Nationals’ Mark Reynolds tops players for Saturday, July 7 with 2018’s highest Box-Toppers game score for a batter

Mark Reynolds of the Nationals is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, recording the highest Box-Toppers game score for a batter this season.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2018 season through the games of July 7:  
 

Player Pos Team BTP
1 Severino, Luis 3567 pi sp nyy al 16.7
2 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 16.4
3 Paxton, James 3280 pi sp sea al 14.0
4 Berrios, Jose 3791 pi sp min al 13.4
5 Snell, Blake 3688 pi sp tb al 12.7
6 Nola, Aaron 3569 pi sp phi nl 12.4
7 Cole, Gerrit 3232 pi sp hou al 12.0
8 Morton, Charlie 2503 pi sp hou al 11.8
9 Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp bos al 11.7
10 Corbin, Patrick 3027 pi sp ari nl 11.0
What are those numbers after players' names?
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations

Also Saturday, Rays pitcher Blake Snell rises to fifth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning American League Player of the Day honors.

Player of the Day—Reynolds hit two homers, doubled and went 5-for-5, scoring three times and driving in 10 runs, in the 18-4 win over the Marlins.

Reynolds had a Box-Toppers game score Saturday of +13.0, highest among a batter in 2018, third-highest among batters over the past two seasons and apparently the fourth-highest since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began.

In 2017, Anthony Rendon of the Nationals had a Box-Toppers game score of +15.0 on April 30 and Scooter Gennett of the Reds had a Box-Toppers game score of +14.0, which are apparently the two highest such scores for batters since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995. The third-highest was +13.0 by Shawn Green of the Dodgers on May 23, 2002. While Green’s 2002 game score is the same as Reynolds on Saturday, Green (4HR 2B 6-6 6R 7BI in the 16-3 win over the Brewers) ranks higher since he had more at bats in his effort (six vs. five).

We say “apparently” because while Box-Toppers has records for Player of the Game since the start of 1995, the data from actual game scores derived from box scores only goes back to the start of 2011. But examining games from 1995 to 2010 that were most likely to produce high Box-Toppers game scores (games in which batters had six hits, hit four home runs or drove in 10 runs), none had a game score higher than Green’s +13.0 in 2002.

Reynolds beat the previous high Box-Toppers game score for a batter this season of +11.0, achieved April 3 by Did Gregorius of the Yankees.

And while Reynolds had the highest Box-Toppers game score for a batter this season, his score is the 34th best among all Player of the Game winners this season, behind 33 pitchers. Astros pitcher Gerrit Cole has the highest game score by a Player of the Game winner so far this season, +23.0 on May 4.

In addition, Saturday was the second straight day Reynolds earned Player of the Game honors. He was also Player of the Game Friday in the 3-2 win over the Marlins.

Reynolds earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day Saturday, giving him 6.0 for the season, fourth among NL batters.

Also in that game Saturday, Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer, who ranks second in Box-Toppers points for 2018 with 16.4, first among NL players, did not earn Player of the Game honors. Scherzer (7IP 7H 4R 2BB 3K W) had a Box-Toppers game score of -7.0.

American League Player of the Day—Rays pitcher Blake Snell struck out nine over 7 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing six hits and three walks, in the 3-0 win over the Mets.

Snell earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 12.7 for the season, rising from 10th to fifth in season player rankings, fourth among AL pitchers.

American League Batter of the Day—Andrew Benintendi of the Red Sox homered, doubled and went 2-for-2, scoring four times and driving in two runs, in the 15-4 win over the Royals.

National League Batter of the Day—There is no separate NL Batter of the Day for Saturday because the overall Player of the Day is NL batter Mark Reynolds.

Notable—Box-Toppers season player rankings leader, Yankees pitcher Luis Severino, did not earn Player of the Game honors in his start Saturday.

Severino (5IP 5H 3R 2BB 5K W in the 8-5 win over the Blue Jays) had a Box-Toppers game score of -3.0. Player of the Game was teammate Brett Gardner (HR 3B 2-5 2R 3BI) with a Box-Toppers game score of +2.0.

