Red Sox’ Story tops players for Thursday, May 19; Mets’ Alonso rises to 5th in player rankings

Trevor Story of the Red Sox is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Box-Toppers Toppers Box

Today’s key Box-Toppers numbers. Click links to jump to charts elsewhere on this page.
▪️ Box-Toppers Player of the Game winners.
▪️ Box-Toppers points of the day’s top players.
▪️ Top 10 players in 2022 Box-Toppers points.
▪️ A B-T look at today’s pitching matchups.

Trevor Story of the Red Sox is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 in Box-Toppers season player rankings for 2022. Players are ranked by Box-Toppers points (BTP) earned this season through Thursday, May 19.

Player Pos Team BTP
1 Ohtani, Shohei 3933 dh pi sp ana al 8.0
2 Musgrove, Joe 3705 pi sp sd nl 6.0
3 Cease, Dylan 4231 pi sp chi al 6.0
4 Fried, Max 4011 pi sp atl nl 6.0
5 Alonso, Pete 4118 1b nym nl 6.0
6 Skubal, Tarik 4414 pi sp det al 5.7
7 Lauer, Eric 4017 pi sp mil nl 5.7
8 Megill, Tylor 4464 pi sp nym nl 5.7
9 Cortes, Nestor 4160 pi sp nyy al 5.7
10 McClanahan, Shane 4399 pi sp tb al 5.7
What are those numbers after players' names?
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Back to top

Also Thursday, Pete Alonso of the Mets rises to fifth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings—first place among National League batters—after earning NL Batter of the Day honors for the second straight day.

Player of the Day—Story hit three home runs, including a three-run shot, in the 12-6 win over the Mariners. Story went 4-for-4, scoring five times and driving in seven runs.

Story earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, his first points of the season, and ranks 108th among all players, 18th among American League batters.

Story had a Box-Toppers game score Thursday of +12.0, highest for a batter earning Player of the Game honors this season. It is the 19th highest game score for a Player of the Game winner this season—the 18 who rank above Story are all pitchers, led by the +20.0 game score by Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw on April 13.

Story is the second batter to earn overall Player of the Day honors this season—Giancarlo Stanton of the Yankees did it May 12. In the other 41 days of the season, pitchers have won overall Player of the Day honors.

Story’s +12.0 Box-Toppers game score exceeds that of any batter winning Player of the Game honors in 2021. The highest game score for a batter winning Player of the Game honors in 2021 was +11.0 by Lourdes Gurriel Jr. of the Blue Jays on Sept. 12.

It is the highest game score for a batter earning Player of the Game honors since Jose Abreu of the White Sox had a game score of +12.0 on Sept. 12, 2020 (3HR 4-4 5R 7BI in the 14-0 win over the Tigers).

The last time a batter had a higher game score was three days prior to that on Sept. 9, 2020, when Adam Duvall of the Braves recorded +13.0 (3HR 3-4 5R 9BI in the 29-9 win over the Marlins). That was apparently the fifth-highest game score for a batter earning Player of the Game honors since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995. The apparent highest was +15.0 by Anthony Rendon of the Nationals on April 30, 2017. (We say “apparent” in these cases because while Box-Toppers has records for Player of the Game winners since the start of 1995, the data from actual game scores derived from box scores only goes back to the start of 2011. But examining games from 1995 to 2010 that were most likely to produce high Box-Toppers game scores—games in which batters had six hits, hit four home runs or drove in 10 runs—none had a game scores higher than +13.0.)

Padres pitcher Yu Darvish is Thursday’s Box-Toppers NL Player of the Day.

National League Player of the Day—Padres pitcher Yu Darvish struck out five over seven scoreless innings, allowing six hits and no walks, in the 2-0 win over the Phillies.

Darvish earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 3.7 for the season, 16th among NL pitchers.

Darvish now has 110.9 career Box-Toppers points, rising to 56th place in career points among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. With his 1.7 points Thursday, he passes two players on the “all-time” list—Jeff Kent (110.2) and Tom Glavine (110.6). (It should be noted that both Kent and Glavine began their careers prior to the 1995 advent of Box-Toppers. If Kent’s career from 1992 were tracked, projections put his career total at 125. If Glavine’s career from 1987 were tracked, projections put his career total at 170.) Darvish now trails 55th-ranked player Kevin Brown (112.8).

Darvish ranks 16th among active players in career points, eighth among active NL pitchers.

Pete Alonso of the Mets is Thursday’s Box-Toppers NL Batter of the Day.

National League Batter of the Day—Pete Alonso of the Mets homered and went 3-for-4, scoring once and driving in three runs, in the 7-6, 10-inning win over the Cardinals.

Alonso earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being NL Batter of the Day, giving him 6.0 for the season, rising to fifth in player rankings and first among NL batters, passing previous leader Mookie Betts of the Dodgers (4.5). While Alonso has the same Box-Toppers point total as two other NL pitchers, he ranks behind both because he has fewer 2021 Box-Toppers points. Padres pitcher Joe Musgrove leads NL players (16.1 points in 2021), followed by Braves pitcher Max Fried (11.8 points in 2021). Alonso ranks third among NL players (3.0 points in 2021).

Thursday was the second straight day Alonso earned NL Batter of the Day honors. He also did it Wednesday (HR 3-4 2R 4BI in the 11-4 win over the Cardinals). Alonso has earned 3.0 of his 6.0 points for the season in the past two days.

American League Batter of the Day—There is no separate AL Batter of the Day for Thursday because the overall Player of the Day is AL batter Trevor Story.

