Rockies' Jon Gray tops players for Saturday, Sept. 17 with 3rd-highest Box-Toppers game score of season

Rockies pitcher Jon Gray is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day with the third-highest Box-Toppers game score of the season.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2016 season as of Sept. 17:  

	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Scherzer, Max 2588	pi sp	dc nl	23.7
2	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	21.0
3	Fernandez, Jose 3147	pi sp	fla nl	20.4
4	Kluber, Corey 3200	pi sp	cle al	20.2
5	Lester, Jon 2173	pi sp	chi nl	20.1
6	Hamels, Cole 2135	pi sp	tex al	16.8
7	Syndergaard, Noah 3472	pi sp	nym al	15.7
8	Cueto, Johnny 2400	pi sp	sf nl	15.4
9	Strasburg, Stephen 2736	pi sp	dc nl	15.1
10	Hill, Rich 2215	pi sp	lad nl	14.4

What are those numbers after players' names?

Gray pitched a complete-game, four-hit shutout, walking none and striking out 16, in the 8-0 win over the Padres.

Gray had a Box-Toppers game score Saturday of +21.0, the third-highest of the season and only the sixth time this season a player has had a game score of +20 or more. Two pitchers had scores of +22.0 this season—Vince Velasquez of the Phillies did it April 14 and Danny Duffy of the Royals did it Aug. 1. (See the chart at the bottom of the page for the top 11 Box-Toppers game scores earned in 2016.)

American League Player of the Day—Angels pitcher Ricky Nolasco pitched six scoreless innings, striking out seven and allowing five hits and two walks, in the 6-1 win over the Blue Jays.

National League Batter of the Day—Ryan Braun of the Brewers hit two home runs and went 3-for-5, scoring twice and driving in five runs, in the 11-3 win over the Cubs.

Braun earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being NL Batter of the Day, giving him 10.5 for the season. He rises to second place among NL batters, behind Kris Bryant of the Cubs (10.5 Box-Toppers points). Though Bryant and Braun both have 10.5 points, Bryant ranks ahead because he had more points in 2015—8.5 vs. 5.0.

Bryant is the 42nd player this season with 10 or more Box-Toppers points. This is Braun’s sixth season with 10 or more Box-Toppers points, his first since 2012 when he had 12.5, prior to his 2013 suspension under baseball’s performance enhancing drug policy. Braun now ranks 35th among all players in Box-Toppers points in 2016.

American League Batter of the Day—Marcus Semien of the Athletics hit a three-run homer and went 2-for-4, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 11-2 win over the Rangers.

Notable—Phillies pitcher Jeremy Hellickson has the most 2016 Box-Toppers points of any of the 16 who earned Player of the Game honors Saturday.

Hellickson (CG 3H 0R 0BB 5K W in the 8-0 win over the Marlins) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 13.1 for the season. He ranks 17th among all players and 12th among NL pitchers.

Scoring—Gray earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Nolasco earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Braun and Semien each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s 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.

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Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score

