers debut Wednesday, the first time in their career they earned Player of the Game honors:
- Braves pitcher Williams Perez (5IP R 7K ND in the 2-1 win over the Rays) made his Major League debut May 8 and was playing in his third career game. He is the 3,476th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
- Rangers pitcher Phil Klein (5.1IP R W in the 2-1 win over the Red Sox) made his Major League debut Aug. 1, 2014, and was playing in his 24th career game. He is the 3,477th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Fishy—A.J. Pollock and Mike Trout were the two Box-Toppers Batters of the Day for Wednesday. However, neither Mike Carp nor any player from the Marlins earned Player of the Game honors Wednesday.
Scoring—Lincecum earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Marcum earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day. Pollock and Trout each earn 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Wednesday’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
| 5/20 | Score | Team | Player | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 6.0 | Giants | Tim Lincecum (W, 4-2) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | |
| 5.1 | Cardinals | Carlos Martinez (W, 4-2) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | ||
| AL | 4.2 | Indians | Shaun Marcum (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.2 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 6 | |
| 4.2 | `Cubs | Tsuyoshi Wada | - | - | - | - | - | - | 4.2 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 9 | ||
| 4.0 | `Twins | Mike Pelfrey | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | ||
| 3.2 | Mariners | Roenis Elias (W, 1-1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.2 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | ||
| 3.1 | `Tigers | Shane Greene | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 | ||
| BAT | 3.0 | Dbacks | A.J. Pollock CF | 4 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| BAT | 3.0 | Angels | Mike Trout CF | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 3.0 | Nationals | Jordan Zimmermann (W, 4-2) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 6 | ||
| 3.0 | `Braves | Williams Perez | - | - | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | ||
| 3.0 | Phillies | Jonathan Papelbon (S, 11) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2.0 | Astros | Dallas Keuchel (W, 6-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | ||
| 2.0 | Royals | Jeremy Guthrie (W, 4-2) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | ||
| 1.1 | Rangers | Phil Klein (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 5.1 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | ||
| `Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save. | ||||||||||||||||
