| AL PITCHERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | NL PITCHERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | hou al | 32.2 | 1 | Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 20.7 | |
| 2 | Verlander, Justin 2112 | pi sp | hou al | 27.5 | 2 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 19.1 | |
| 3 | Morton, Charlie 2503 | pi sp | tb al | 18.8 | 3 | Hader, Josh 3881 | pi cp | mil nl | 17.7 | |
| 4 | Bieber, Shane 4005 | pi sp | cle al | 18.1 | 4 | Ryu, Hyun-Jin 3139 | pi sp | lad nl | 17.4 | |
| 5 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | hou al | 17.9 | 5 | Flaherty, Jack 3971 | pi sp | stl nl | 16.5 | |
| 6 | Clevinger, Mike 3707 | pi sp | cle al | 17.4 | 6 | Corbin, Patrick 3027 | pi sp | dc nl | 16.4 | |
| 7 | Lynn, Lance 2992 | pi sp | tex al | 15.0 | 7 | Buehler, Walker 3943 | pi sp | lad nl | 16.4 | |
| 8 | Paxton, James 3280 | pi sp | nyy al | 14.1 | 8 | Paddack, Chris 4093 | pi sp | sd nl | 15.8 | |
| 9 | Minor, Mike 2894 | pi sp | tex al | 13.7 | 9 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 15.4 | |
| 10 | Giolito, Lucas 3900 | pi sp | chi al | 13.7 | 10 | Gray, Sonny 3259 | pi sp | cin nl | 14.4 | |
| AL BATTERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | NL BATTERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | |||
| 1 | Cruz, Nelson Ramon 2224 | dh | min al | 12.5 | 1 | Ozuna, Marcell 3190 | lf | stl nl | 12.0 | |
| 2 | Torres, Gleyber 3972 | ss 2b | nyy al | 12.0 | 2 | Yelich, Christian 3334 | rf | mil nl | 11.7 | |
| 3 | Pujols, Albert 1438 | 1b | ana al | 11.0 | 3 | Bellinger, Cody 3781 | rf | lad nl | 11.2 | |
| 4 | Soler, Jorge 3403 | dh | kc al | 10.2 | 4 | Freeman, Freddie 2887 | 1b | atl nl | 10.2 | |
| 5 | Bregman, Alex 3721 | 3b ss | hou al | 10.0 | 5 | Bell, Josh E. 3682 | 1b | pit nl | 9.7 | |
| 6 | Devers, Rafael 4038 | 3b | bos al | 9.5 | 6 | Arenado, Nolan 3306 | 3b | col nl | 9.0 | |
| 7 | Chapman, Matt 3849 | 3b | oak al | 9.0 | 7 | Cabrera, Asdrubal 2362 | 3b 2b | dc nl | 9.0 | |
| 8 | Betts, Mookie 3404 | rf | bos al | 8.7 | 8 | Conforto, Michael 3622 | rf | nym nl | 8.7 | |
| 9 | Trout, Mike 2949 | cf | ana al | 8.7 | 9 | Harper, Bryce 3011 | rf | phi nl | 8.0 | |
| 10 | Semien, Marcus 3302 | ss | oak al | 8.7 | 10 | Escobar, Eduardo 3135 | 3b 2b | ari nl | 8.0 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2019 season through the games of Sept. 29. Final standings.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | hou al | 32.2 |
| 2 | Verlander, Justin 2112 | pi sp | hou al | 27.5 |
| 3 | Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 20.7 |
| 4 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 19.1 |
| 5 | Morton, Charlie 2503 | pi sp | tb al | 18.8 |
| 6 | Bieber, Shane 4005 | pi sp | cle al | 18.1 |
| 7 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | hou al | 17.9 |
| 8 | Hader, Josh 3881 | pi cp | mil nl | 17.7 |
| 9 | Clevinger, Mike 3707 | pi sp | cle al | 17.4 |
| 10 | Ryu, Hyun-Jin 3139 | pi sp | lad nl | 17.4 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Astros pitcher Gerrit Cole is Box-Toppers Player of the Year for 2019, earning the fourth-most Box-Toppers points in a single season since tracking began in 1995.
