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Tracking who most helps their teams win the most games, based on box score stats. A method to measure & compare baseball's top players.
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Kershaw tops player rankings for 14th week; Cubs' Rizzo rises to lead NL batters

Shawn Plank August 19, 2017
Here are the top 10 players by category (AL & NL pitching & batting) in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of Aug. 17.


AL PITCHERS POS TEAM BTP NL PITCHERS POS TEAM BTP
1 Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp bos al 21.1 1 Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 22.1
2 Santana, Ervin 2005 pi sp min al 14.4 2 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 22.0
3 Severino, Luis 3567 pi sp nyy al 14.1 3 Greinke, Zack 1871 pi sp ari nl 15.4
4 Kluber, Corey 3200 pi sp cle al 14.0 4 Wood, Alex 3246 pi sp lad nl 14.0
5 Paxton, James 3280 pi sp sea al 13.7 5 deGrom, Jacob 3343 pi sp nym nl 12.7
6 Carrasco, Carlos 2885 pi sp cle al 13.4 6 Strasburg, Stephen 2736 pi sp dc nl 12.4
7 McCullers, Lance 3488 pi sp hou al 9.4 7 Nola, Aaron 3569 pi sp phi nl 11.8
8 Vargas, Jason 2055 pi sp kc al 9.0 8 Quintana, Jose 3040 pi sp chi nl 10.0
9 Kimbrel, Craig 2825 pi cp bos al 8.7 9 Darvish, Yu 3003 pi sp lad nl 10.0
10 Tanaka, Masahiro 3305 pi sp nyy al 8.4 10 Ray, Robbie 3502 pi sp ari nl 10.0
AL BATTERS POS TEAM BTP NL BATTERS POS TEAM BTP
1 Encarnacion, Edwin 2098 dh cle al 11.1 1 Rizzo, Anthony 3063 1b chi nl 10.5
2 Judge, Aaron 3767 rf nyy al 9.2 2 Bellinger, Cody 3781 1b rf lf lad nl 8.7
3 Healy, Ryon 3685 dh 1b 3b oak al 8.7 3 Posey, Buster 2745 ca 1b sf nl 8.5
4 Bruce, Jay 2453 rf cle al 8.0 4 Arenado, Nolan 3306 3b col nl 8.2
5 Andrus, Elvis 2582 ss tex al 7.5 5 Parra, Gerardo 2746 rf lf col nl 8.0
6 Upton, Justin 2411 lf det al 7.5 6 Murphy, Daniel 2589 2b dc nl 7.5
7 Sano, Miguel 3527 3b min al 7.5 7 McCutchen, Andrew 2637 cf pit nl 7.0
8 Mancini, Trey 3766 lf 1b bal al 7.2 8 Stanton, Giancarlo 2737 rf fla nl 7.0
9 Reddick, Josh 2936 rf lf cf hou al 7.0 9 Harper, Bryce 3011 rf dc nl 7.0
10 Iglesias, Jose 3532 ss det al 7.0 10 Grichuk, Randal 3474 rf stl nl 7.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw remains atop Box-Toppers weekly player rankings for the 14th straight week, despite being on the disabled list since July 24.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of Aug. 17:  


Player Pos Team BTP
1 Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 22.1
2 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 22.0
3 Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp bos al 21.1
4 Greinke, Zack 1871 pi sp ari nl 15.4
5 Santana, Ervin 2005 pi sp min al 14.4
6 Severino, Luis 3567 pi sp nyy nl 14.1
7 Kluber, Corey 3200 pi sp cle al 14.0
8 Wood, Alex 3246 pi sp lad nl 14.0
9 Paxton, James 3280 pi sp sea al 13.7
10 Carrasco, Carlos 2885 pi sp cle al 13.4
What are those numbers after players' names?

Meanwhile, Anthony Rizzo of the Cubs takes the lead among National League batters in Box-Toppers points, passing last week’s leader Buster Posey of the Giants.

Kershaw has 22.1 Box-Toppers points though the games of Thursday, Aug. 17, earning no points in the previous week. He leads second-place player, Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer (22.0 Box-Toppers points). Kershaw also leads Scherzer among National League pitchers.

Kershaw could be out until late August or early September. Last season, he had a herniated disk and missed 10 weeks, losing the commanding Box-Toppers points lead he had in 2016 and finishing second in final player rankings to Scherzer (25.7 points to 24.4).

Here are the leaders in other key categories:

National League batters—Anthony Rizzo of the Cubs took the lead this week with 10.5 Box-Toppers points, passing previous leader Buster Posey of the Giants (8.5), who falls to third, behind Cody Bellinger of the Dodgers (8.7). Rizzo ranks 15th among all players.

American League pitchers—Chris Sale of the Red Sox maintains his lead with 21.1 Box-Toppers points, earning 2.0 points in the past week. He leads second-place AL pitcher Ervin Santana of the Twins (14.4). Sale ranks third among all players, behind Kershaw (22.1) and Scherzer (22.0).

American League batters—Edwin Encarnacion of the Indians maintains his lead with 11.1 Box-Toppers points, earning 1.7 points in the past week. He leads second-place AL batter Aaron Judge of the Yankees (9.2). Encarnacion ranks 14th among all players.

Yankees pitcher Luis Severino and Indians pitcher Carlos Carrasco rose onto Box-Toppers overall top 10 players list since last week. Sererino (14.1 points) rises to sixth and Carrasco (13.4) rises to 10th. They displace two players who fell from the top 10—Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom (12.7), who falls to 11th and Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg (12.4), who falls to 12th.

So far this season, 673 different players have earned Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors. There are 336 players who have more than 2.0 Box-Toppers points. There are 129 players who have made their Box-Toppers debut so far this season, the first time in their career they earned Player of the Game honors. Eight players debuted in the past week.

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.

Box-Toppers strives for accuracy. See a mistake in a post? A wrong name, wrong team, grammar error, spelling goof, etc.? Thanks for pointing it out! Contact Box-Toppers here. Let's fix it and make it right.

Last week’s player rankings report

TagsBox-Toppers Player Rankings, Clayton Kershaw, Anthony Rizzo, Buster Posey, Max Scherzer, Cody Bellinger, Chris Sale, Ervin Santana, Edwin Encarnacion, Aaron Judge, Luis Severino, Carlos Carrasco, Jacob deGrom, Stephen Strasburg
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Box-Toppers

Tracking who most helps their teams win the most games, based on box score stats. A method to measure & compare baseball's top players.

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. Players earn Box-Toppers points 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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