Rangers pitcher Cole Hamels is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to sixth place in season player rankings.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2016 season as of May 6:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | chi nl | 6.0 |
| 2 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 6.0 |
| 3 | Altuve, Jose 3007 | 2b | hou al | 5.0 |
| 4 | Matz, Steven 3516 | pi sp | nym nl | 5.0 |
| 5 | Velasquez, Vince 3611 | pi sp | phi nl | 5.0 |
| 6 | Hamels, Cole 2135 | pi sp | tex al | 4.7 |
| 7 | Quintana, Jose 3040 | pi sp | chi al | 4.7 |
| 8 | Nola, Aaron 3569 | pi sp | phi nl | 4.7 |
| 9 | Cespedes, Yoenis 3008 | cf lf dh ph | nym nl | 4.5 |
| 10 | Cano, Robinson 2092 | 2b | sea al | 4.5 |
Hamels struck out nine over seven scoreless innings, allowing one hit, in the 5-1 win over the Tigers. Hamels earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 4.7 for the season, rising to sixth in player rankings, first among American League pitchers.
Hamels also now has 130.9 career Box-Toppers points, rising to 28th among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He passes one player on the “all-time” list, Trevor Hoffman (129.4) and now trails 27th-ranked player, Jason Giambi (133.4).
National League Player of the Day—Cubs pitcher John Lackey struck out 11 over seven innings, allowing two runs and six hits, in the 8-6 win over the Nationals.
Lackey now has 111.5 career Box-Toppers points and rises to 50th among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He passes one player on the “all-time” list, Tom Glavine (110.6) and now trails 49th-ranked player, Kevin Brown (112.8).
American League Batter of the Day—Melky Cabrera of the White Sox doubled and went 4-for-5, scoring once and driving in three runs, in the 10-4 win over the Twins.
National League Batter of the Day—Christian Yelich of the Marlins hit a two-run homer and went 2-for-4, scoring twice, in the 6-4 win over the Phillies.
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 | 175.3 |
| 7 | Roy Halladay | pi sp | retired | 170.7 |
| 8 | Manny Ramirez | lf dh | retired | 167.2 |
| 9 | Johan Santana | pi sp | free agent | 166.6 |
| 10 | Clayton Kershaw | pi sp | lad nl | 165.3 |
| 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 | 149.4 |
| 19 | Chipper Jones | 3b | retired | 149.0 |
| 20 | Javier Vazquez | pi sp | retired | 148.3 |
Rankings—Diamondbacks pitcher Zack Greinke rose to 18th place among all players in Box-Toppers points since 1995 (when player tracking began) after earning Player of the Game honors Friday.
Greinke (6IP 7H 2R 8K W in the 7-2 win over the Braves) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 149.4 for his career. He passes one player on the “all-time” list, Chipper Jones (149.0) and now trails 17th-ranked player, Greg Maddux (151.7). Greinke has 3.0 Box-Toppers points for the season.
Debut—Yankees pitcher Kirby Yates made his Box-Toppers debut Friday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors.
Yates (0.2IP 0H 0R K W in the 3-2 win over the Red Sox) made his Major League debut June 7, 2014, and was playing in his 68th career game. He is the 3,628th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Hamels earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Lackey earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Cabrera and Yelich each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Friday’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
| 5/6 | Score | Team | Player | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 13.0 | Rangers | Cole Hamels (W,4-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 9 | |
| 11.2 | Indians | Danny Salazar (W,3-2) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 9 | ||
| NL | 7.0 | Cubs | John Lackey (W,4-1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 11 | |
| 6.0 | Pirates | Francisco Liriano (W,3-1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 10 | ||
| 6.0 | Padres | Drew Pomeranz (W,3-3) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | ||
| 5.0 | Rays | Chris Archer (W,2-4) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | ||
| BAT | 3.0 | White Sox | Melky Cabrera, LF | 5 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 3.0 | Astros | Carlos Correa, SS | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | Giants | Santiago Casilla (S,7) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| BAT | 2.0 | Marlins | Christian Yelich, LF | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 2.0 | Reds | Joey Votto, 1B | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | Dbacks | Zack Greinke (W,3-2) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 8 | ||
| 1.2 | Yankees | Kirby Yates (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 0.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 1.0 | Blue Jays | Kevin Pillar, CF | 4 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
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 | +/- |
| Hamels, Cole 2135 | pi sp | tex al | 4.7 | 20.1 | 71.7 | 130.9 | -10.7 |
| Salazar, Danny 3223 | pi sp | cle al | 4.4 | 17.8 | 27.2 | 27.2 | -9.0 |
| Liriano, Francisco 2104 | pi sp | pit nl | 4.0 | 18.9 | 59.4 | 99.2 | -10.9 |
| Lackey, John 1640 | pi sp | chi nl | 3.7 | 13.4 | 33.1 | 111.5 | -6.0 |
| Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | ari nl | 3.0 | 23.7 | 88.8 | 149.4 | -17.7 |
| Archer, Chris 3194 | pi sp | tb al | 3.0 | 19.0 | 43.1 | 43.1 | -13.0 |
| Pomeranz, Drew 3061 | pi sp mr | sd nl | 3.0 | 6.0 | 14.0 | 14.0 | 0.0 |
| Yelich, Christian 3334 | lf | fla nl | 2.5 | 5.0 | 12.5 | 12.5 | 0.0 |
| Cabrera, Melky 2143 | lf | chi al | 2.5 | 3.5 | 18.0 | 29.0 | 1.5 |
| Casilla, Santiago 2301 | pi cp | sf nl | 2.0 | 7.0 | 19.7 | 22.7 | -3.0 |
| Correa, Carlos 3506 | ss | hou al | 1.0 | 8.2 | 8.2 | 8.2 | -6.2 |
| Votto, Joey 2366 | 1b | cin nl | 1.0 | 6.0 | 22.7 | 54.7 | -4.0 |
| Pillar, Kevin 3486 | cf | tor al | 1.0 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 | -2.5 |
| Yates, Kirby 3628 | pi mr | nyy al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |