Marlins’ Garrett tops players for Saturday, May 20; Yankees’ Judge rises to 9th place

Marlins pitcher Braxton Garrett is Saturday’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 2023 Box-Toppers points.
▪️ A B-T look at upcoming pitching matchups.

Marlins pitcher Braxton Garrett is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Also Saturday, Aaron Judge of the Yankees rises to ninth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning American League Batter of the Day honors. Plus, Nolan Gorman of the Cardinals rises to first place among National League batters in 2023 Box-Toppers points after earning NL Batter of the Day honors.

Player of the Day—Garrett struck out eight over 6 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing one hit and one walk, in the 1-0 win over the Giants. Garrett did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because when he exited, the game was in a scoreless tie.

Garrett earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 5.0 for the season, 21st among all players and eighth among NL pitchers.

Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale is Saturday’s American League Player of the Day.

American League Player of the Day—Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale struck out eight over seven innings, allowing two runs, three hits and one walk, in the 4-2 win over the Padres.

Sale earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 5.7 for the season, 17th among all players and 11th among AL pitchers.

Sale also now has 150.3 career Box-Toppers points, 26th among all players since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995. With his 1.7 points Saturday, he passes Chipper Jones (149.0) on the “all-time” list and now trails 25th-ranked Barry Bonds (152.2). (It should be noted that Bonds would have a projected 230 career Box-Toppers points if his entire career from 1986 were tracked.)

Sale ranks eighth among active players in career Box-Toppers points, second among active AL pitchers, behind Zack Greinke of the Royals (223.5).

Aaron Judge of the Yankees is Saturday’s Box-Toppers American League Batter of the Day.

American League Batter of the Day—Aaron Judge of the Yankees doubled and went 4-for-4, scoring once and driving in three runs, in the 7-4, 10-inning win over the Reds.

Judge earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day, giving him 6.0 for the season, rising to ninth in season player rankings and second among AL batters, trailing only Shohei Ohtani of the Angels (7.4).

Nolan Gorman of the Cardinals is Saturday’s Box-Toppers National League Batter of the Day.

National League Batter of the Day—Nolan Gorman of the Cardinals hit a three-run homer and went 2-for-3, scoring once and driving in three runs, in the 6-5 win over the Dodgers.

Gorman earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 5.0 for the season, rising to first place among NL batters, passing previous leader James Outman of the Dodgers (4.7). Gorman ranks 22nd among all players in 2023 Box-Toppers points.

Diamondbacks pitcher Miguel Castro is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Saturday’s win over the Pirates.

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 Saturday, May 20.

Player Pos Team BTP
1 Gallen, Zac 4171 pi sp ari nl 7.7
2 McClanahan, Shane 4399 pi sp tb al 7.7
3 deGrom, Jacob 3343 pi sp tex al 7.7
4 Ohtani, Shohei 3933 pi sp dh ana al 7.4
5 Gausman, Kevin 3191 pi sp tor al 7.0
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 Judge, Aaron 3767 cf rf dh nyy al 6.0
10 Keller, Mitch 4230 pi sp pit nl 6.0
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Notable—Diamondbacks pitcher Miguel Castro earns his first Box-Toppers point in more than five years Saturday.

Castro (1IP 0H 0R BB 3K Sv in the 4-3 win over the Pirates) last earned Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors Aug. 23, 2017, when he was with the Orioles. That was also his Box-Toppers debut, his first career Player of the Game honor, earned in his 66th career game. He earned his second career Player of the Game honor Saturday in his 355th career game.

Scoring—Garrett earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Sale earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Judge and Gorman each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Saturday’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.

