| AL PITCHERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | NL PITCHERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | |||
| 1 | McClanahan, Shane 4399 | pi sp | tb al | 8.7 | 1 | Gallen, Zac 4171 | pi sp | ari nl | 7.7 | |
| 2 | Ohtani, Shohei 3933 | pi sp dh | ana al | 8.4 | 2 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 6.1 | |
| 3 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | tex al | 7.7 | 3 | Wacha, Michael 3276 | pi sp | sd nl | 6.0 | |
| 4 | Gausman, Kevin 3191 | pi sp | tor al | 7.0 | 4 | Keller, Mitch 4230 | pi sp | pit nl | 6.0 | |
| 5 | Rasmussen, Drew 4547 | pi sp | tb al | 6.7 | 5 | Freeland, Kyle 3763 | pi sp | col nl | 5.7 | |
| 6 | Eovaldi, Nathan 2928 | pi sp | tex al | 6.7 | 6 | Luzardo, Jesus 4282 | pi sp | fla nl | 5.7 | |
| 7 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | nyy al | 6.0 | 7 | Strider, Spencer 4626 | pi sp | atl nl | 5.0 | |
| 8 | Rodriguez, Eduardo 3480 | pi sp | det al | 6.0 | 8 | Garrett, Braxton 4341 | pi sp | fla nl | 5.0 | |
| 9 | Gray, Sonny 3259 | pi sp | min al | 5.7 | 9 | Burnes, Corbin 4029 | pi sp | mil nl | 4.7 | |
| 10 | Bassitt, Chris 3413 | pi sp | tor al | 5.7 | 10 | Stroman, Marcus 3327 | pi sp | chi nl | 4.7 | |
| AL BATTERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | NL BATTERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | |||
| 1 | Ohtani, Shohei 3933 | pi sp dh | ana al | 8.4 | 1 | Gorman, Nolan 4633 | 2b dh | stl nl | 5.0 | |
| 2 | Judge, Aaron 3767 | cf rf dh | nyy al | 6.0 | 2 | Outman, James 4699 | cf rf lf | lad nl | 4.7 | |
| 3 | Arozarena, Randy 4331 | lf | tb al | 6.0 | 3 | Fraley, Jake 4430 | lf ph | cin nl | 4.5 | |
| 4 | Noda, Ryan 4791 | 1b ph | oak al | 5.0 | 4 | Muncy, Max 3969 | 3b | lad nl | 4.0 | |
| 5 | Rizzo, Anthony 3063 | 1b | nyy al | 4.7 | 5 | Murphy, Sean 4246 | ca | atl nl | 4.0 | |
| 6 | Paredes, Isaac 4666 | 3b 1b 2b | tb al | 4.5 | 6 | Reynolds, Bryan 4169 | cf lf | pit nl | 3.7 | |
| 7 | Duran, Jarren 4783 | cf | bos al | 4.5 | 7 | Soler, Jorge 3403 | dh rf ph | fla nl | 3.7 | |
| 8 | Yoshida, Masataka 4763 | lf | bos al | 4.5 | 8 | Alonso, Pete 4118 | 1b | nym nl | 3.5 | |
| 9 | Mountcastle, Ryan 4325 | 1b dh ph | bal al | 4.2 | 9 | Acuna, Ronald Jr. 3947 | rf | atl nl | 3.5 | |
| 10 | Alvarez, Yordan 4209 | dh lf | hou al | 4.0 | 10 | Ozuna, Marcell 3190 | dh | atl nl | 3.5 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Rays pitcher Shane McClanahan rises to lead this week’s Box-Toppers player rankings report.
McClanahan rises from fifth place last week to take the top spot and also is the new leader among American League pitchers.
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 25.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McClanahan, Shane 4399 | pi sp | tb al | 8.7 |
| 2 | Ohtani, Shohei 3933 | pi sp dh | ana al | 8.4 |
| 3 | Gallen, Zac 4171 | pi sp | ari nl | 7.7 |
| 4 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | tex al | 7.7 |
| 5 | Gausman, Kevin 3191 | pi sp | tor al | 7.0 |
| 6 | Rasmussen, Drew 4547 | pi sp | tb al | 6.7 |
| 7 | Eovaldi, Nathan 2928 | pi sp | tex al | 6.7 |
| 8 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 6.1 |
| 9 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | nyy al | 6.0 |
| 10 | Judge, Aaron 3767 | cf rf dh | nyy al | 6.0 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
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Also this week, Nolan Gorman of the Cardinals rises to lead National League batters. Shohei Ohtani of the Angels maintains his lead among AL batters and Zac Gallen of the Diamondbacks maintains his lead among NL pitchers.
McClanahan has 8.7 Box-Toppers points, rising past last week’s leader, Diamondbacks pitcher Zac Gallen, who falls to third overall with 7.7 points. McClanahan leads over second-place player Shohei Ohtani of the Angels (8.4), who led all players and all AL pitchers from Sunday to Tuesday this week, before McClanahan took the lead Wednesday.
National League batters—Nolan Gorman of the Cardinals rises to lead the category with 5.0 Box-Toppers points, passing last week’s leader James Outman of the Dodgers, who falls to second place with 4.7 points.
Gorman ranks 25th among all players.
American League batters—Shohei Ohtani of the Angels leads for the second week with 8.4 Box-Toppers points, picking up 1.0 point in the past week. He leads over second-place AL batter Aaron Judge of the Yankees (6.0 points). Ohtani ranks second among all players.
Ohtani only qualifies to rank among batters because he has earned more than 25 percent of his 2023 Player of the Game honors as a batter. He’s earned two of his seven Player of the Game honors this season as designated hitter; the other seven as starting pitcher. Should he earn his next Player of the Game honor as a pitcher, he would no longer qualify to rank among batters.
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 pitchers—Diamondbacks pitcher Zac Gallen leads the category for the sixth straight week with 7.7 Box-Toppers points, picking up no points in the past week. He leads over second-place Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers (6.1 points). Gallen ranked first overall two straight weeks but falls to third place overall this week.
Box-Toppers almanac
Players who have earned Box-Toppers points so far in 2023—446 (there were 407 as of last week).
Players with more than 2.0 Box-Toppers points—127 (there were 104 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)—62 (there were 54 as of last week).
Games completed so far in 2023—755, an average of 50.3 per team.
Percentage of scheduled season completed—31.1.
In the 97 games completed in the past week, pitchers won Player of the Game honors in 56 (57.8 percent), while batters won Player of the Game in 41 (42.3 percent). Batters’ share of overall Player of the Game honors for the season increased slightly from last week. They’ve now won 318 in 755 games (42.12 percent) compared to 437 for pitchers (57.88 percent). Last week, batters’ share was 42.10 percent. Rules changes have seemed to help batters this season. Through the first eight 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 (37.3 percent). (Batters won 285 of the 764 Player of the Game honors through the first eight 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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