| AL PITCHERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | NL PITCHERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | |||
| 1 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | tex al | 7.7 | 1 | Gallen, Zac 4171 | pi sp | ari nl | 7.7 | |
| 2 | Ohtani, Shohei 3933 | pi sp dh | ana al | 7.4 | 2 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 6.1 | |
| 3 | Gausman, Kevin 3191 | pi sp | tor al | 7.0 | 3 | Keller, Mitch 4230 | pi sp | pit nl | 6.0 | |
| 4 | McClanahan, Shane 4399 | pi sp | tb al | 6.7 | 4 | Freeland, Kyle 3763 | pi sp | col nl | 5.7 | |
| 5 | Rasmussen, Drew 4547 | pi sp | tb al | 6.7 | 5 | Luzardo, Jesus 4282 | pi sp | fla nl | 5.7 | |
| 6 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | nyy al | 6.0 | 6 | Strider, Spencer 4626 | pi sp | atl nl | 5.0 | |
| 7 | Rodriguez, Eduardo 3480 | pi sp | det al | 6.0 | 7 | Wacha, Michael 3276 | pi sp | sd nl | 5.0 | |
| 8 | Gray, Sonny 3259 | pi sp | min al | 5.7 | 8 | Burnes, Corbin 4029 | pi sp | mil nl | 4.7 | |
| 9 | Bassitt, Chris 3413 | pi sp | tor al | 5.7 | 9 | Velasquez, Vince 3611 | pi sp | pit nl | 4.4 | |
| 10 | Eovaldi, Nathan 2928 | pi sp | tex al | 5.7 | 10 | Urias, Julio 3652 | pi sp | lad nl | 4.0 | |
| AL BATTERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | NL BATTERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | |||
| 1 | Ohtani, Shohei 3933 | pi sp dh | ana al | 7.4 | 1 | Outman, James 4699 | cf rf lf | lad nl | 4.7 | |
| 2 | Noda, Ryan 4791 | 1b ph | oak al | 5.0 | 2 | Fraley, Jake 4430 | lf ph | cin nl | 4.5 | |
| 3 | Judge, Aaron 3767 | cf rf dh | nyy al | 4.5 | 3 | Muncy, Max 3969 | 3b | lad nl | 4.0 | |
| 4 | Paredes, Isaac 4666 | 3b 1b 2b | tb al | 4.5 | 4 | Murphy, Sean 4246 | ca | atl nl | 4.0 | |
| 5 | Duran, Jarren 4783 | cf | bos al | 4.5 | 5 | Reynolds, Bryan 4169 | cf lf | pit nl | 3.7 | |
| 6 | Yoshida, Masataka 4763 | lf | bos al | 4.5 | 6 | Soler, Jorge 3403 | dh rf ph | fla nl | 3.7 | |
| 7 | Mountcastle, Ryan 4325 | 1b dh ph | bal al | 4.2 | 7 | Gorman, Nolan 4633 | 2b dh ph | stl nl | 3.5 | |
| 8 | Rengifo, Luis 4178 | 2b ss 3b | ana al | 4.0 | 8 | Acuna, Ronald Jr. 3947 | rf | atl nl | 3.5 | |
| 9 | Rizzo, Anthony 3063 | 1b | nyy al | 3.7 | 9 | Castellanos, Nick 3349 | rf dh | phi nl | 3.5 | |
| 10 | Arozarena, Randy 4331 | lf | tb al | 3.5 | 10 | Cron, C.J. 3338 | 1b | col nl | 3.2 |
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(Note: Edited after posting to correct NL batting leader.)
Diamondbacks pitcher Zac Gallen leads Box-Toppers player rankings report for the second straight week.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 in Box-Toppers season player rankings for 2023. Players are ranked by Box-Toppers points (BTP) earned this season through Thursday, May 18.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gallen, Zac 4171 | pi sp | ari nl | 7.7 |
| 2 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | tex al | 7.7 |
| 3 | Ohtani, Shohei 3933 | pi sp dh | ana al | 7.4 |
| 4 | Gausman, Kevin 3191 | pi sp | tor al | 7.0 |
| 5 | McClanahan, Shane 4399 | pi sp | tb al | 6.7 |
| 6 | Rasmussen, Drew 4547 | pi sp | tb al | 6.7 |
| 7 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 6.1 |
| 8 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | nyy al | 6.0 |
| 9 | Keller, Mitch 4230 | pi sp | pit nl | 6.0 |
| 10 | Rodriguez, Eduardo 3480 | pi sp | det al | 6.0 |
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Gallen also maintains his lead among National League pitchers. Meanwhile, Shohei Ohtani of the Angels rises to lead American League batters, James Outman of the Dodgers rises to lead NL batters and Jacob deGrom of the Rangers continues to lead AL pitchers.
