Brewers' Fiers tops players for Saturday, May 2; Twins' Hunter extends to 17 consecutive season streak with Box-Toppers points

Brewers pitcher Mike Fiers is Saturday’s Player of the Day.

Fiers struck out 12 over six innings, allowing one run, in the 6-1 win over the Cubs.

American League Player of the Day—Orioles pitcher Miguel Gonzalez pitched 7 2/3 scoreless innings, striking out six, in the 4-0 win over the Rays.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2015 season as of May 2.  


Player Pos Team BTP
1 Hernandez, Felix 2064 pi sp sea al 6.0
2 Cole, Gerrit 3232 pi sp pit nl 6.0
3 Archer, Chris 3194 pi sp tb al 5.0
4 Keuchel, Dallas 3050 pi sp hou al 4.7
5 Harvey, Matt 3075 pi sp nym nl 4.7
6 Stanton, Giancarlo 2737 rf fla nl 4.5
7 Cueto, Johnny 2400 pi sp cin nl 4.4
8 Price, David 2593 pi sp det al 3.7
9 Kazmir, Scott 1947 pi sp oak al 3.7
10 Cabrera, Miguel 1776 1b det al 3.7
What are those numbers after players' names?

American League Batter of the Day—Kyle Blanks of the Rangers homered, doubled and went 4-for-5, scoring twice and driving in three, in the 8-7, 10-inning win over the Athletics.

National League Batter of the Day—Zack Cozart of the Reds homered and went 3-for-5, scoring twice and driving in two runs, in the 8-4 win over the Braves.

Rankings—Tigers pitcher David Price rose to eighth place in Box-Toppers player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Saturday (CG 5H R 3K W in the 2-1 win over the Royals). Price earns 1.0 Box-Toppers points, giving him 3.7 for the season.

Streak—Two players extended their lengthy streaks of consecutive seasons scoring at least 1.0 Box-Toppers point:

  • Torii Hunter of the Twins has now earned at least 1.0 Box-Toppers point for 17 straight seasons, which is now the longest currently active streak. The record for most consecutive seasons with at least 1.0 Box-Toppers point is 19, held by Jason Giambi (1995-2013). (Box-Toppers record keeping began in 1995.) Two other active players had Box-Toppers points in 16 straight seasons as of 2014 and also have a chance to extend that to 17 straight seasons in 2015—Tim Hudson of the Giants and Carlos Beltran of the Yankees. Neither has earned Box-Toppers points this season.

Hunter was Player of the Game in Saturday’s 5-3 win over the White Sox (HR 3-4 2R 2BI) and earned 1.0 Box-Toppers point, his first of the season.

Hunter earned his first Box-Toppers point in 1999 with the Twins. His best season was 2008 with the Angels when he had 12.4 Box-Toppers points, ranked second among AL batters.. In 2014, he had 5.5 Box-Toppers points with the Tigers. 

Hunter has 108.9 career Box-Toppers points and ranks 51st among all players (since Box-Toppers record keeping began in 1995). With Saturday’s point, he passed  three players on that list—Billy Wagner (108.7), Kevin Millwood (108.3) and Lance Berkman (108.1). Hunter ranks 16th among all batters since 1995 and ranks fifth among active batters currently in the AL.

  • Marlins pitcher Dan Haren has now earned at least 1.0 Box-Toppers point for 13 straight seasons. Haren was Player of the Game in Saturday’s 7-6 win over the Phillies (6IP 0R 4K W) and earned 1.0 Box-Toppers point, his first of the season.

Haren earned his first Box-Toppers point in 2003 with the Cardinals. His best season was 2011 with the Angels, when he had 16.8 Box-Toppers points, fifth among AL pitchers. In 2014, he had 8.0 Box-Toppers points with the Dodgers.

Haren has 109.2 career Box-Toppers points and ranks 50th among all players (since Box-Toppers record keeping began in 1995). With Saturday’s point, he also passed Billy Wagner (108.7) and Kevin Millwood (108.3) on that list. Haren ranks 35th among all pitchers since 1995 and ranks 11th among active pitchers currently in the NL, just behind Tim Lincecum of the Giants (109.3).

Scoring—Fiers earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Gonzalez earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day. Blanks and Cozart each earn 1.5 Box-Toppers 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.

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score

5/2 Score Team Player AB R H BI BB K IP H R ER BB K
MLB 11.0 Brewers Mike Fiers (W, 1-3) - - - - - - 6.0 3 1 1 2 12
AL 8.2 Orioles Miguel Gonzalez (W, 3-1) - - - - - - 7.2 4 0 0 1 6
8.0 Nationals Gio Gonzalez (W, 2-2) - - - - - - 7.0 6 0 0 2 9
6.0 Marlins Dan Haren (W, 3-1) - - - - - - 6.0 4 0 0 0 4
5.1 Yankees Dellin Betances (S, 1) - - - - - - 1.1 0 0 0 0 4
5.0 Tigers David Price (W, 3-1) - - - - - - 9.0 5 1 1 0 3
5.0 Dodgers Juan Nicasio (W, 1-1) - - - - - - 3.0 0 0 0 0 2
BAT 4.0 Rangers Kyle Blanks 1B 5 2 4 3 0 1 - - - - - -
3.0 Twins Torii Hunter DH 4 2 3 2 0 0 - - - - - -
3.0 Padres Craig Kimbrel (S, 7) - - - - - - 1.0 0 0 0 0 2
BAT 2.0 Reds Zack Cozart SS 5 2 3 2 0 0 - - - - - -
2.0 Astros Colby Rasmus LF 5 3 3 1 0 0 - - - - - -
2.0 Blue Jays Jose Bautista DH 5 1 2 4 0 3 - - - - - -
1.0 Giants Casey McGehee 3B 4 1 3 1 0 0 - - - - - -
1.0 Cardinals Pete Kozma 2B 1 1 1 0 0 0 - - - - - -