Cole, who finishes the season leading player rankings for the fifth straight week, also leads American League pitchers in Box-Toppers points.
Meanwhile, Stephen Strasburg of the Nationals leads among National League pitchers, Nelson Cruz of the Twins leads among AL batters and Marcell Ozuna of the Cardinals leads among NL batters.
Cole finishes with 32.2 Box-Toppers points, picking up 3.0 points since the last player rankings report Sept. 19. He opened up a 4.7-point lead over teammate Justin Verlander (27.5), who is second overall and second among AL pitchers.
While the race was close between the two during the last half of the season, Cole’s 4.7-point edge is the largest by a first place player over a second-place player since 2014, when Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (31.5) led Indians pitcher Corey Kluber (25.8) by 5.7 points.
Verlander led Box-Toppers player rankings for 116 total days during the 2019 season and Cole led 36 total days, including the past 22 days since passing Verlander on Sept. 8.
Box-Toppers Players of the Year
Here are Box-Toppers Player of the Year winners in each season of Box-Toppers tracking since 1995. Player of the Year is the player with the season’s highest Box-Toppers point total:| Year | Player | Pos | Team | BTP |
| 1995 | Randy Johnson | pi sp | Mariners | 23.7 |
| 1996 | John Smoltz | pi sp | Braves | 26.1 |
| 1997 | Roger Clemens | pi sp | Blue Jays | 27.4 |
| 1998 | Randy Johnson | pi sp | Astros† | 26.4 |
| 1999 | Randy Johnson | pi sp | Dbacks | 31.5 |
| 2000 | Randy Johnson | pi sp | Dbacks | 33.7 |
| 2001 | Randy Johnson | pi sp | Dbacks | 29.4 |
| 2002 | Randy Johnson | pi sp | Dbacks | 33.7 |
| 2003 | Jason Schmidt | pi sp | Giants | 24.7 |
| 2004 | Johan Santana | pi sp | Twins | 26.8 |
| 2005 | Johan Santana | pi sp | Twins | 24.1 |
| 2006 | Johan Santana | pi sp | Twins | 25.7 |
| 2007 | Jake Peavy | pi sp | Padres | 23.4 |
| 2008 | CC Sabathia | pi sp | Brewers | 26.7 |
| 2009 | Zack Greinke | pi sp | Royals | 21.5 |
| 2010 | Jon Lester | pi sp | Red Sox | 23.4 |
| 2011 | Clayton Kershaw | pi sp | Dodgers | 26.1 |
| 2012 | Justin Verlander | pi sp | Tigers | 24.8 |
| 2013 | Clayton Kershaw | pi sp | Dodgers | 21.7 |
| 2014 | Clayton Kershaw | pi sp | Dodgers | 31.5 |
| 2015 | Jake Arrieta | pi sp | Cubs | 29.1 |
| 2016 | Max Scherzer | pi sp | Nationals | 25.7 |
| 2017 | Chris Sale | pi sp | Red Sox | 25.1 |
| 2018 | Blake Snell | pi sp | Rays | 27.2 |
| 2019 | Gerrit Cole | pi sp | Astros | 32.2 |
Cole’s 32.2 Box-Toppers points is the fourth-highest single-season total since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995. Only two players have earned more Box-Toppers points in a season in Box-Toppers previous 24 seasons of tracking—Randy Johnson, who set the all-time record of 33.7 in both 2000 and 2002 and Pedro Martinez, who had 33.5 points in 2000.
And while Verlander finished second in 2019, his 27.5 points is the 12th-most earned by a player in a single season since 1995.
National League pitchers—Strasburg is the top NL pitcher, leading the category for the fourth straight week with 20.7 points, picking up 2.0 points since the last player rankings report Sept. 19. Strasburg ranks third among all players. He leads second-place NL pitcher Jacob deGrom of the Mets (19.1), who made a late-season surge, earning 5.7 points since Sept. 12, rising from ninth to second among NL pitchers over that span.
