| AL PITCHERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | NL PITCHERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | nyy al | 13.4 | 1 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 12.7 | |
| 2 | Glasnow, Tyler 3948 | pi sp | tb al | 12.7 | 2 | Woodruff, Brandon 3868 | pi sp | mil nl | 11.4 | |
| 3 | Civale, Aaron 4173 | pi sp | cle al | 8.7 | 3 | Wheeler, Zack 3204 | pi sp | phi nl | 11.4 | |
| 4 | Manaea, Sean 3637 | pi sp | oak al | 8.7 | 4 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 9.4 | |
| 5 | Lynn, Lance 2992 | pi sp | chi al | 7.7 | 5 | Peralta, Freddy 3965 | pi sp | mil nl | 8.7 | |
| 6 | Bassitt, Chris 3413 | pi sp | oak al | 7.0 | 6 | Walker, Taijuan 3453 | pi sp | nym nl | 8.4 | |
| 7 | Bieber, Shane 4005 | pi sp | cle al | 6.7 | 7 | Gomber, Austin 3985 | pi sp | col nl | 8.0 | |
| 8 | Yarbrough, Ryan 3962 | pi sp | tb al | 6.7 | 8 | Rogers, Trevor 4311 | pi sp | fla nl | 8.0 | |
| 9 | Rodon, Carlos 3494 | pi sp | chi al | 6.7 | 9 | Darvish, Yu 3003 | pi sp | sd nl | 7.7 | |
| 10 | Cease, Dylan 4231 | pi sp | chi al | 6.7 | 10 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 7.7 | |
| AL BATTERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | NL BATTERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | |||
| 1 | Bogaerts, Xander 3383 | ss | bos al | 6.5 | 1 | Castellanos, Nicholas 3349 | rf | cin nl | 5.5 | |
| 2 | Martinez, J.D. 2922 | dh | bos al | 6.2 | 2 | Crawford, Brandon 2878 | ss | sf nl | 5.5 | |
| 3 | Abreu, Jose 3308 | 1b | chi al | 5.5 | 3 | Winker, Jesse 3988 | lf | cin nl | 5.0 | |
| 4 | Devers, Rafael 4038 | 3b | bos al | 5.5 | 4 | Duvall, Adam 3573 | rf lf | fla nl | 4.5 | |
| 5 | Ramirez, Jose 3436 | 3b | cle al | 4.5 | 5 | Machado, Manny 3087 | 3b | sd nl | 4.2 | |
| 6 | Olson, Matt 3836 | 1b | oak al | 4.5 | 6 | Story, Trevor 3607 | ss | col nl | 4.2 | |
| 7 | Walsh, Jared 4332 | 1b | ana al | 4.0 | 7 | Arenado, Nolan 3306 | 3b | stl nl | 4.0 | |
| 8 | Stanton, Giancarlo 2737 | dh | nyy al | 3.5 | 8 | Posey, Buster 2745 | ca | sf nl | 4.0 | |
| 9 | Grichuk, Randal 3474 | dh cf | tor al | 3.0 | 9 | Tatis, Fernando Jr. 4101 | ss | sd nl | 3.5 | |
| 10 | Arozarena, Randy 4331 | lf dh | tb al | 3.0 | 10 | Riley, Austin 4144 | 3b | atl nl | 3.5 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole regains the lead in Box-Toppers weekly player rankings, passing previous leader, Rays pitcher Tyler Glasnow.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 in Box-Toppers season player rankings for 2021. Players are ranked by Box-Toppers points (BTP) earned this season through Thursday, June 17.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | nyy al | 13.4 |
| 2 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 12.7 |
| 3 | Glasnow, Tyler 3948 | pi sp | tb al | 12.7 |
| 4 | Woodruff, Brandon 3868 | pi sp | mil nl | 11.4 |
| 5 | Wheeler, Zack 3204 | pi sp | phi nl | 11.4 |
| 6 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 9.4 |
| 7 | Civale, Aaron 4173 | pi sp | cle al | 8.7 |
| 8 | Peralta, Freddy 3965 | pi sp | mil nl | 8.7 |
| 9 | Manaea, Sean 3637 | pi sp | oak al | 8.7 |
| 10 | Walker, Taijuan 3453 | pi sp | nym nl | 8.4 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Meanwhile, Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom rises to lead National League pitchers, Nick Castellanos of the Reds rises to lead NL batters and Xander Bogaerts of the Red Sox continues to lead American League batters.
