Didi Gregorius of the Yankees is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Gregorius hit a pair of three-run homers and doubled in the 11-4 win over the Rays. Gregorius also went 4-for-4, scoring three times and driving in eight runs.
This is the first time this season a batter has earned Player of the Day honors. It was done 10 times in the 179 days of the 2017 season.
Tuesday was unusual because batters won both overall Player of the Day honors and National League Player of the Day honors, meaning pitchers earn no bonus Box-Toppers points.
National League Player of the Day—Christian Villanueva of the Padres hit three homers, including a three-run shot, in the 8-4 win over the Rockies. Villanueva also went 3-for-3, scoring four times and driving in five runs.
This was also Villanueva’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Villanueva made his Major League debut Sept. 18, 2017, and was playing in his 14th career game. He is the 3,930th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
AL & NL Batter of the Day—There are no separate league Batter of the Day honorees for Tuesday because both the overall Player of the Day (Gregorius) and NL Player of the Day (Villanueva) are batters.
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 | Clayton Kershaw | pi sp | lad nl | 206.8 |
| 4 | Curt Schilling | pi sp | retired | 194.1 |
| 5 | CC Sabathia | pi sp | nyy al | 192.7 |
| 6 | Albert Pujols | 1b dh | ana al | 187.8 |
| 7 | Alex Rodriguez | dh | retired | 187.0 |
| 8 | Zack Greinke | pi sp | ari nl | 176.2 |
| 9 | Felix Hernandez | pi sp | sea al | 172.4 |
| 10 | Roy Halladay | pi sp | retired | 170.7 |
| 11 | Manny Ramirez | lf dh | retired | 167.2 |
| 12 | Johan Santana | pi sp | free agent | 166.6 |
| 13 | Roger Clemens | pi sp | retired | 164.8 |
| 14 | John Smoltz | pi sp | retired | 160.9 |
| 15 | Max Scherzer | pi sp | dc nl | 158.7 |
| 16 | Tim Hudson | pi sp | retired | 157.0 |
| 17 | Mike Mussina | pi sp | retired | 155.6 |
| 18 | Justin Verlander | pi sp | hou al | 155.0 |
| 19 | Cole Hamels | pi sp | tex al | 154.4 |
| 20 | Jon Lester | pi sp | chi nl | 153.9 |
List of top 100 players since 1995 at the end of the 2017 season.
Streak—Rangers pitcher Cole Hamels has now earned Box-Toppers points in 13 straight seasons after earning his first Player of the Game honor of 2018.
Hamels (5IP 4H R 3BB 11K W in the 4-1 win over the Athletics) earned his first Box-Toppers points in 2006 with the Phillies and has 154.4 career Box-Toppers points, rising to 19th among all player since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. With his point Tuesday, he passes Cubs pitcher Jon Lester (153.9) and now trails 18th-ranked player, Astros pitcher Justin Verlander (155.0). Hamels now rises to eighth place in career Box-Toppers points among active players.
Hamels’ best season was 2016 with the Rangers when he had 17.8 Box-Toppers points, sixth among all players.
Rankings—Freddie Freeman of the Braves rises to second place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Tuesday.
Freeman (HR 2-3 3R 4BI in the 13-6 win over the Nationals) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 2.5 for the season. While that’s the same point total as Paul DeJong of the Cardinals, DeJong is deemed the overall leader and ranks ahead because he had more 2017 points than Freeman (4.5 vs. 3.0).
Freeman is one of three players Tuesday who earned Player of the Game honors for the second time in the 2018 season. The season is six days old. The others who did it Tuesday: Mariners closing pitcher Edwin Diaz and Christian Yelich of the Brewers. They join DeJong, who was the first player to earn Player of the Game honors twice for the season on Monday.
Scoring—Gregorius earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Villanueva earns 1.7 points for being NL Player 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.
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Top player from each game
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score (BTG)| 4/3 | Score | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 11.0 | NYY 11, TB 4 | Didi Gregorius (SS) | 4 | 3 | 4 | 8 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| NL | 9.0 | SD 8, COL 4 | Christian Villanueva (3B) | 3 | 4 | 3 | 5 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| 9.0 | KC 1, DET 0 | Jakob Junis (W, 1‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | ||
| 8.0 | `NYM 2, PHI 0 | Matt Harvey | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | ||
| 7.0 | TEX 4, OAK 1 | Cole Hamels (W, 1‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 11 | ||
| 6.0 | HOU 10, BAL 6 | Josh Reddick (RF‑LF) | 4 | 2 | 2 | 6 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| 6.0 | ATL 13, WSH 6 | Freddie Freeman (1B) | 3 | 3 | 2 | 4 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| 5.2 | LAA 13, CLE 2 | Garrett Richards (W, 1‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 9 | ||
| 5.0 | TOR 14, CHW 5 | Aledmys Diaz (SS) | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| 4.0 | BOS 4, MIA 2 (F/13) | Heath Hembree (W, 1-0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 2.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 3.0 | ARI 6, LAD 1 | Zack Godley (W, 1‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | ||
| 3.0 | SEA 6, SF 4 | Edwin Diaz (S, 3) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2.0 | MIL 5, STL 4 | Christian Yelich (RF) | 5 | 2 | 3 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ |
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 (’18). also shown are each players’ Box-Toppers point total for this season and last (’17-18), the period 2013-2018 (’13-18) and each players’ career point total. also shown is how their 2018 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2017 total (+/-).| Player of Game | Pos | Team | ’18 | ’17‑18 | ’13‑18 | Career | +/‑ |
| Freeman, Freddie 2887 | 1b | atl nl | 2.5 | 5.5 | 35.2 | 44.2 | -0.5 |
| Diaz, Edwin 3690 | pi cp | sea al | 2.0 | 11.0 | 18.0 | 18.0 | -7.0 |
| Yelich, Christian 3334 | lf rf | mil nl | 2.0 | 7.0 | 22.5 | 22.5 | -3.0 |
| Gregorius, Didi 3184 | ss | nyy al | 2.0 | 4.0 | 10.5 | 10.5 | 0.0 |
| Villanueva, Christian 3930 | 3b | sd nl | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.7 |
| Godley, Zack 3538 | pi sp | ari nl | 1.0 | 12.0 | 16.7 | 16.7 | -10.0 |
| Hamels, Cole 2135 | pi sp | tex al | 1.0 | 10.4 | 66.4 | 154.4 | -8.4 |
| Reddick, Josh 2936 | rf lf | hou al | 1.0 | 9.0 | 28.7 | 33.4 | -7.0 |
| Junis, Jake 3857 | pi sp mr | kc al | 1.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | -2.0 |
| Diaz, Aledmys 3612 | ss | tor al | 1.0 | 2.0 | 7.5 | 7.5 | 0.0 |
| Harvey, Matt 3075 | pi sp | nym nl | 1.0 | 2.0 | 35.4 | 38.4 | 0.0 |
| Richards, Garrett 3042 | pi sp | ana al | 1.0 | 2.0 | 33.4 | 35.4 | 0.0 |
| Hembree, Heath 3620 | pi cp | bos al | 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 0.0 |
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.