A look at Box-Toppers top 100 players of ‘all-time’ at midseason 2019

Randy Johnson leads all players in career Box-Toppers points and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

Top 100 ‘All-Time’ Players

Here are the 100 players with the most career Box-Toppers points since record keeping began in 1995. Players are listed in order of their career Box-Toppers point total. Also shown is their Box-Toppers point total so far in 2019 and their career ranking in Box-Toppers points at the end of the 2018 season.

 

	Player	Pos	Team	All BTP	19 BTP	18 rank
1	Johnson, randy	pi sp	Retired	278.8		1
2	Martinez, Pedro J.	pi sp	Retired	244.8		2
3	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	220.5	5.7	3
4	Sabathia, CC 1492	pi sp	nyy al	203.4	3.0	4
5	Greinke, Zack 1871	pi sp	ari nl	202.4	13.2	7
6	Scherzer, Max 2588	pi sp	dc nl	196.2	14.4	9
7	Pujols, Albert 1438	1b	ana al	194.8	4.0	6
8	schilling, curt	pi sp	Retired	194.1		5
9	Verlander, Justin 2112	pi sp	hou al	192.9	14.8	10
10	Rodriguez, Alex	3b	Retired	187.0		8
11	Hernandez, Felix 2064	pi sp	sea al	174.1	0.0	11
12	Hamels, Cole 2135	pi sp	chi nl	171.2	6.7	17
13	Halladay, Roy 1178	pi sp	Retired	170.7		12
14	Lester, Jon 2173	pi sp	chi nl	170.6	6.0	16
15	Ramirez, manny	lf	Retired	167.2		13
16	Santana, Johan 1448	pi sp	retired	166.6		14
17	clemens, roger	pi sp	Retired	164.8		15
18	smoltz, john	pi sp	Retired	160.9		18
19	Hudson, Tim 1231	pi sp	Retired	157.0		19
20	Colon, Bartolo	pi sp	free agent	155.9		20
21	mussina, Mike	pi sp	Retired	155.6		21
22	bonds, barry	lf	Retired	153.2		22
23	maddux, greg	pi sp	Retired	151.7		23
24	Cabrera, Miguel 1776	dh 1b	det al	149.9	2.0	26
25	jones, chipper	3b	Retired	149.0		24
26	Vazquez, Javier 1146	pi sp	Retired	148.3		25
27	thome, jim	1b dh	Retired	146.7		27
28	Ortiz, David	dh	Retired	145.9		28
29	Peavy, Jake 1635	pi sp	Retired	141.8		29
30	pettitte, andy	pi sp	Retired	138.5		30
31	Sale, Chris 2806	pi sp	bos al	137.6	6.0	32
32	giambi, jason	1b	Retired	133.4		31
33	Price, David 2593	pi sp	bos al	131.0	5.7	40
34	hoffman, trevor	pi cp	Retired	129.4		33
35	Guerrero, Vladimir	rf	Retired	128.3		34
36	Weaver, Jered 2178	pi sp	Retired	127.8		35
37	Burnett, A.J. 1300	pi sp	Retired	127.8		36
38	Lackey, John 1640	pi sp	Retired	127.2		37
39	Oswalt, Roy 1469	pi sp	Retired	127.2		38
40	rivera, mariano	pi cp	Retired	126.4		39
41	sheffield, gary	lf	Retired	124.1		41
42	Strasburg, Stephen 2736	pi sp	dc nl	122.1	10.0	58
43	Wainwright, Adam 2150	pi sp	stl nl	121.9	2.7	42
