Braves’ Fried tops players for Friday, Aug. 4; Orioles’ McCann tops AL players

Braves pitcher Max Fried is Friday’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.
▪️ Subscribe to Box-Toppers Email Newsletter.

Braves pitcher Max Fried is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Fried struck out eight over six scoreless innings, allowing three hits and no walks, in the 9-0 win over the Braves.

Fried earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 4.0 for the season, 138th among all players and 45th among National League pitchers.

American League Player of the Day

James McCann of the Orioles doubled and went 3-for-3, scoring once and driving in five runs, in the 10-3 win over the Mets.

McCann earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, his first points of the season, and is 82nd among AL batters.

American League Player of the Day is James McCann of the Orioles.

National League Batter of the Day

Nolan Jones of the Rockies doubled and went 4-for-5, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 9-4 win over the Cardinals.

National League Batter of the Day is Nolan Jones of the Rockies.

American League Batter of the Day

There is no separate AL Batter of the Day for Friday because the overall AL Player of the Day is batter James McCann.

Kyle Tucker of the Astros is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Friday’s win over the Yankees.

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 Friday, Aug. 4.

Player Pos Team BTP
1 Ohtani, Shohei 3933 dh pi sp ana al 17.4
2 Strider, Spencer 4626 pi sp atl nl 14.4
3 Luzardo, Jesus 4282 pi sp fla nl 13.1
4 Gausman, Kevin 3191 pi sp tor al 13.0
5 Bassitt, Chris 3413 pi sp tor al 12.4
6 Burnes, Corbin 4029 pi sp mil nl 11.7
7 Bautista, Felix 4668 pi cp bal al 11.0
8 Gallen, Zac 4171 pi sp ari nl 10.7
9 Garrett, Braxton 4341 pi sp fla nl 10.7
10 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp tex al 10.4
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Notable

Kyle Tucker of the Astros has the most 2023 Box-Toppers points among Friday’s 14 Player of the Game winners.

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Tucker (2B 1-3 R 2BI in the 7-3 win over the Yankees) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 8.0 for the season, 34th among all players and third among AL batters, behind Shohei Ohtani of the Angels (17.4) and Aaron Judge of the Yankees (8.5).

Scoring

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

  • McCann earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day.

  • Jones earns 1.5 points for being NL Batter of the Day.

  • All of Friday’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).

8/4 BTG Game Player AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB +11.0 ATL 8, CHC 0 Max Fried (W, 3‑1) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 6.0 3 0 0 0 8
AL +6.0 BAL 10, NYM 3 James McCann C 3 1 3 5 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
BAT +4.0 COL 9, STL 4 Nolan Jones LF 5 2 4 3 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+4.0 WSH 6, CIN 3 (F/10) Lane Thomas RF 5 3 3 3 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+4.0 TEX 6, MIA 2 Adolis García RF 3 2 3 2 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+3.1 MIN 3, ARI 2 Caleb Thielbar (W, 1‑1) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 1.1 0 0 0 0 2
+3.0 CLE 4, CHW 2 Andres Gimenez 2B 4 2 3 2 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+3.0 SEA 9, LAA 7 Julio Rodríguez CF 3 2 2 2 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+3.0 TB 8, DET 0 Zack Littell (W, 2‑2) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 6.0 3 0 0 1 1
+2.1 TOR 7, BOS 3 Jordan Hicks (S, 9) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 1.1 0 0 0 0 1
+2.0 PIT 8, MIL 4 Alfonso Rivas 1B 5 1 3 3 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+2.0 LAD 10, SD 5 David Peralta DH 4 2 2 2 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+2.0 KC 7, PHI 5 Austin Cox (S, 1) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 1.0 0 0 0 0 1
+1.0 HOU 7, NYY 3 Kyle Tucker RF 3 1 1 2 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
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 +/‑
Tucker, Kyle 4277 rf hou al 8.0 12.5 24.7 24.7 +3.5
Garcia, Adolis 4387 rf tex al 6.0 11.0 16.0 16.0 +1.0
Fried, Max 4011 pi sp atl nl 4.0 20.0 48.5 48.5 -12.0
Gimenez, Andres 4288 2b cle al 3.0 5.0 6.0 6.0 +1.0
Hicks, Jordan 3991 pi cp tor al 3.0 5.0 9.0 9.0 +1.0
Rodriguez, Julio 4590 cf sea al 2.0 9.5 9.5 9.5 -5.5
Thielbar, Caleb 3272 pi mr min al 2.0 7.7 11.7 12.7 -3.7
Peralta, David 3370 lf dh lad nl 2.0 4.5 20.5 34.4 -0.5
Thomas, Lane 4623 rf dc nl 2.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 +1.0
Cox, Austin 4860 pi mr kc al 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 +2.0
McCann, James 3649 ca bal al 1.7 1.7 13.4 17.4 +1.7
Jones, Nolan 4686 lf col nl 1.5 4.0 4.0 4.0 -1.0
Littell, Zack 4533 pi mr tb al 1.0 3.0 5.0 5.0 -1.0
Rivas, Alfonso 4664 1b pit nl 1.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 0.0
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A Box-Toppers look at Saturday’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
HOU Verlander, Justin 2112 6.0 32.0 84.6 238.6
NYY Cortes, Nestor 4160 1.0 16.4 23.4 23.4
TB Civale, Aaron 4173 4.0 9.0 26.4 26.4
DET Skubal, Tarik 4414 2.0 12.7 21.4 21.4
ATL Elder, Bryce 4709 6.0 10.7 10.7 10.7
CHC Assad, Javier* 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
MIA Soriano, George* 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
TEX Gray, Jon 3634 4.7 10.7 38.4 50.1
TOR Berrios, Jose 3791 7.4 16.4 57.3 66.3
BOS Schreiber, John* 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
WSH Adon, Joan 4580 0.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
CIN Abbott, Andrew 4839 9.0 9.0 9.0 9.0
KC Marsh, Alec* 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
PHI Sanchez, Cristopher 4850 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
NYM Megill, Tylor 4464 3.0 8.7 14.7 14.7
BAL Gibson, Kyle 3312 5.7 14.7 40.2 59.2
SF Stripling, Ross 3629 1.0 13.0 33.4 39.1
OAK Blackburn, Paul 3869 2.0 6.0 8.0 9.0
ARI Nelson, Ryne 4728 6.7 8.4 8.4 8.4
MIN Maeda, Kenta 3609 5.7 5.7 39.2 59.2
CHW Kopech, Michael 4385 7.0 16.0 21.7 21.7
CLE Syndergaard, Noah 3472 0.0 3.0 22.4 52.5
PIT Falter, Bailey 4473 0.0 4.0 5.0 5.0
MIL Burnes, Corbin 4029 11.7 27.1 55.9 55.9
COL Blach, Ty 3754 1.0 3.0 5.0 9.0
STL Matz, Steven 3516 3.0 8.4 30.8 47.4
LAD Undecided 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
SD Snell, Blake 3688 7.7 20.8 73.1 82.1
SEA Kirby, George 4595 9.7 21.1 21.1 21.1
LAA Anderson, Tyler 3656 1.0 13.7 31.4 36.4
Starters subject to change.
* Player has yet to earn Box-Toppers points.
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