Scoring—Story earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Darvish earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Alonso earns 1.5 points for being NL Batter of the Day. All of Thursday’s other Player of the Game winners (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.

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).
Back to top

5/19 BTG Game Player AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB +12.0 BOS 12, SEA 6 Trevor Story, 2B 4 5 4 7
NL +6.0 SD 2, PHI 0 Yu Darvish, (W 4‑1) 7.0 6 0 0 0 5
+5.0 BAL 9, NYY 6 Anthony Santander, RF 4 3 3 3
+4.1 `CIN 4, CLE 2 Tyler Mahle 6.1 2 1 1 2 4
+4.0 CHW 7, KC 4 Luis Robert, CF 4 1 3 4
+4.0 HOU 5, TEX 1 Framber Valdez, (W 3‑2) 7.0 6 1 1 2 7
BAT +3.0 NYM 7, STL 6 (F/10) Pete Alonso, 1B 4 1 3 3
+2.0 ARI 3, CHC 1 Zac Gallen, (W 3‑0) 5.0 2 1 1 3 4
MLB—Overall Box‑Toppers Player of the Day, worth 2.0 total Box‑Toppers points.
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.
N/A—Not applicable. No Player of the Game was chosen because the game ended in a tie.
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.
Back to top

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 in 2022 (’22). Also shown is their point total for this season and last (’21-22), the period 2017-2022 (’17-22) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2022 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2021 total (+/-).
Back to top

Player of the Game Pos Team ’22 ’21‑22 ’17‑22 Career +/‑
Alonso, Pete 4118 1b nym nl 6.0 9.0 17.5 17.5 +3.0
Valdez, Framber 4048 pi sp hou al 4.0 9.0 19.4 19.4 -1.0
Gallen, Zac 4171 pi sp ari nl 4.0 8.0 19.7 19.7 0.0
Darvish, Yu 3003 pi sp sd nl 3.7 16.8 55.3 110.9 -9.4
Mahle, Tyler 3929 pi sp cin nl 3.0 14.7 26.7 26.7 -8.7
Story, Trevor 3607 ss bos al 2.0 8.7 25.2 31.7 -4.7
Santander, Anthony 3935 rf dh ph bal al 2.0 5.5 10.5 10.5 -1.5
Robert, Luis 4296 cf chi al 1.0 1.0 2.0 2.0 +1.0
What are those numbers after players' names?
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Chart is sortable. Click a column header to re-sort the chart by the values in that column. Refresh page to restore chart to default view.
Back to top

A Box-Toppers look at Friday’s pitching matchups

A Box-Toppers look at Friday’s probable pitching matchups. Teams are paired below with visiting teams on top and home teams on the bottom. Each team’s starting pitcher is shown with their Box-Toppers point total from 2022 (’22), over a two-year period (’21-22), over a six-year period (’17-22) and their career point total.
Back to top

Game Starter ’22 ’21-22 ’17-22 Career
ARI Castellanos, Humberto 4591 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
CHC Hendricks, Kyle 3386 3.7 7.7 39.5 67.6
STL Wainwright, Adam 2150 3.0 15.0 33.3 145.3
PIT Thompson, Zach 4437 1.0 3.0 3.0 3.0
ATL Morton, Charlie 2503 4.0 16.7 60.0 87.7
MIA Rogers, Trevor 4311 2.0 11.0 12.0 12.0
CHW Keuchel, Dallas 3050 1.0 4.0 24.8 67.6
NYY Cortes, Nestor 4160 5.7 10.7 12.7 12.7
LAD Urias, Julio 3652 2.0 21.1 29.1 34.8
PHI Suarez, Ranger 4228 1.0 10.0 11.0 11.0
TB Beeks, Jalen 4047 0.0 0.0 5.7 5.7
BAL Wells, Tyler 4428 1.0 2.0 2.0 2.0
CIN Castillo, Luis Miguel 3840 0.0 9.0 44.8 44.8
TOR Ryu, Hyun Jin 3139 0.0 9.0 47.5 68.6
DET Skubal, Tarik 4414 5.7 14.4 14.4 14.4
CLE Civale, Aaron 4173 0.0 11.7 17.4 17.4
SEA Ray, Robbie 3502 2.0 19.7 53.1 63.8
BOS Wacha, Michael 3276 2.7 9.8 24.8 44.5
MIN Smeltzer, Devin 4149 0.0 0.0 4.7 4.7
KC Lynch, Daniel 4488 2.0 5.7 5.7 5.7
TEX Perez, Martin 3213 2.7 3.7 10.4 23.4
HOU Javier, Cristian 4290 1.7 7.7 9.7 9.7
WSH Fedde, Erick 4065 0.0 10.4 15.1 15.1
MIL Lauer, Eric 4017 5.7 11.7 25.1 25.1
NYM Carrasco, Carlos 2885 2.0 2.0 55.6 102.1
COL Marquez, German 3788 1.0 18.4 48.5 48.5
OAK Blackburn, Paul 3869 4.0 4.0 7.0 7.0
LAA Silseth, Chase 4605 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0
SD Manaea, Sean 3637 3.0 18.7 40.5 47.2
SF Junis, Jakob 3857 1.0 1.0 12.0 12.0
Starters subject to change.
* Player has yet to earn Box-Toppers points.
What are those numbers after players' names?
Chart is sortable. Click a column header to re-sort the chart by the values in that column. Refresh page to restore chart to default, game-by-game view.
Back to top