9/17	Score	Game	Player of Game	AB	R	H	BI		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
MLB	21.0	COL 8, SD 0	Jon Gray (W,10-8)	-	-	-	-		9.0	4	0	0	0	16
	11.0	PHI 8, MIA 0	Jeremy Hellickson (W,12-9)	-	-	-	-		9.0	3	0	0	0	5
AL	6.0	LAA 6, TOR 1	Ricky Nolasco (W,6-14)	-	-	-	-		6.0	5	0	0	2	7
	6.0	HOU 2, SEA 1	Mike Fiers (W,11-7)	-	-	-	-		6.0	3	0	0	1	4
	5.1	BOS 6, NYY 5	Craig Kimbrel (S,27)	-	-	-	-		1.1	0	0	0	0	4
BAT	5.0	MIL 11, CHC 3	Ryan Braun, LF	5	2	3	5		0.0	0	0	0	0	0
	4.0	CLE 1, DET 0 (10)	Andrew Miller (W,8-1)	-	-	-	-		2.0	1	0	0	0	3
	4.0	PIT 7, CIN 3	Juan Nicasio (W,10-6)	-	-	-	-		2.0	0	0	0	0	2
	4.0	PIT 10, CIN 4	Wade LeBlanc (S,2)	-	-	-	-		3.0	1	0	0	0	2
	4.0	KC 3, CHW 2	Wade Davis (S,25)	-	-	-	-		1.0	0	0	0	0	3
BAT	3.0	OAK 11, TEX 2	Marcus Semien, SS	4	2	2	3		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	`NYM 3, MIN 2 (12)	Josh Smoker	-	-	-	-		1.0	1	0	0	0	3
	2.0	ATL 7, WSH 3	Ender Inciarte, CF	4	3	3	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	TB 5, BAL 2	Evan Longoria, 3B	4	3	2	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	1.0	LAD 6, ARI 2	Joc Pederson, CF	4	1	2	2		-	-	-	-	-	-
	1.0	STL 3, SF 2	Kolten Wong, 2B	1	0	1	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
		`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	+/-
Hellickson, Jeremy 2778	pi sp	phi nl	13.1	18.1	41.8	44.8	8.1
Braun, Ryan J. 2300	lf	mil nl	10.5	15.5	46.5	88.2	5.5
Nolasco, Ricky 2125	pi sp	ana al	9.4	11.4	32.1	85.2	7.4
Nicasio, Juan 2888	pi mr sp	pit nl	9.0	10.0	25.4	25.4	8.0
Kimbrel, Craig 2825	pi cp	bos al	7.0	13.0	56.7	57.7	1.0
Gray, Jon 3634	pi sp	col nl	7.0	7.0	7.0	7.0	7.0
Longoria, Evan 2423	3b	tb al	6.5	9.5	26.0	47.0	3.5
Semien, Marcus 3302	ss	oak al	6.0	6.0	9.5	9.5	6.0
Fiers, Michael 3029	pi sp	hou al	5.0	12.0	26.1	26.1	-2.0
Miller, Andrew 2436	pi cp	cle al	5.0	9.0	13.0	20.0	1.0
Davis, Wade 2681	pi cp	kc al	4.0	8.0	23.0	26.0	0.0
Pederson, Joc 3621	cf	lad nl	4.0	4.0	4.0	4.0	4.0
LeBlanc, Wade 2669	pi sp cp	pit nl	3.0	3.0	3.0	10.0	3.0
Inciarte, Ender 3360	cf	atl nl	2.0	5.0	6.0	6.0	-1.0
Smoker, Josh 3725	pi cp mr	nym nl	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0
Wong, Kolten 3377	2b	stl nl	1.0	5.0	10.5	10.5	-3.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

Highest Box-Toppers game scores of 2016

Here are the highest Box-Toppers game scores earned by Players of the Games in 2016. Phillies pitcher Vince Velasquez had the highest score of +22.0 on April 14 when he was Player of the Day (and 2.0 Box-Toppers points). Saturday, Rockies pitcher Jon Gray had the third-highest score (+21.0). All but one player among the top 11 here earned Player of the Day honors. Cardinals pitcher Jamie Garcia earned Player of the Game honors (worth 1.0 Box-Toppers point) because he finished behind that day’s overall top player Velasquez on April 14.  

	Date	Bonus	BTG	Team	Players	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
1	4/14	MLB	22.0	PHI 3, SD 0	Vince Velasquez (W,2-0)	9.0	3	0	0	0	16
2	8/1	MLB	22.0	KC 3, TB 0	Danny Duffy (W,7-1)	8.0	1	0	0	1	16
3	9/17	MLB	21.0	COL 8, SD 0	Jon Gray (W,10-8)	9.0	4	0	0	0	16
4	7/10	MLB	21.0	SF 4, ARI 0	Madison Bumgarner (W,10-4)	9.0	1	0	0	1	14
5	5/1	MLB	20.0	LAD 1, SD 0	Clayton Kershaw (W,3-1)	9.0	3	0	0	0	14
6	4/14		20.0	STL 7, MIL 0	Jaime Garcia (W,1-0)	9.0	1	0	0	1	13
7	5/11	MLB	19.0	WSH 3, DET 2	Max Scherzer (W,4-2)	9.0	6	2	2	0	20
8	5/12	MLB	18.0	LAD 5, NYM 0	Clayton Kershaw (W,5-1)	9.0	3	0	0	1	13
9	9/13	MLB	17.0	SEA 8, LAA 0	Taijuan Walker (W,6-10)	9.0	3	0	0	0	11
10	4/23	MLB	17.0	WSH 2, MIN 0	Tanner Roark (W,2-2)	7.0	2	0	0	3	15
11	6/5	MLB	17.0	MIA 1, NYM 0	Jose Fernandez (W,9-2)	7.0	4	0	0	0	14