Astros’ Justin Verlander leads Box-Toppers season player rankings report for sixth straight week

Here are the top 10 players by category (AL & NL pitching & batting) in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2019 season through the games of June 20.

	AL PITCHERS	POS	TEAM	BTP			NL PITCHERS	POS	TEAM	BTP
1	Verlander, Justin 2112	pi sp	hou al	13.8		1	Hader, Josh 3881	pi cp	mil nl	12.0
2	Morton, Charlie 2503	pi sp	tb al	11.8		2	Ryu, Hyun-Jin 3139	pi sp	lad nl	10.7
3	Cole, Gerrit 3232	pi sp	hou al	10.4		3	Greinke, Zack 1871	pi sp	ari nl	10.2
4	Giolito, Lucas 3900	pi sp	chi al	9.7		4	Hendricks, Kyle 3386	pi sp	chi nl	8.7
5	Odorizzi, Jake 3291	pi sp	min al	9.4		5	Scherzer, Max 2588	pi sp	dc nl	8.4
6	Bieber, Shane 4005	pi sp	cle al	9.4		6	Castillo, Luis Miguel 3840	pi sp	cin nl	8.4
7	Montas, Frankie 3803	pi sp	oak al	8.4		7	Lucchesi, Joey 3936	pi sp	sd nl	8.4
8	Snell, Blake 3688	pi sp	tb al	8.0		8	Strasburg, Stephen 2736	pi sp	dc nl	8.0
9	Minor, Mike 2894	pi sp	tex al	8.0		9	Eflin, Zach 3679	pi sp	phi nl	7.7
10	Bauer, Trevor 3065	pi sp	cle al	7.4		10	Paddack, Chris 4093	pi sp	sd nl	7.7
	AL BATTERS	POS	TEAM	BTP			NL BATTERS	POS	TEAM	BTP
1	Jimenez, Eloy 4107	lf	chi al	6.5		1	Bellinger, Cody 3781	rf	lad nl	9.2
2	Gardner, Brett 2486	cf	nyy al	6.0		2	Bell, Josh E. 3682	1b	pit nl	7.7
3	Gallo, Joey 3485	lf cf	tex al	6.0		3	Ozuna, Marcell 3190	lf	stl nl	7.0
4	Kepler, Max 3664	cf rf	min al	5.7		4	Arenado, Nolan 3306	3b	col nl	6.5
5	Ohtani, Shohei 3933	dh	ana al	5.5		5	Marte, Ketel 3630	2b cf	ari nl	6.0
6	Trout, Mike 2949	cf	ana al	5.2		6	Yelich, Christian 3334	rf	mil nl	5.5
7	Smith, Dwight Jr. 4112	lf	bal al	4.7		7	Albies, Ozzie 3953	2b	atl nl	5.5
8	Martinez, J.D. 2922	dh rf	bos al	4.5		8	Dahl, David 3714	rf cf lf	col nl	5.0
9	Bregman, Alex 3721	3b	hou al	4.5		9	Arcia, Orlando 3717	ss	mil nl	4.7
10	Pence, Hunter 2287	lf dh ph	tex al	4.5		10	Riley, Austin 4144	lf	atl nl	4.5

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Astros pitcher Justin Verlander maintains the lead in Box-Toppers weekly team rankings report for the sixth straight week.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2019 season through the games of June 20.

 

	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Verlander, Justin 2112	pi sp	hou al	13.8
2	Hader, Josh 3881	pi cp	mil nl	12.0
3	Morton, Charlie 2503	pi sp	tb al	11.8
4	Ryu, Hyun-Jin 3139	pi sp	lad nl	10.7
5	Cole, Gerrit 3232	pi sp	hou al	10.4
6	Greinke, Zack 1871	pi sp	ari nl	10.2
7	Giolito, Lucas 3900	sp pi	chi al	9.7
8	Odorizzi, Jake 3291	pi sp	min al	9.4
9	Bieber, Shane 4005	pi sp	cle al	9.4
10	Bellinger, Cody 3781	rf	lad nl	9.2

What are those numbers after players' names?
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations

Also this week, there is a new leader in Box-Toppers points among American League batters as Eloy Jimenez of the White Sox passes previous leader Joey Gallo of the Rangers.