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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).
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5/20 BTG Game Player AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB +12.1 `MIA 1, SF 0 Braxton Garrett 6.1 1 0 0 1 8
+8.0 PHI 12, CHC 3 Aaron Nola, (W 4‑3) 7.0 4 2 2 1 10
AL +7.0 BOS 4, SD 2 Chris Sale, (W 4‑2) 7.0 3 2 2 1 8
+7.0 `HOU 3, OAK 2 Hunter Brown 6.0 5 2 1 0 9
+6.0 SEA 7, ATL 3 Logan Gilbert, (W 2‑2) 6.0 4 2 2 1 9
+5.0 TB 8, MIL 4 Zach Eflin, (W 6‑1) 7.0 4 3 3 0 8
+5.0 BAL 6, TOR 5 (F/10) Felix Bautista, (W 3‑1) 2.0 1 0 0 1 5
BAT +4.0 NYY 7, CIN 4 (F/10) Aaron Judge, DH 4 1 4 3
+3.0 TEX 11, COL 5 Corey Seager, SS 4 2 3 2
BAT +3.0 STL 6, LAD 5 Nolan Gorman, DH 3 1 2 3
+3.0 ARI 4, PIT 3 Miguel Castro, (S 4) 1.0 0 0 0 1 3
+2.0 WSH 5, DET 2 Lane Thomas, RF 4 1 3 2
+2.0 CHW 5, KC 1 Jake Burger, DH 3 0 2 3
+1.0 MIN 6, LAA 2 Kyle Farmer, 3B 5 2 3 1
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.
All other players listed here would 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.
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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 2023 (’23). Also shown is their point total for this season and last (’22-23), the period 2018-2023 (’18-23) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2023 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2022 total (+/-).
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Player of the Game Pos Team ’23 ’22‑23 ’18‑23 Career +/‑
Judge, Aaron 3767 cf rf dh nyy al 6.0 19.2 38.2 49.4 -7.2
Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp bos al 5.7 5.7 38.8 150.3 +5.7
Garrett, Braxton 4341 pi sp fla nl 5.0 10.7 12.7 12.7 -0.7
Gorman, Nolan 4633 2b dh stl nl 5.0 10.0 10.0 10.0 0.0
Brown, Hunter 4729 pi sp hou al 4.7 5.7 5.7 5.7 +3.7
Nola, Aaron 3569 pi sp phi nl 3.0 19.0 68.2 92.7 -13.0
Gilbert, Logan 4439 pi sp sea al 3.0 17.1 24.1 24.1 -11.1
Bautista, Felix 4668 pi cp bal al 3.0 8.0 8.0 8.0 -2.0
Eflin, Zach 3679 pi sp tb al 3.0 6.7 29.5 34.5 -0.7
Burger, Jake 4629 dh 3b chi al 3.0 4.0 4.0 4.0 +2.0
Farmer, Kyle 4003 2b 3b ss min al 2.5 6.0 8.5 8.5 -1.0
Seager, Corey 3587 ss tex al 1.0 3.5 11.0 23.5 -1.5
Thomas, Lane 4623 rf dc nl 1.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 0.0
Castro, Miguel 3893 pi cp ari nl 1.0 1.0 1.0 2.0 +1.0
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A Box-Toppers look at Sunday’s pitching matchups

A Box-Toppers look at the upcoming day’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 2023 (’23), over a two-year period (’22-23), over a six-year period (’18-23) and their career point total.
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Game Starter ’23 ’22‑23 ’18‑23 Career
NYY Severino, Luis 3567 0.0 6.7 27.4 53.5
CIN Greene, Hunter 4651 1.0 7.0 7.0 7.0
CHC Steele, Justin 4415 4.0 9.0 12.0 12.0
PHI Walker, Taijuan 3453 1.0 8.7 24.1 50.5
DET Wentz, Joey 4639 1.0 4.0 4.0 4.0
WSH Gray, Josiah 4503 2.7 7.4 8.4 8.4
SEA Kirby, George 4595 2.0 13.4 13.4 13.4
ATL Shuster, Jared* 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
ARI Kelly, Merrill 4143 3.0 14.0 29.0 29.0
PIT Contreras, Roansy 4574 3.0 7.0 7.0 7.0
BAL Kremer, Dean 4330 2.0 9.7 13.4 13.4
TOR Gausman, Kevin 3191 7.0 19.7 41.1 76.4
MIL Peralta, Freddy 3965 2.7 10.1 41.5 41.5
TB Beeks, Jalen 4047 1.0 2.0 7.7 7.7
CLE Bibee, Tanner 4792 2.7 2.7 2.7 2.7
NYM Scherzer, Max 2588 2.0 12.0 81.6 238.3
KC Hernandez, Carlos 4466 1.0 1.0 6.0 6.0
CHW Lynn, Lance 2992 1.0 10.7 50.2 114.8
OAK Kaprielian, James 4416 0.0 5.0 12.4 12.4
HOU Valdez, Framber 4048 2.0 18.0 33.4 33.4
LAD Kershaw, Clayton 2494 6.1 16.8 58.6 265.4
STL Flaherty, Jack 3971 2.0 3.0 43.3 43.3
COL Seabold, Connor* 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
TEX Heaney, Andrew 3515 3.7 11.7 34.8 39.8
MIA Luzardo, Jesus 4282 5.7 9.7 21.8 21.8
SF Wood, Alex 3246 1.0 8.0 26.0 61.1
MIN Lopez, Pablo 4028 4.0 14.7 37.8 37.8
LAA Ohtani, Shohei 3933 7.4 32.1 62.7 62.7
BOS Kluber, Corey 3200 0.0 11.0 37.7 125.1
SD Wacha, Michael 3276 5.0 13.4 28.5 55.2
CLE Bieber, Shane 4005 1.0 14.7 57.3 57.3
NYM Verlander, Justin 2112 1.0 27.0 79.6 233.6
Starters subject to change.
* Player has yet to earn Box-Toppers points.
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