44	Lee, Cliff 1798	pi sp	Retired	119.1		43
45	Delgado, Carlos	1b	Retired	118.7		44
46	Bumgarner, Madison 2753	pi sp	sf nl	118.4	4.0	52
47	Zito, Barry 1415	pi sp	Retired	117.4		45
48	Beltre, Adrian 1141	3b	Retired	116.8		46
49	Buehrle, Mark 1407	pi sp	Retired	116.7		47
50	Helton, Todd 1060	1b	Retired	116.4		48
51	Hunter, Torii 1190	cf	Retired	115.9		49
52	Lincecum, Tim 2288	pi sp	Retired	115.0		50
53	Beckett, Josh 1544	pi sp	Retired	114.9		51
54	Santana, Ervin 2005	pi sp	nym nl	113.4	0.0	53
55	Carpenter, Chris	pi sp	Retired	113.3		54
56	Haren, Danny 1787	pi sp	Retired	113.2		55
57	sosa, sammy	rf	Retired	113.2		56
58	brown, kevin j.	pi sp	Retired	112.8		57
59	glavine, tom	pi sp	Retired	110.6		59
60	kent, jeff	2b	Retired	109.7		60
61	Kluber, Corey 3200	pi sp	cle al	109.1	0.0	61
62	Wagner, Billy	pi cp	Retired	108.7		62
63	Beltran, Carlos 1194	cf	Retired	108.6		63
64	Millwood, Kevin	pi sp	Retired	108.3		64
65	Berkman, Lance 1261	1b lf rf	Retired	108.1		65
66	Shields, James 2157	pi sp	free agent	106.4		66
67	Liriano, Francisco 2104	pi cp sp	pit nl	106.2	1.0	69
68	thomas, frank	dh 1b	Retired	106.2		67
69	Gonzalez, Gio 2626	pi sp	mil nl	105.9	2.0	72
70	Ramirez, Aramis 1364	3b	Retired	105.8		68
71	Kazmir, Scott 1947	pi sp	Retired	105.1		70
72	moyer, jamie	pi sp	Retired	104.0		71
73	Cueto, Johnny 2400	pi sp	sf nl	103.8	0.0	73
74	Tejada, Miguel	ss	Retired	102.3		74
75	griffey, ken jr.	cf	Retired	102.2		75
76	wakefield, tim	pi sp	Retired	101.4		76
77	Teixeira, Mark 1738	1b	Retired	101.3		77
78	schmidt, jason	pi sp	Retired	101.2		78
79	Holliday, Matt 1836	dh 1b lf	free agent	100.8		79
80	Cain, Matt 2081	pi sp	Retired	100.7		80
81	Konerko, Paul 1107	1b	Retired	100.7		81
82	bagwell, jeff	1b	Retired	100.4		82
83	walker, larry	rf	Retired	100.1		83
84	edmonds, jim	cf	Retired	99.8		84
85	Howard, Ryan 2040	1b	Retired	98.7		85
86	Rolen, Scott	3b	Retired	97.6		86
87	Wolf, Randy 1235	pi sp	Retired	97.4		87
88	Braun, Ryan J. 2300	lf	mil nl	96.7	0.0	88
89	Jones, Andruw	cf	Retired	96.5		89
90	piazza, mike	ca	Retired	95.7		90
91	Abreu, Bobby	rf	Retired	95.5		91
92	nomo, hideo	pi sp	Retired	95.5		92
93	Dempster, Ryan 1109	pi sp	Retired	95.2		93
94	Ordonez, Magglio	rf	Retired	94.5		94
95	Dunn, Adam 1512	lf	Retired	94.3		95
96	williams, bernie	cf	Retired	93.8		96
97	Lilly, Ted 1452	pi sp	Retired	93.3		97
98	Carrasco, Carlos 2885	pi sp	cle al	93.1	5.7	110
99	Gallardo, Yovani 2333	pi sp	free agent	92.7		98
100	giles, brian	rf	Retired	92.5		99