Glasnow led Box-Toppers player rankings for the past three weeks and seven times in the previous nine weeks, but the lead slipped from his grip and he was not able to stick in the top spot.
Not only did he fall to third place overall (with the same 12.7-point total he led with last week) and second among American League pitchers, but he is out indefinitely with a partial UCL tear and flexor strain in his right pitching arm. It is an injury that usually requires Tommy John surgery and a year or more to return to competition. But Glasnow hopes to rehab the injury and return late this season without surgery.
Glasnow has blamed his injury on baseball’s edict to ban pitchers from using sticky substances on baseballs to improve grip, control and spin rate. Glasnow says he was preparing to abide by the rules before they went into effect, but that pitching “dry” balls forced him to tighten his grip, leading to elbow strain and injury. He says baseball should have given pitchers the opportunity of an offseason to train pitching substance-free before springing the rule suddenly in mid-season.
Cole rises to first overall with 13.4 Box-Toppers points, from the second place spot he was in the past three weeks. Cole led Box-Toppers weekly player rankings on May 13 and May 20.
National League pitchers—Jacob deGrom of the Mets rises to lead with 12.7 Box-Toppers points, passing last week’s leader Brandon Woodruff of the Brewers, who falls to second with 11.4 points. deGrom ranks second overall, behind Cole (13.4). Though deGrom has the same 2021 Box-Toppers points as Glasnow (12.7), he ranks ahead in second place because he has more 2020 points—8.7 vs. 8.0.
Though deGrom exited his last two starts early due to injury, he earned Box-Toppers Player of the Game in both for a total of 2.7 Box-Toppers points in the games of the past week. While the injuries concern his fans, he has not missed a recent start and has downplayed their severity.
National League batters—Nick Castellanos of the Reds rises to lead NL batters with 5.5 Box-Toppers points, passing last week’s leader, Brandon Crawford of the Giants, who falls to second place. Though Castellanos and Crawford both have 5.5 Box-Toppers points in 2021, Castellanos ranks higher because he has more 2020 Box-Toppers points—1.0 vs. 0.0. Castellanos is 44th in overall Box-Toppers season player rankings.
American League batters—Xander Bogaerts of the Red Sox leads AL batters for the second week with 6.5 Box-Toppers points, picking up no points in the past week. He ranks ahead of second-place AL batter, J.D. Martinez of the Red Sox (6.2). Three of the top four AL batters are Red Sox players, including fourth-place Rafael Devers (5.5). Bogaerts is 28th among all players in Box-Toppers season player rankings.
Top 10 list exits and entrances—Two players rise into Box-Toppers top 10 overall players list this week:
Indians pitcher Aaron Civale rises to seventh place with 8.7 points.
Mets pitcher Taijuan Walker rises to 10th place with 8.4 points.
They displace two players who were on the top 10 list last week—Marlins pitcher Trevor Rogers and Padres pitcher Yu Darvish.
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.
Five players joined the #BT40 this week:
Ryan Yarbrough of the Rays rises to eighth place among AL pitchers with 6.7 points.
Carlos Rodon of the White Sox rises to ninth place among AL pitchers with 6.7 points.
Austin Gomber of the Rockies rises to seventh place among NL pitchers with 8.0 points.
Buster Posey of the Giants rises to eighth place among NL batters with 4.0 points.
Austin Riley of the Braves rises to 10th place among NL batters with 3.5 points.
Those five displace these five players: Orioles pitcher John Means, Tigers pitcher Spencer Turnbull, Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer, Bryan Reynolds of the Pirates and C.J. Cron 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 Randy Arozarena of the Rays (3.0 points, 10th among AL batters), who ranks 113th overall.
Box-Toppers almanac
Players who have earned Box-Toppers points so far in 2021—506
Players with more than 2.0 Box-Toppers points—175
Players who’ve made their Box-Toppers debut so far in 2021 (earning their first career Player of the Game honor)—82
Players who’ve made their Box-Toppers debut in the past week—11
Games completed so far in 2021—1,021, an average of 68.1 per team
Percentage of scheduled season completed—42.0
Games in which a batter won Player of the Game honors—348, 34.1 percent of all games played
Games in which a pitcher won Player of the Game honors—673, 65.9 percent of all games played
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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