American League batters—Nelson Cruz of the Twins is top AL batter, leading the category for the second straight week with 12.5 points, earning no points since Sept. 19. He leads over second-place Gleyber Torres of the Yankees (12.0 points). Cruz, Box-Toppers’ highest-ranked batter, ranks 26th among all players.
National League batters—Marcell Ozuna of the Cardinals is top NL batter, leading the category for the second straight week with 12.0 points, earning no points since Sept. 19. He leads over second-place Christian Yelich of the Brewers (11.7). Ozuna ranks 29th among all players.
All four players—Cole, Strasburg, Cruz and Ozuna—are leading their category for a full season for the first time. While Cole’s Box-Toppers point is near a record-high, all three other players had point totals near their record-low for their category.
2019 lead changes
Here are the season’s lead changes among players in Box-Toppers points. Chart shows the date and the player’s Box-Toppers point (BTP) total when they took the lead.| Date | Player | Team | BTP |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3/20 | Tim Beckham | sea al | 2.0 |
| 3/21 | Hunter Strickland | sea al | 2.0 |
| 3/28 | Jose Berrios | min al | 2.0 |
| 3/31 | Cody Bellinger | lad nl | 2.7 |
| 4/3 | Matt Shoemaker | tor al | 3.7 |
| 4/4 | Trevor Bauer | cle al | 3.7 |
| 4/7 | Cody Bellinger | lad nl | 5.2 |
| 4/15 | Trevor Bauer | cle al | 5.4 |
| 4/24 | Justin Verlander | hou al | 6.4 |
| 5/3 | Tyler Glasnow | tb al | 6.7 |
| 5/5 | Josh Hader | mil nl | 7.0 |
| 5/10 | Justin Verlander | hou al | 8.4 |
| 7/22 | Gerrit Cole | hou al | 16.1 |
| 7/24 | Justin Verlander | hou al | 16.8 |
| 7/27 | Gerrit Cole | hou al | 17.1 |
| 7/30 | Justin Verlander | hou al | 18.8 |
| 8/28 | Gerrit Cole | hou al | 22.5 |
| 9/1 | Justin Verlander | hou al | 23.8 |
| 9/2 | Gerrit Cole | hou al | 24.2 |
| 9/7 | Justin Verlander | hou al | 24.8 |
| 9/8 | Gerrit Cole | hou al | 26.2 |
Strasburg’s 20.7 points is the fourth-lowest total to lead NL pitchers since 1995.
Cruz’s 12.5 points is tied for the second-lowest total to lead AL batters since 1995.
Ozuna’s 12.0 points is the fifth-lowest total to lead NL batters and the fifth-lowest total to lead any category since 1995.
Top 10 changes—Two players rise into Box-Toppers’ top 10 list for the final rankings of the season:
Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom rises to fourth place with 19.1 points.
Dodgers pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu rises to 10th place with 17.4 points.
They displace from the top 10 Dodgers pitcher Walker Buehler (13th place with 16.4 points) and Padres pitcher Chris Paddack (14th place, 15.8 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.
Four players joined the #BT40 this week:
Lance Lynn of the Rangers rises to seventh place among AL pitchers with 15.0 points.
Marcus Semien of the Athletics rises to 10th place among AL batters with 8.7 points.
Michael Conforto of the Mets rises to eighth place among NL batters with 8.7 points.
Bryce Harper of the Phillies rises to ninth place among NL batters with 8.0 points.
Those four displace these four players: Rays pitcher Ryan Yarbrough, Brett Gardner of the Yankees, Ryan McMahon of the Rockies and Paul Goldschmidt of the Cardinals.
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 Eduardo Escobar of the Diamondbacks (8.0 points, 10th among NL batters), who ranks 84th overall.
In the full 2019 season, 2,429 of 2,430 scheduled games were completed (one White Sox-Tigers game near season’s end was cancelled because of weather). There were 2,890.2 total Box-Toppers points awarded to 767 different players, who earned Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors. There are 400 players who had more than 2.0 Box-Toppers points. There are 184 players who made their Box-Toppers debut in 2019 (17 since the last player rankings report Sept. 19), 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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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.