Gallen has 7.7 Box-Toppers points in 2023, picking up no points in the past week. He leads over second-place overall player, Rangers pitcher Jacob deGrom. Though both Gallen and deGrom have the same 7.7 point total, Gallen ranks higher because he has more 2022 Box-Toppers points—18.7 vs. 9.4.
Gallen leads NL pitchers for the fifth straight week over second-place Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers (6.1 points).
American League batters—Shohei Ohtani of the Angels rises to lead AL batters in Box-Toppers points this week with 7.4, passing last week’s leader Jarren Duran of the Red Sox (4.5), who falls to fourth place. Ohtani leads over second-place AL batter Ryan Noda of the Athletics (5.0). He ranks third among all players, behind Gallen (7.7) and deGrom (7.7).
Ohtani only rose to lead AL batters Monday after qualifying to rank in the category for the first time this season upon winning AL Player of the Day honors as a batter. To rank in a certain category, a player must have more than 25 percent of their Player of the Game honors in that category. With his second Player of the Game honor of 2023 as a designated hitter and his sixth overall (the other four came as a starting pitcher), Ohtani has one-third (33.3 percent) of his Player of the Game honors as a batter, qualifying him to rank among batters. Ohtani also ranks second among AL pitchers in 2023 Box-Toppers points.
During the previous two seasons, there were periods in which Ohtani qualified to rank among both batters and pitchers, but he finished both 2021 and 2022 ranked solely among pitchers because he earned such an overwhelming majority of his Player of the Game honors as a pitcher. This, even though he played far more games at designated hitter than pitcher. In only his 2018 rookie season did Ohtani qualify to rank among both pitchers and batters, winning Player of the Game honors six total times—three as a pitcher and three as a designated hitter. He qualified only as a designated hitter in 2019, as he recovered from Tommy John surgery and did not pitch that season.
National League batters—James Outman of the Dodgers rises to take the lead with 4.7 Box-Toppers points, passing last week’s leader Sean Murphy of the Braves, who falls to fourth place with 4.0 points. Outman leads over second-place NL batter Jake Fraley of the Reds (4.5 points). Outman ranks 21st among all players.
American League pitchers—Rangers pitcher Jacob deGrom leads the category for the third straight week with 7.7 Box-Toppers points, ahead of second-place Shohei Ohtani of the Angels (7.4 points).
deGrom ranks second overall. deGrom was placed on the injured list with elbow inflammation, has begun rehabbing, but the Rangers have announced no timetable for his return.
Box-Toppers almanac
Players who have earned Box-Toppers points so far in 2023—407 (there were 375 as of last week).
Players with more than 2.0 Box-Toppers points—104 (there were 85 as of last week).
Players who’ve made their Box-Toppers debut so far in 2023 (earning their first career Player of the Game honor)—54 (there were 48 as of last week).
Games completed so far in 2023—658, an average of 43.9 per team.
Percentage of scheduled season completed—27.1.
In the 93 games completed in the past week, pitchers won Player of the Game honors in 56 (60.2 percent), while batters won Player of the Game in 37 (39.8 percent). Batters’ share of overall Player of the Game honors for the season declined slightly from last week. They’ve now won 277 in 658 games (42.1 percent) compared to 381 for pitchers (57.9 percent). Last week, batters’ share was 42.5 percent. Rules changes have seemed to help batters this season. Through the first seven weeks of the season, batters have won a larger share of Player of the Game honors in 2023 (42.1 percent) compared to this time in 2022 (36.2 percent). (Batters won 241 of the 665 Player of the Game honors through the first seven weeks of 2022.) Through the entire 2022 season, batters won a record-low 38 percent share of 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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