Astros’ Justin Verlander leads Box-Toppers season player rankings report for fourth 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 6.

	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	10.0
2	Morton, Charlie 2503	pi sp	tb al	9.8		2	Ryu, Hyun-Jin 3139	pi sp	lad nl	9.7
3	Odorizzi, Jake 3291	pi sp	min al	8.4		3	Hendricks, Kyle 3386	pi sp	chi nl	8.7
4	Cole, Gerrit 3232	pi sp	hou al	7.7		4	Castillo, Luis 3840	pi sp	cin nl	8.4
5	Bieber, Shane 4005	pi sp	cle al	7.7		5	Paddack, Chris 4093	pi sp	sd nl	7.7
6	Giolito, Lucas 3900	pi sp	chi al	7.7		6	Greinke, Zack 1871	pi sp	ari nl	7.2
7	Snell, Blake 3688	pi sp	tb al	7.0		7	Strasburg, Stephen 2736	pi sp	dc nl	7.0
8	Peacock, Brad 2968	pi sp	hou al	7.0		8	Marquez, German 3788	pi sp	col nl	6.7
9	Glasnow, Tyler 3948	pi sp mr	tb al	6.7		9	Eflin, Zach 3679	pi sp	phi nl	6.7
10	Minor, Mike 2894	pi sp	tex al	6.0		10	Lucchesi, Joey 3936	pi sp	sd nl	6.7
	AL BATTERS	POS	TEAM	BTP			NL BATTERS	POS	TEAM	BTP
1	Gallo, Joey 3485	lf cf	tex al	6.0		1	Bellinger, Cody 3781	rf 1b	lad nl	8.2
2	Kepler, Max 3664	cf rf	min al	5.7		2	Bell, Josh E. 3682	1b	pit nl	7.7
3	Smith, Dwight Jr. 4112	lf	bal al	4.7		3	Ozuna, Marcell 3190	lf	stl nl	7.0
4	Bregman, Alex 3721	3b	hou al	4.5		4	Yelich, Christian 3334	rf	mil nl	5.5
5	Gardner, Brett 2486	cf	nyy al	4.5		5	Arenado, Nolan 3306	3b	col nl	5.0
6	Vogelbach, Daniel 4070	dh	sea al	4.5		6	Marte, Ketel 3630	2b cf ss	ari nl	5.0
7	Abreu, Jose 3308	1b dh	chi al	4.0		7	Arcia, Orlando 3717	ss	mil nl	4.7
8	Voit, Luke 4053	1b dh	nyy al	4.0		8	Conforto, Michael 3622	rf	nym nl	4.0
9	Pujols, Albert 1438	1b	ana al	4.0		9	Story, Trevor 3607	ss	col nl	4.0
10	Martinez, J.D. 2922	dh rf	bos al	3.5		10	Belt, Brandon 2943	1b	sf nl	4.0

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

Also this week, all four main category leaders maintain their leads from last week:

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2019 season through the games of June 6.

 

	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Verlander, Justin 2112	pi sp	hou al	13.8
2	Hader, Josh 3881	pi cp	mil nl	10.0
3	Morton, Charlie 2503	pi sp	tb al	9.8
4	Ryu, Hyun-Jin 3139	pi sp	lad nl	9.7
5	Hendricks, Kyle 3386	pi sp	chi nl	8.7
6	Castillo, Luis 3840	pi sp	cin nl	8.4
7	Odorizzi, Jake 3291	pi sp	min al	8.4
8	Bellinger, Cody 3781	rf 1b	lad nl	8.2
9	Cole, Gerrit 3232	pi sp	hou al	7.7
10	Bieber, Shane 4005	pi sp	cle al	7.7

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

• 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.

• Joey Gallo of the Rangers continues to lead AL batters.

Verlander has 13.8 Box-Toppers points, picking up 1.7 points in the past week, and is 3.8 points ahead of second-place overall player Hader (10.0). Verlander is 4.0 points ahead of second-place AL pitcher Charlie Morton of the Rays (9.8). It is Verlander’s fourth straight week in first place overall and among AL pitchers.

National League pitchers—Hader continues to lead for the fourth straight week with 10.0 Box-Toppers points, picking up no points in the past week, maintaining his second-place overall rank from last week. Hader leads second-place NL pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu of the Dodgers (9.7).

National League batters—Bellinger continues to lead for the 10th straight week with 8.2 Box-Toppers points, picking up no points in the past week, falling from fifth to eighth place overall. Bellinger leads second-place NL batter Josh Bell of the Pirates (7.7). Bellinger has led NL batters in all 10 of Box-Toppers weekly rankings reports so far.

American League batters—Gallo continues to lead for the seventh straight week with 6.0 Box-Toppers points, picking up 1.0 point in the past week. He ranks 24th overall. Gallo leads second-place AL batter Max Kepler of the Twins (5.7).

Top 10 changes—Twins pitcher Jake Odorizzi rose into Box-Toppers season player rankings top 10 this week, rising to seventh place with 8.4 Box-Toppers points. He displaces Padres pitcher Chris Paddack, who falls from ninth place last week to 13th place this week with 7.7 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. Box-Toppers has listed those 40 players for years, but is trying to be all hip and cool and hashtaggy by branding them as the “#BT40.” (Is it working? Are we cool yet? No?)

Anyway, seven players joined the #BT40 this week:

Rangers pitcher Mike Minor rose to 10th place among AL pitchers with 6.0 points.

• Dwight Smith Jr. of the Orioles rose to third place among AL batters with 4.7 points.

• Albert Pujols of the Angels rose to ninth place among AL batters with 4.0 points.

• Padres pitcher Joey Lucchesi rose to 10th place among NL pitchers with 6.7 points.

• Orlando Arcia of the Brewers rose to seventh place among NL batters with 4.7 points.

• Trevor Story of the Rockies rose to ninth place among NL batters with 4.0 points.

• Brandon Belt of the Giants rose to 10th place among NL batters with 4.0 points.

Those seven displaced these seven players: Indians pitcher Carlos Carrasco, Mitch Garver of the Twins, Shin-Soo Choo of the Rangers, Diamondbacks pitcher Luke Weaver, Andrew McCutchen of the Phillies, Dexter Fowler of the Cardinals and Kris Bryant of the Cubs. 

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 J.D. Martinez of the Red Sox (3.5 points, 10th among AL batters), who ranks 88th overall.

So far this season, 926 games have been completed (38.1 percent of all 2,430 scheduled), with 1,108.2 total Box-Toppers points awarded to 470 different players, who have earned Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors. There are 173 players who have more than 2.0 Box-Toppers points. There are 65 players who have made their Box-Toppers debut so far this season (five 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