White Sox pitcher Lucas Giolito is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Saturday, Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole maintains his second-place spot in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors. Plus, Brewers pitcher Brandon Woodruff rises to third place after he also earns Player of the Game honors.
Player of the Day—Giolito pitched a complete-game, three-hitter, allowing one run, no walks and striking out eight, in the 10-1 win over the Astros.
Giolito earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 6.7 for the season, 42nd among all players and 12th among American League pitchers.
National League Player of the Day—Braves pitcher Max Fried struck out seven over seven scoreless innings, allowing four hits and one walk, in the 9-0 win over the Rays.
National League Batter of the Day—Max Muncy of the Dodgers hit two home runs and went 4-for-5, scoring twice and driving in five runs, in the 9-2 win over the Rockies.
American League Batter of the Day—Taylor Ward of the Angels homered, doubled and went 3-for-4, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 9-4 win over the Mariners.
Cole—Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole maintains his second-place spot in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Saturday.
Cole (6IP 5H R 2BB 11K W in the 3-1, six-inning win over the Red Sox) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 16.4 for the season. He trails only Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom (16.7). Cole extends his lead among AL pitchers, ahead of second-ranked Tyler Glasnow of the Rays (12.7).
Cole now has 116.9 career Box-Toppers points, rising to 49th place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. With his 1.0 point Saturday, he passes three players on the “all-time” list—Todd Helton (116.4), Mark Buehrle (116.7) and Adrian Beltre (116.8). He now trails 48th-ranked Barry Zito (117.4).
Cole ranks 14th among active players in career points, fourth among active AL pitchers.
Woodruff—Brewers pitcher Brandon Woodruff rises from fourth to third place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Saturday.
Woodruff (5.2IP 2H 2R 4BB 8K ND in the 7-4, 11-inning win over the Reds) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 14.4 for the season. He passes Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler (14.1) to rise into third place overall and second place among NL pitchers, behind Jacob deGrom of the Mets (16.7).
Notable—Wilmer Difo of the Pirates earns Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors for the second straight day Saturday.
Difo (HR 1-1 R 3BI in the 9-7 win over the Mets) was also Player of the Game in Friday’s 4-1 win over the Mets (HR 2-4 2R BI). Difo now has 3.0 Box-Toppers points for the season, 2.0 in the past two days, and ranks 31st among NL batters.
Difo had a Box-Toppers game score Saturday of +4.0, which was better than the +3.0 game score by teammate Jacob Stallings (GS 2-4 R 4BI), who hit the walk-off, game-winning grand slam.
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 Saturday, July 17.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 16.7 |
| 2 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | nyy al | 16.4 |
| 3 | Woodruff, Brandon 3868 | pi sp | mil nl | 14.4 |
| 4 | Wheeler, Zack 3204 | pi sp | phi nl | 14.1 |
| 5 | Glasnow, Tyler 3948 | pi sp | tb al | 12.7 |
| 6 | Marquez, German 3788 | pi sp | col nl | 12.7 |
| 7 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 11.4 |
| 8 | Darvish, Yu 3003 | pi sp | sd nl | 10.4 |
| 9 | Bassitt, Chris 3413 | pi sp | oak al | 9.7 |
| 10 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 9.7 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Scoring—Giolito earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Fried earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Muncy and Ward each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Saturday’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.
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Box-Toppers Player of the Game winners
Here is the top player from each of the day’s games listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score (BTG).| 7/17 | BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | +12.0 | CHW 10, HOU 1 | Lucas Giolito, (W 8‑6) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 9.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 8 | |
| NL | +9.0 | ATL 9, TB 0 | Max Fried, (W 7‑5) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | |
| +8.0 | NYY 3, BOS 1 (F/6) | Gerrit Cole, (W 10‑4) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 11 | ||
| BAT | +6.0 | LAD 9, COL 2 | Max Muncy, 2B | 5 | 2 | 4 | 5 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| BAT | +4.0 | LAA 9, SEA 4 | Taylor Ward, RF‑LF | 4 | 2 | 3 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +4.0 | PIT 9, NYM 7 | Wilmer Difo, PH | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +4.0 | DET 1, MIN 0 (F/7) | Daniel Norris, (W 1‑3) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| +3.2 | `MIL 7, CIN 4 (F/11) | Brandon Woodruff | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 8 | ||
| +3.0 | CHC 4, ARI 2 | Willson Contreras, C | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +2.1 | BAL 8, KC 4 | Paul Fry, (W 3‑3) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| +2.0 | STL 3, SF 1 | Paul Goldschmidt, 1B | 4 | 1 | 3 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +2.0 | CLE 3, OAK 2 | Cal Quantrill, (W 2‑2) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | ||
| +2.0 | DET 5, MIN 4 (F/8) | Joe Jiménez, (W 3‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 2.0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
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 Player of the Game winners
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 (’21). Also shown are each players’ Box-Toppers point total for this season and last (’20-21), the period 2016-2021 (’16-21) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2021 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2020 total (+/-).| Player of the Game | Pos | Team | ’21 | ’20‑21 | ’16‑21 | Career | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | nyy al | 16.4 | 23.8 | 87.5 | 116.9 | +9.0 |
| Woodruff, Brandon 3868 | pi sp | mil nl | 14.4 | 21.4 | 31.1 | 31.1 | +7.4 |
| Giolito, Lucas 3900 | pi sp | chi al | 6.7 | 13.7 | 34.4 | 34.4 | ‑0.3 |
| Muncy, Max 3969 | 2b 1b | lad nl | 5.0 | 6.5 | 16.5 | 16.5 | +3.5 |
| Ward, Taylor 4345 | rf lf | ana al | 4.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | +3.0 |
| Fried, Max 4011 | pi sp | atl nl | 3.7 | 9.4 | 20.4 | 20.4 | ‑2.0 |
| Goldschmidt, Paul 2935 | 1b | stl nl | 3.5 | 3.5 | 30.4 | 65.8 | +3.5 |
| Contreras, Willson 3776 | ca | chi nl | 3.0 | 5.0 | 17.5 | 17.5 | +1.0 |
| Difo, Wilmer 4375 | rf ph | pit nl | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | +3.0 |
| Quantrill, Cal 4195 | pi sp mr | cle al | 1.0 | 3.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | ‑1.0 |
| Norris, Daniel 3548 | pi mr sp | det al | 1.0 | 2.0 | 11.0 | 15.0 | +0.0 |
| Jimenez, Joe 4000 | pi cp | det al | 1.0 | 2.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | +0.0 |
| Fry, Paul 4068 | pi mr cp | bal al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | +1.0 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
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