Josh Bell of the Pirates is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to 10th place in season player rankings and taking the lead among National League batters.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2019 season through the games of July 1.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Verlander, Justin 2112 | pi sp | hou al | 14.8 |
| 2 | Hader, Josh 3881 | pi cp | mil nl | 14.7 |
| 3 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 12.4 |
| 4 | Morton, Charlie 2503 | pi sp | tb al | 11.8 |
| 5 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | hou al | 11.4 |
| 6 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | ari nl | 11.2 |
| 7 | Bieber, Shane 4005 | pi sp | cle al | 11.1 |
| 8 | Ryu, Hyun-Jin 3139 | pi sp | lad nl | 10.7 |
| 9 | Giolito, Lucas 3900 | sp pi | chi al | 10.7 |
| 10 | Bell, Josh E. 3682 | 1b | pit nl | 9.7 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Bell hit three home runs, including a three-run shot, in the 18-5 win over the Cubs. Bell went 4-for-6, scoring four times and driving in seven runs.
Bell earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 9.7 for the season, rising to 10th place in season player rankings. He also rises to first place among NL batters in Box-Toppers points, passing Cody Bellinger of the Dodgers (9.2), who had led the category since March 30. Bell is the first batter to occupy a spot on Box-Toppers top 10 player rankings list since June 24, the last day Bellinger ranked 10th.
Bell had a Box-Toppers game score Monday of +9.0, the second-highest for a batter this season. Trevor Story of the Rockies has the highest Box-Toppers game score for a batter this season of +10.0 on May 31 (2HR 2B 3-4 4R 7BI in the 13-6 win over the Blue Jays). While four batters each have game scores of +9.0, Bell’s score Monday ranks higher because he had the most at bats among the four.
However, pitchers earning Player of the Game honors tend to earn higher Box-Toppers game scores. Story’s +10.0 game score ranks 95th-best among all games this season, while Bell’s +9.0 ranks 135th-best.
While there was a limited schedule of just five games completed Monday, batters won Player of the Game honors in each of the games, which is an oddity. In the 1,259 games completed this season, batters have earned Player of the Game honors in 525 (41.7 percent), while pitchers have earned Player of the Game honors in 734 (58.3 percent).
American League Player of the Day—Randal Grichuk of the Blue Jays went 4-for-5, driving in four runs, in the 11-4 win over the Royals.
AL and NL Batters of the Day—There are no separate AL and NL Batters of the Day for Monday because batters won the overall Player of the Day honor (Josh Bell) and AL Player of the Day honor (Randal Grichuk).
Streak—Evan Longoria of the Giants has now earned Box-Toppers points in 12 straight seasons after earning his first Player of the Game honor of 2019 Monday.
Longoria (HR 2B 2-4 3R 2BI in the 13-2 win over the Padres) earned his first points in 2008 with the Rays and has 51.5 career points, 17th among active NL batters, second among active NL third basemen. His best season was 2009 with the Rays, when he had 8.5 Box-Toppers points, second among AL third basemen. In 2018, he had 1.5 points with the Giants.
Scoring—Bell earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Grichuk earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. All of Monday’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.
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.
Top player from each game
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score (BTG)| 7/1 | BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | +9.0 | PIT 18, CHC 5 | Josh Bell 1B | 6 | 4 | 4 | 7 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| AL | +3.0 | TOR 11, KC 4 | Randal Grichuk RF | 5 | 0 | 4 | 4 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +3.0 | SF 13, SD 2 | Evan Longoria 3B | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +2.0 | TB 6, BAL 3 | Kevin Kiermaier CF | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +2.0 | MIL 8, CIN 6 | Christian Yelich RF | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ |
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 (’19). Also shown are each players’ Box-Toppers point total for this season and last (’18-19), the period 2014-2019 (’14-19) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2019 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2018 total (+/-).| Player of the Game | Pos | Team | ’19 | ’18‑19 | ’14‑19 | Career | +/‑ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bell, Josh E. 3682 | 1b | pit nl | 9.7 | 12.2 | 17.7 | 17.7 | +7.2 |
| Yelich, Christian 3334 | rf | mil nl | 6.5 | 18.0 | 38.5 | 38.5 | -5.0 |
| Kiermaier, Kevin 3373 | cf | tb al | 3.5 | 3.5 | 9.0 | 9.0 | +3.5 |
| Grichuk, Randal 3474 | rf | tor al | 2.7 | 5.4 | 23.9 | 23.9 | 0.0 |
| Longoria, Evan 2423 | 3b | sf nl | 1.0 | 2.5 | 15.0 | 51.5 | -0.5 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
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.