Yankees pitcher Masahiro Tanaka is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of June 23:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 14.4 |
| 2 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 13.0 |
| 3 | Santana, Ervin 2005 | pi sp | min al | 11.4 |
| 4 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | bos al | 10.1 |
| 5 | Ray, Robbie 3502 | pi sp | ari nl | 10.0 |
| 6 | Carrasco, Carlos 2885 | pi sp | cle al | 9.4 |
| 7 | Wood, Alex 3246 | pi sp | lad nl | 9.0 |
| 8 | Judge, Aaron 3767 | rf | nyy al | 8.2 |
| 9 | Vargas, Jason 2055 | pi sp | kc al | 8.0 |
| 10 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | ari nl | 7.7 |
Also Friday, Dodgers pitcher Alex Wood rises to seventh place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Player of the Day—Tanaka struck out nine over eight scoreless innings, allowing three hits and two walks, in the 2-1, 10-inning win over the Rangers. Tanaka did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because the game was in a scoreless tie when he exited.
National League Player of the Day—Phillies pitcher Mark Leiter Jr. pitched six scoreless innings, striking out five and allowing three hits and one walk, in the 6-1 win over the Diamondbacks.
This was Leiter’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Leiter made his Major League debut April 28 and was playing in his 13th career game. He is the 3,834th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Leiter is the son of pitcher Mark Leiter Sr. who had 23.4 career Box-Toppers points from 1995 to 1998. Leiter would likely have more Box-Toppers point if his entire career beginning in 1990 were tracked (Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995).
American League Batter of the Day—Derek Norris of the Rays homered, doubled and went 3-for-3, scoring three times and driving in two runs, in the 15-5 win over the Orioles.
National League Batter of the Day—Yoenis Cespedes of the Mets homered, doubled and went 3-for-5, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 11-4 win over the Giants.
Rankings—Dodgers pitcher Alex Wood rises from eighth to seventh place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Friday.
Wood (6IP 3H R 2BB 7K W in the 6-1 win over the Rockies) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 9.0 for the season. He ranks fourth among NL pitchers.
With Wood earning a point Friday, it marks the first time this season that all of the Box-Toppers top 10 point leaders have different Box-Toppers point totals—there are for the first time in 2017 no ties among the top 10 players. However, 10th-ranked player, Diamondbacks pitcher Zack Greinke, has 7.7 Box-Toppers points and beats out three other players with the same Box-Toppers point total on tiebreakers—Red Sox pitcher Craig Kimbrel, Marlins pitcher Dan Straily and Astros pitcher Lance McCullers.
Debut—Brian Goodwin of the Nationals made his Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors.
Goodwin (2HR 3-4 2R 2BI in the 6-5, 10-inning win over the Reds) made his Major League debut Aug. 6, 2016, and was playing in his 54th career game. He is the 3,835th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Tanaka earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Leiter earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Norris and Cespedes 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.
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Top player from each game
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score| 6/23 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 12.0 | `NYY 2, TEX 1 (F/10) | Masahiro Tanaka | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 9 | |
| NL | 7.0 | PHI 6, ARI 1 | Mark Leiter Jr. (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | |
| 6.0 | LAD 6, COL 1 | Alex Wood (W,8-0) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 | ||
| BAT | 5.0 | TB 15, BAL 5 | Derek Norris, C | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 5.0 | SD 1, DET 0 | Luis Perdomo (W,2-4) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 6 | ||
| 5.0 | ATL 5, MIL 4 | Mike Foltynewicz (W,5-5) | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 9 | ||
| 4.0 | BOS 9, LAA 4 | Sandy Leon, C | 4 | 1 | 3 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.0 | OAK 3, CHW 0 | Jharel Cotton (W,5-7) | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | ||
| 3.0 | SEA 13, HOU 3 | Danny Valencia, 1B | 5 | 2 | 4 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| BAT | 3.0 | NYM 11, SF 4 | Yoenis Cespedes, LF | 5 | 2 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 3.0 | WSH 6, CIN 5 (F/10) | Brian Goodwin, LF-CF | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | `PIT 4, STL 3 | Jameson Taillon | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 7 | ||
| 2.0 | MIN 5, CLE 0 | Adalberto Mejia (W,2-3) | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 4 | ||
| 1.0 | MIA 2, CHC 0 | Giancarlo Stanton, RF | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 0.0 | KC 5, TOR 4 | Salvador Perez, C | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
AL—Overall American League Player of the Day, worth 1.7 total Box-Toppers points.
NL—Overall National League Player of the Day, worth 1.7 total Box-Toppers points.
BAT—Top AL or NL Batter of the Day, worth 1.5 total Box-Toppers points.
All other players listed here earn Player of the Game honors, worth 1.0 Box-Toppers point.
` 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 (’17). Also shown are each players’ Box-Toppers point total for this season and last (’16-17), the period 2012-2017 (’12-17) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2017 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2016 total (+/-).| Player of the Game | Pos | Team | ’17 | ’16-17 | ’12-17 | Career | +/- |
| Wood, Alex 3246 | pi sp | lad nl | 9.0 | 10.0 | 28.4 | 28.4 | 8.0 |
| Tanaka, Masahiro 3305 | pi sp | nyy al | 4.7 | 18.8 | 39.5 | 39.5 | -9.4 |
| Perez, Salvador 2972 | ca | kc al | 4.5 | 8.5 | 23.7 | 26.2 | 0.5 |
| Cotton, Jharel 3733 | pi sp | oak al | 3.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 1.0 |
| Norris, Derek 3198 | ca | tb al | 3.0 | 4.0 | 16.0 | 16.0 | 2.0 |
| Valencia, Danny 2772 | 1b 3b | sea al | 2.7 | 7.2 | 11.7 | 15.7 | -1.8 |
| Cespedes, Yoenis 3008 | lf | nym nl | 2.5 | 10.5 | 42.4 | 42.4 | -5.5 |
| Leon, Sandy 3676 | ca | bos al | 2.5 | 5.5 | 5.5 | 5.5 | -0.5 |
| Stanton, Giancarlo 2737 | rf | fla nl | 2.0 | 8.5 | 32.7 | 41.2 | -4.5 |
| Taillon, Jameson 3658 | pi sp | pit nl | 2.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 | -3.0 |
| Perdomo, Luis D. 3715 | pi sp | sd nl | 2.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 0.0 |
| Mejia, Adalberto 3812 | pi sp | min al | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| Leiter, Mark Jr. 3834 | pi sp | phi nl | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.7 |
| Foltynewicz, Mike 3455 | pi sp | atl nl | 1.0 | 5.0 | 7.7 | 7.7 | -3.0 |
| Goodwin, Brian 3835 | lf cf | dc nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |