Giants' Bumgarner tops players for Tuesday, May 17; Kershaw extends Box-Toppers points lead

Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Top 10 players

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

	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	10.0
2	Arrieta, Jake 2738	pi sp	chi nl	7.7
3	Sale, Chris 2806	pi sp	chi al	6.7
4	Machado, Manny 3087	3b ss	bal al	6.7
5	Salazar, Danny 3223	pi sp	cle al	6.1
6	Cueto, Johnny 2400	pi sp	sf nl	6.0
7	Velasquez, Vince 3611	pi sp	phi nl	6.0
8	Quintana, Jose 3040	pi sp	chi al	5.7
9	De La Rosa, Rubby 3342	pi sp	ari nl	5.7
10	Nola, Aaron 3569	pi sp	phi nl	5.7

What are those numbers after players' names?

Also Tuesday, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw extended his lead in Box-Toppers player rankings and Diamondbacks pitcher Zack Greinke became the 18th player since 1995 with 150 or more career Box-Toppers points.

Player of the Day—Bumgarner pitched a complete game five-hitter, allowing one run and striking out 11, in the 5-1 win over the Padres.

Bumgarner had a Box-Toppers game score of +13.0, tied with Kershaw’s Tuesday game score, but Bumgarner won overall Player of the Game honors on a tiebreaker because he had more innings pitched—9 vs. 8.

American League Player of the Day—Indians pitcher Danny Salazar struck out eight over 7 1/3 innings, allowing one run and five hits, in the 13-1 win over the Reds.

Salazar earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 6.1 for the season, rising to fifth in season player rankings, second among AL pitchers, behind Chris Sale of the White Sox (6.7).

American League Batter of the Day—Khris Davis of the Athletics hit three home runs, including a walk-off grand slam, in the 8-5 win over the Rangers. Davis went 3-for-5 with six total RBIs.

National League Batter of the Day—John Jaso of the Pirates doubled and went 3-for-3, scoring once and driving in two runs, in the 12-9 win over the Braves.

All-time leaders

Here are Box-Toppers top 20 players since record keeping began in 1995:

	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Randy Johnson	pi sp	retired	278.8
2	Pedro Martinez	pi sp	retired	244.8
3	Curt Schilling	pi sp	retired	194.1
4	Alex Rodriguez	dh	nyy al	187.0
5	CC Sabathia	pi sp	nyy al	180.0
6	Albert Pujols	1b dh	ana al	176.3
7	Roy Halladay	pi sp	retired	170.7
8	Clayton Kershaw	pi sp	lad nl	169.3
9	Manny Ramirez	lf dh	retired	167.2
10	Johan Santana	pi sp	free agent	166.6
11	Roger Clemens	pi sp	retired	164.8
12	Felix Hernandez	pi sp	sea al	163.7
13	John Smoltz	pi sp	retired	160.9
14	Tim Hudson	pi sp	retired	157.0
15	Mike Mussina	pi sp	retired	155.6
16	Barry Bonds	lf	retired	153.2
17	Greg Maddux	pi sp	retired	151.7
18	Zack Greinke	pi sp	ari nl	150.4
19	Chipper Jones	3b	retired	149.0
20	Javier Vazquez	pi sp	retired	148.3

List of top 100 players since 1995 (through the 2015 season)

Kershaw—Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw extended his lead in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Tuesday.

Kershaw (8IP 4H R 11K W in the 5-1 win over the Angels) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 10.0 for the season. Kershaw is the first player this season with 10 or more Box-Toppers points and it is the eighth straight season in which he has earned 10 or more points.

Kershaw also now has 169.3 career Box-Toppers points, maintaining his rank of eighth place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails seventh-place player Roy Halladay (170.7).

Greinke—Diamondbacks pitcher Zack Greinke becomes the 18th player with 150 or more Box-Toppers points since 1995, when player tracking began, after earning Player of the Game honors Tuesday.

Greinke (7IP 5H 3R 7K W in the 5-3 win over the Yankees) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 150.4 career points. He maintains his rank of 18th place on the “all-time” Box-Toppers points list, trailing 17th-ranked player Greg Maddux (151.7). Greinke has 4.0 Box-Toppers points for the season.