BTP: Box-Toppers points
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Johnson earned 278.8 Box-Toppers points from the time Box-Toppers record keeping began in 1995 until he retired in 2009.

The most likely rival to Johnson’s throne at the moment is Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw who has 220.5 career Box-Toppers points, third among all players since 1995 and most among active players. 

Kershaw, 31, is 58.3 points behind Johnson. For seven seasons, from 2011 to 2017, Kershaw averaged 24.8 Box-Toppers points per season and at that pace, could catch Johnson by the end of the 2021 season at age 33. But since the start of 2018, Kershaw’s torrid pace of racking up Box-Toppers points has slowed considerably. Based on the past season and a a half, Kershaw is averaging just 9.1 Box-Toppers points per season, meaning he would need more than six seasons to catch Johnson. That would be near the end of the 2025 season, when Kershaw would be 38.

And even if Kershaw eventually reaches Johnson’s 278.8 point total, he still wouldn’t match Johnson’s actual career total. Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995 and so didn’t cover Johnson’s career from 1988 to 1994. If we had, a rough projection puts Johnson’s career Box-Toppers point total at about 380. Kershaw would need at least eight or nine more seasons with more than 20 points a season to reach that total.

Kershaw surged to lead active players in Box-Toppers points after earning 20 or more Box-Toppers points for seven straight seasons from 2011 to 2017, which broke Johnson’s record of six straight seasons with 20 or more points. But in 2018, Kershaw’s progress stalled as he earned just 8.0 Box-Toppers points, 73rd among all players for 2018. Midway through 2019, he has 5.7 points, 60th among all players.

Kershaw’s more immediate milestone is reaching second place on the “all-time” career points list, now held by Pedro Martinez with 244.8 Box-Toppers points. Kershaw is 24.3 behind Martinez. (Martinez is projected to have 270 points if his entire career from 1992 were tracked.)

Box-Toppers points are a measure of how much a player provides key contributions to his team’s wins. Specifically, 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.

The chart here shows the rankings of the top 100 players since record keeping began in 1995, along with their career Box-Toppers point total and, where applicable, their Box-Toppers points for 2019. The chart also shows each player’s current roster status and players’ rank in career Box-Toppers points at the end of the 2018 season, to show their rise or fall in rankings since last season.

Active players actively rise in top 20

For a list that is now in its 25th season, the career points rankings list usually doesn’t have a lot of changes, especially at the top, among the top 10 or 20 players. But in recent years that has changed as more active players rise into the top 10. Since June 2018, there have been six active players in Box-Toppers top 10 career points list, the most there had been since 2008.

As a result, the top of the career points list has been very active during the first half of the 2019 season. Twelve players from fifth to 17th place in “all-time” career points are ranked in a different spot than they were at the start of the season, as active players rise up the list. And the player who ranks fourth and began the season in that spot, Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia, is within 1.0 Box-Toppers point of being passed by Diamondbacks pitcher Zack Greinke.

Here is a look at notable active players in the top 20 of Box-Toppers “all-time” career points list:

• 4. Sabathia, 38 is retiring at the end of the season. He has 203.4 career Box-Toppers points, including 3.0 so far this season, but is likely to be passed soon by …

• 5. Greinke, 35, who this season became the fifth player since 1995 to reach 200 career Box-Toppers points and now has 202.4, just 1.0 behind Sabathia. Greinke has 13.2 points on the season, fifth among all players in 2019 points. Greinke has already risen two spots on the career points list this season, passing Albert Pujols of the Angels, now seventh with 194.8 points and Curt Schilling, now eighth with 194.1 points. (It should be noted Schilling would have an estimated 232 Box-Toppers points if his entire career from 1988 were tracked.)

• 6. Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer, 34, has risen from ninth to sixth place on the career points list with 196.2, including earning 14.4 in 2019, ranked fourth overall this season. In the process, Scherzer has passed Alex Rodriguez, now in 10th with 187.0 points, Schilling and Pujols. Scherzer has surged up the top 100 in recent years after earning 18 or more Box-Toppers points for six straight seasons (2013-2018) and 20 or more for five straight seasons (2014-2018).

• 7. Pujols, 39, has actually fallen in the rankings since the start of 2019. He was sixth in career points at the end of 2018 and now is in seventh with 194.8 career Box-Toppers points, even while earning 4.0 points so far in 2019. While Pujols passed Schilling, he was passed by both Greinke and Scherzer. Pujols has the most career Box-Toppers points of any batter since 1995.