Meanwhile, the leaders for the other three main categories remain unchanged from last week:

• Verlander continues to lead American League pitchers.

• Brewers pitcher Josh Hader continues to lead National League pitchers.

• Cody Bellinger of the Dodgers continues to lead NL batters.

Verlander has 13.8 Box-Toppers points, picking up no points in the past week, and is 1.8 points ahead of Hader (12.0), who ranks second overall. It is Verlander’s sixth straight week in first place overall and among AL pitchers.

American League batters—Jimenez is the new leader this week with 6.5 Box-Toppers points. He passes Joey Gallo of the Rangers (6.0), who had led for seven straight weeks, but falls to third among AL batters, behind both Jimenez and Brett Gardner of the Yankees (6.0). Jimenez ranks 31st among all players in Box-Toppers points.

National League pitchers—Hader continues to lead for the sixth straight week with 12.0 Box-Toppers points, picking up 1.0 point in the past week. He rises from third last week to second this week in overall season player rankings. Hader leads second-place NL pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu of the Dodgers (10.7).

National League batters—Bellinger continues to lead for the 12th straight week with 9.2 Box-Toppers points, picking up no points in the past week, falling from ninth to 10th place overall Bellinger leads second-place NL batter Josh Bell of the Pirates (7.7). Bellinger has led NL batters in all 12 of Box-Toppers weekly rankings reports so far.

Top 10 changes—Indians pitcher Shane Bieber rises into Box-Toppers overall top 10 player rankings this week, in ninth place with 9.4 points. He displaces Cubs pitcher Kyle Hendricks, who ranked 10th last week and falls to 11th this week with 8.7 points.

The #BT40—The Box-Toppers 40 (#BT40) is made up of the 40 players on Box-Toppers’ four top 10 category lists—AL and NL pitchers and batters. The #BT40 are listed in the chart at the top of this page. 

Nine players joined the #BT40 this week:

• Athletics pitcher Frankie Montas rises to seventh among AL pitchers with 8.4 points.

• Indians pitcher Trevor Bauer rises to 10th among AL pitchers with 7.4 points.

• Eloy Jimenez of the White Sox rises to first among AL batters with 6.5 points.

• Mike Trout of the Angels rises to sixth among AL batters with 5.2 points.

• J.D. Martinez of the Red Sox rises to eighth among AL batters with 4.5 points.

• Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer rises to fifth among NL pitchers with 8.4 points.

• Padres pitcher Joey Lucchesi rises to seventh among NL pitchers with 8.4 points.

• Ozzie Albies of the Braves rises to seventh among NL batters with 5.5 points.

• David Dahl of the Rockies rises to eighth among NL batters with 5.0 points.

Those nine displaced these nine players: Astros pitcher Brad Peacock, Rays pitcher Tyler Glasnow, Daniel Vogelbach of the Mariners, Jose Abreu of the White Sox, Luke Voit of the Yankees, Rockies pitcher German Marquez, Cubs pitcher Cole Hamels, Michael Conforto of the Mets and Trevor Story of the Rockies.

It should be noted that the #BT40 are not the overall top 40 players, but the top 10 in each of four categories. The lowest-ranking player among the #BT40 is Austin Riley of the Braves (4.5 points, 10th among NL batters), who ranks 80th overall.

So far this season, 1,118 games have been completed (46.0 percent of all 2,430 scheduled), with 1,335.5 total Box-Toppers points awarded to 515 different players, who have earned Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors. There are 211 players who have more than 2.0 Box-Toppers points. There are 80 players who have made their Box-Toppers debut so far this season (eight in the past week), the first time in their career they earned Player of the Game honors.

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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Last week’s player rankings report