Rankings—Phillies pitcher Vince Velasquez rose to eighth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Tuesday.

Velasquez (5IP 3H 0R 10K W in the 3-1 win over the Marlins) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 6.0 for the season. He ranks fourth among NL pitchers.

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

• Tyler White of the Astros (2HR 2B 3-4 2R 2BI in the 6-5, 11-inning win over the White Sox) made his Major League debut April 5 and was playing in his 35th career game. He is the 3,638th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
• Kyle Ryan of the Tigers (1.2IP 0H 0R K W in the 7-2 win over the Twins) made his Major League debut Aug. 30, 2014, and was playing in his 38th career game. He is the 3,639th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Bumgarner earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Salazar earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Davis and Jaso each earn 1.5 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

5/17	Score	Team	Player	AB	R	H	BI	BB	K		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
MLB	13.0	Giants	Madison Bumgarner (W,5-2)	-	-	-	-	-	-		9.0	5	1	1	0	11
	13.0	Dodgers	Clayton Kershaw (W,6-1)	-	-	-	-	-	-		8.0	4	1	1	0	11
	12.0	Mets	Noah Syndergaard (W,4-2)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	5	0	0	0	10
	10.0	Phillies	Vince Velasquez (W,5-1)	-	-	-	-	-	-		5.0	3	0	0	2	10
AL	7.1	Indians	Danny Salazar (W,4-2)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.1	5	1	1	1	8
BAT	7.0	Athletics	Khris Davis, LF	5	3	3	6	0	2		-	-	-	-	-	-
	7.0	Mariners	Nelson Cruz, DH	3	2	3	5	1	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	6.2	Brewers	Chase Anderson (W,2-5)	-	-	-	-	-	-		8.2	3	2	2	1	6
	5.0	Royals	Paulo Orlando, RF	4	2	3	4	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	Astros	Tyler White, 1B	4	2	3	2	0	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	Rays	Kevin Kiermaier, CF	4	3	3	1	1	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
BAT	3.0	Pirates	John Jaso, 1B	3	1	3	2	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	Dbacks	Zack Greinke (W,4-3)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	5	3	3	0	7
	2.2	Tigers	Kyle Ryan (W,1-1)	-	-	-	-	-	-		1.2	0	0	0	0	1
	1.2	Rockies	Chad Bettis (W,4-2)	-	-	-	-	-	-		6.2	5	1	1	2	4

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	Pos	Team	16	15-16	11-16	Career	+/-
Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	10.0	35.7	135.8	169.3	-15.7
Salazar, Danny 3223	pi sp	cle al	6.1	19.5	28.9	28.9	-7.3
Velasquez, Vince 3611	pi sp	phi nl	6.0	6.0	6.0	6.0	6.0
Bumgarner, Madison 2753	pi sp	sf nl	5.0	22.0	92.0	97.7	-12.0
Syndergaard, Noah 3472	pi sp	nym nl	5.0	15.4	15.4	15.4	-5.4
Greinke, Zack 1871	pi sp	ari nl	4.0	24.7	89.8	150.4	-16.7
Bettis, Chad 3481	pi sp	col nl	3.7	9.1	9.1	9.1	-1.7
Anderson, Chase 3328	pi sp	mil nl	3.0	7.0	12.0	12.0	-1.0
Jaso, John 2705	1b ca	pit nl	3.0	3.0	8.0	14.0	3.0
Cruz, Nelson 2224	dh rf	sea al	2.0	4.0	29.7	49.2	0.0
Davis, Khris 3242	lf	oak al	1.5	5.5	11.5	11.5	-2.5
Kiermaier, Kevin 3373	cf	tb al	1.0	2.0	4.5	4.5	0.0
Orlando, Paulo 3526	rf	kc al	1.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	0.0
Ryan, Kyle 3639	pi mr	det al	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0
White, Tyler 3638	1b	hou al	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0

What are those numbers after players' names?