• 9. Astros pitcher Justin Verlander, 36, has 192.9 career Box-Toppers points and has risen from 10th place since the start of the season, passing Alex Rodriguez (187.0). Verlander leads all players in 2019 Box-Toppers points with 14.8. Verlander also passed his former Tigers teammate Scherzer on the career points list on April 19 and led Scherzer by as many as 7.4 points starting on May 21, before Scherzer rallied back from a slow 2019 start and passed Verlander on June 30. While Verlander is now three spots behind Scherzer, he only trails him by 3.3 career Box-Toppers points.

• 11. Mariners pitcher Felix Hernandez, 33, has 174.1 career Box-Toppers points and has remained steady in 11th place all season. Hernandez has no Box-Toppers points so far in 2019. Previously, the latest he earned his first Box-Toppers point of the season was Aug. 9, in his rookie season of 2005. Hernandez had 10 or more Box-Toppers points in a season eight times over nine seasons from 2007 to 2015, including 19.1 in 2009, 20.4 in 2010, 18.7 in 2012, 20.8 in 2014 and 19.4 in 2015. But in 2018 and 2019, he earned just 2.7 points per season and fell out of the overall top 10 career points list Sept. 16, 2018, when he was passed by Verlander.

• 12. Cubs pitcher Cole Hamels, 35, has 171.2 career Box-Toppers points, including 6.7 so far in 2019, and has risen from 17th place since the start of the season, passing teammate Jon Lester (170.6), Roger Clemens (164.8), Johan Santana (166.6), Manny Ramirez (167.2) and Roy Halladay (170.7). (It should be noted that both Clemens and Ramirez began their careers prior to Box-Toppers tracking in 1995 and would likely have higher career point totals. Box-Toppers projects Clemens would have 320 points if his career from 1984 were tracked and Ramirez would have 173 points if his career from 1993 were tracked.)

• 14. Cubs pitcher Jon Lester, 35, has 170.6 career Box-Toppers points, including 6.0 so far in 2019, and has risen from 16th place since the start of the season. He was passed by teammate Hamels, but has passed Clemens, Santana and Ramirez so far this season and is within 0.1 point of 13th-ranked Roy Halladay.

With the rise of active players in the top 20 career points list this season, these retired players have slipped on the top 100 list:

• Curt Schilling (194.1) has fallen from fifth to eight place (and is likely to fall to ninth).

• Alex Rodriguez (187.0) has fallen from eighth to 10th place.

• Roy Halladay (170.7) has fallen from 12th to 13th place (and is likely to fall to 14th).

• Johan Santana (166.6) has fallen from 14th to 16th place.

• Roger Clemens (164.8) has fallen from 15th to 17th place.

There are 22 active players among top 100

There are 22 active players on the “all-time” top 100 career points list, 15 of whom rank among the “all-time” top 50, including six in the top 10 and 10 in the top 25.

Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg has made the biggest rise up the top 100 career points list this season, rising from 58th place at the end of 2018 to 42nd place currently, with 122.1 career points. Strasburg has earned 10.0 Box-Toppers points in 2019, 14th among all players.

There are five active players on the career points top 100 list who have yet to earn Box-Toppers points so far in 2019. In addition to Mariners pitcher Felix Hernandez (previously mentioned, ranked 11th with 174.1 points), they are:

• Mets pitcher Ervin Santana, ranked 54th with 113.4 career points.

• Indians pitcher Corey Kluber, ranked 61st with 109.1 career points.

• Giants pitcher Johnny Cueto, ranked 73rd with 103.8 career points.

• Ryan Braun of the Brewers, ranks 88th with 96.7 career points.

The only player to rise into the career points top 100 list this season is Indians pitcher Carlos Carrasco, who now ranks 98th with 93.1 career Box-Toppers points. Carrasco has 5.7 points this season, rising from 110th place at the end of 2018. Carrasco has been inactive since May and recently disclosed he was diagnosed with leukemia. He has said he hopes to return to pitching by the end of the season.

Carrasco displaced Kerry Wood (92.4 career points) from the career points top 100 list. Wood now ranks 101st.

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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