Mariners’ Rodriguez tops players for Thursday, Aug. 17; D-backs’ Gallen rises to 6th

Julio Rodriguez of the Mariners is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

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▪️ 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.
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Julio Rodriguez of the Mariners is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Also Thursday, Diamondbacks pitcher Zac Gallen rises to sixth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.

Player of the Day

Rodriguez hit a three-run homer, doubled and went 5-for-5, scoring once and driving in five runs, in the 6-4 win over the Royals.

Rodriguez earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 4.0 for the season, 163rd among all players and 27th among American League batters.

National League Player of the Day

Nationals pitcher Patrick Corbin struck out six over six innings, allowing one run, four hits and no walks, in the 10-7 win over the Red Sox.

Corbin earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 6.1 for the season, 32nd among NL pitchers.

National League Player of the Day is Nationals pitcher Patrick Corbin.

National League Batter of the Day

Tim Locastro of the Mets homered and went 1-for-1, scoring once and driving in one run, in the 4-2 win over the Cardinals.

National League Batter of the Day is Tim Locastro of the Mets.

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 Julio Rodríguez.

Diamondbacks pitcher Zac Gallen is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Thursday’s win over the Padres.

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, Aug. 17.

Player Pos Team BTP
1 Ohtani, Shohei 3933 pi sp dh ana al 18.4
2 Strider, Spencer 4626 pi sp atl nl 15.4
3 Gausman, Kevin 3191 pi sp tor al 14.7
4 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp tex al 13.4
5 Luzardo, Jesus 4282 pi sp fla nl 13.1
6 Gallen, Zac 4171 pi sp ari nl 12.7
7 Bassitt, Chris 3413 pi sp tor al 12.4
8 Lopez, Pablo 4028 pi sp min al 12.4
9 Miller, Bryce 4797 pi sp sea al 12.1
10 Burnes, Corbin 4029 pi sp mil nl 11.7
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Rankings

Diamondbacks pitcher Zac Gallen rises from ninth to sixth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Thursday.

Gallen (6.1IP 3H R BB 3K W in the 3-1 win over the Padres) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 12.7 for the season. He ranks third among NL pitchers, behind Spencer Strider of the Braves (15.4) and Jesus Luzardo of the Marlins (13.1).

Notable

Dodgers pitcher Lance Lynn now has 118.5 career Box-Toppers points—51st-most since the start of Box-Toppers tracking in 1995—after earning Player of the Game honors Thursday.

Lynn (7IP 4H 0R BB 3K ND in the 1-0 win over the Brewers) with his 1.0 Box-Toppers point Thursday, passes Marlins pitcher Johnny Cueto (118.2) on the “all-time” career points list and now trails 50th-ranked player Carlos Delgado (118.7). Passing Cueto, Lynn now ranks 13th among active players in career points, fifth among active NL pitchers.

Lynn has 4.7 Box-Toppers points in 2023, 46th among NL pitchers.

Dodgers pitcher Lance Lynn is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Thursday’s win over the Brewers.

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Scoring

  • Rodriguez earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day.

  • Corbin earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day.

  • Locastro 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) 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.

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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).

8/17 BTG Game Player AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB +6.0 SEA 6, KC 4 Julio Rodríguez CF 5 1 5 5 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
NL +6.0 WSH 10, BOS 7 Patrick Corbin (W, 8‑11) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 6.0 4 1 1 0 6
+5.0 `LAD 1, MIL 0 Lance Lynn ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 7.0 4 0 0 1 3
+3.1 ARI 3, SD 1 Zac Gallen (W, 13‑5) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 6.1 3 1 1 1 3
BAT +2.0 NYM 4, STL 2 Tim Locastro PH‑CF 1 1 1 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 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 +/‑
Gallen, Zac 4171 pi sp ari nl 12.7 31.4 47.1 47.1 -6.0
Corbin, Patrick 3027 pi sp dc nl 6.1 10.1 49.2 91.4 +2.1
Lynn, Lance 2992 pi sp lad nl 4.7 14.4 53.9 118.5 -5.0
Rodriguez, Julio 4590 cf sea al 4.0 11.5 11.5 11.5 -3.5
Locastro, Tim 4360 cf nym nl 1.5 1.5 2.5 2.5 +1.5
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A Box-Toppers look at Friday’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
KC Ragans, Cole 4889 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
CHC Taillon, Jameson 3658 4.4 15.1 36.5 50.5
DET Skubal, Tarik 4414 3.0 13.7 22.4 22.4
CLE Williams, Gavin 4865 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0
TOR Berrios, Jose 3791 7.4 16.4 57.3 66.3
CIN Kennedy, Brett 4058 0.0 0.0 1.0 1.0
BOS Bello, Brayan 4727 2.0 3.0 3.0 3.0
NYY Undecided 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
PHI Lorenzen, Michael 3479 8.7 12.7 17.2 23.2
WSH Adon, Joan 4580 1.0 2.0 2.0 2.0
DET Manning, Matt 4550 1.7 4.7 5.7 5.7
CLE Curry, Xzavion 4875 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
SF Cobb, Alex 2916 8.0 14.7 26.1 65.9
ATL Strider, Spencer 4626 15.4 28.8 28.8 28.8
MIL Woodruff, Brandon 3868 2.0 22.8 55.6 56.6
TEX Heaney, Andrew 3515 8.7 16.7 39.8 44.8
PIT Jackson, Andre 4748 0.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
MIN Lopez, Pablo 4028 12.4 23.1 46.2 46.2
SEA Miller, Bryce 4797 12.1 12.1 12.1 12.1
HOU France, J.P. 4811 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0
NYM Lucchesi, Joey 3936 1.0 1.0 17.4 17.4
STL Thompson, Zack 4773 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
CHW Kopech, Michael 4385 7.0 16.0 21.7 21.7
COL Lambert, Peter 4155 2.0 2.0 4.0 4.0
TB Ramirez, Erasmo Jose 3056 0.0 1.0 5.7 24.4
LAA Anderson, Tyler 3656 1.0 13.7 31.4 36.4
BAL Gibson, Kyle 3312 6.7 15.7 41.2 60.2
OAK Medina, Luis 4876 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
ARI Pfaadt, Brandon 4812 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
SD Lugo, Seth 3729 1.7 3.7 14.7 19.7
MIA Alcantara, Sandy 4061 7.0 28.1 47.2 47.2
LAD Gonsolin, Tony 4211 4.7 16.1 28.5 28.5
Starters subject to change.
* Player has yet to earn Box-Toppers points.
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