Severino leads all players in 2018 Box-Toppers points with 16.7, ahead of second-place player, Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer (16.4).

Debut—Noel Cuevas of the Rockies made his Box-Toppers debut Saturday with his first career Player of the Game honor.

Cuevas (HR 3-4 R 3BI in the 5-1 win over the Mariners) made his Major League debut April 22 and was playing in his 54th career game. He is the 4,015th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Reynolds earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Snell earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Benintendi earns 1.5 points for being AL 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.

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Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score (BTG)

7/7 BTG Game Player AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB 13.0 WSH 18, MIA 4 Mark Reynolds 1B‑3B 5 3 5 10
9.2 ATL 5, MIL 1 Anibal Sanchez (W, 4‑2) 6.2 2 1 1 1 8
8.0 LAD 3, LAA 1 Ross Stripling (W, 7‑2) 6.0 3 1 1 0 7
AL 7.1 TB 3, NYM 0 Blake Snell (W, 12‑4) 7.1 6 0 0 3 9
BAT 6.0 BOS 15, KC 4 Andrew Benintendi LF 2 4 2 2
5.0 ARI 20, SD 5 David Peralta LF 6 3 5 3
4.0 HOU 12, CHW 6 Yuli Gurriel 1B 4 2 2 4
4.0 PHI 3, PIT 2 Jake Arrieta (W, 6‑6) 7.0 6 2 2 1 8
4.0 DET 7, TEX 2 Mike Fiers (W, 6‑5) 6.0 5 1 1 1 6
4.0 OAK 6, CLE 3 (F/11) Blake Treinen (W, 5‑1) 2.0 0 0 0 0 2
3.0 COL 5, SEA 1 Noel Cuevas RF 4 1 3 3
2.1 CHC 8, CIN 7 Randy Rosario (W, 4‑0) 2.1 2 0 0 0 2
2.0 NYY 8, TOR 5 Brett Gardner LF‑CF 5 2 2 3
2.0 MIN 5, BAL 4 Bobby Wilson C 3 0 2 3
2.0 STL 3, SF 2 Carlos Martinez (W, 6‑4) 7.0 6 1 1 0 3
MLB—Overall Box-Toppers Player of the Day, worth 2.0 total Box-Toppers points.
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 Player of the Game winners. 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 the Game Pos Team ’18 ’17‑18 ’13‑18 Career +/‑
Snell, Blake 3688 pi sp tb al 12.7 17.7 21.7 21.7 +7.7
Stripling, Ross 3629 pi sp lad nl 7.7 8.7 13.4 13.4 +6.7
Sanchez, Anibal 2187 pi sp atl nl 6.4 8.4 33.9 73.7 +4.4
Reynolds, Mark 2297 1b 3b dc nl 6.0 11.0 24.0 62.4 +1.0
Arrieta, Jake 2738 pi sp phi nl 5.7 12.4 76.9 87.9 -1.0
Peralta, David 3370 lf ari nl 5.5 7.5 19.4 19.4 +3.5
Martinez, Carlos 3371 pi sp stl nl 5.0 14.5 41.6 41.6 -4.5
Treinen, Blake 3495 pi cp oak al 5.0 6.0 7.0 7.0 +4.0
Benintendi, Andrew 3815 lf cf bos al 4.5 11.7 11.7 11.7 -2.7
Fiers, Michael 3029 pi sp det al 4.0 10.4 28.8 36.5 -2.4
Gardner, Brett 2486 cf lf nyy al 3.0 4.7 11.7 23.2 +1.3
Rosario, Randy 3980 pi mr chi nl 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 +3.0
Gurriel, Yuli 3796 1b hou al 1.0 3.7 3.7 3.7 -1.7
Wilson, Bobby 3071 ca min al 1.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 +1.0
Cuevas, Noel 4015 rf col nl 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 +1.0
What are those numbers after players' names?
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations