Red Sox’ Pivetta tops players for Friday, Sept. 29; Padres’ Martinez tops NL players

Red Sox pitcher Nick Pivetta 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.
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Red Sox pitcher Nick Pivetta is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Pivetta struck out 10 over seven scoreless innings, allowing two hits and one walk, in the 3-0 win over the Orioles.

Pivetta earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 9.0 for the season, 59th among all players and 31st among American League pitchers.

National League Player of the Day

Padres pitcher Nick Martinez struck out eight over five scoreless innings, allowing two hits and two walks, in the 3-2 win over the White Sox.

Martinez earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 7.4 for the season, 29th among NL pitchers.

National League Player of the Day is Padres pitcher Nick Martinez.

American League Batter of the Day

Bobby Witt Jr. of the Royals homered, hit a sacrifice fly and went 2-for-3, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 12-5 win over the Yankees.

Witt earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day, giving him 7.7 for the season, fourth among AL batters.

American League Batter of the Day is Bobby Witt Jr. of the Royals.

National League Batter of the Day

Freddie Freeman of the Braves homered, doubled and went 3-for-4, scoring three times and driving in one run, in the 6-2 win over the Giants.

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, Sept. 29.

Player Pos Team BTP
1 Strider, Spencer 4626 pi sp atl nl 21.1
2 Bassitt, Chris 3413 pi sp tor al 20.1
3 Ohtani, Shohei 3933 pi sp dh ana al 19.4
4 Gausman, Kevin 3191 pi sp tor al 18.7
5 Luzardo, Jesus 4282 pi sp fla nl 17.8
6 Peralta, Freddy 3965 pi sp mil nl 17.7
7 Cole, Gerrit 3232 pi sp nyy al 17.0
8 Gallen, Zac 4171 pi sp ari nl 16.7
9 Castillo, Luis Miguel 3840 pi sp sea al 16.1
10 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp tex al 15.4
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Freeman earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being NL Batter of the Day, giving him 10.0 for the season, 49th among all players and third among NL batters, behind Pete Alonso of the Mets (12.0) and Ronald Acuna Jr. of the Braves (10.7). Freeman has the same 10.0 point total as Nolan Gorman of the Cardinals, but ranks ahead among NL batters because he has more 2022 points—8.5 vs. 5.0.

Freeman becomes the 52nd player this season to reach 10 Box-Toppers points. This is his third season with 10 or more points. He did it in 2013 with the Braves, when he had 11.5 points, second among NL batters and in 2019 with the Braves, when he had 10.2 points, fourth among NL batters. He had 8.5 points in 2022 with the Dodgers, fourth among NL batters.

Freeman is the seventh batter to reach 10 points in 2023, which is the most in a single season since 2019, when nine batters reached 10 points. Last year in 2022, only four batters reached 10 points, the fewest in a regular-length season (excluding the 2020 pandemic year) since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995. Since about 2010, many fewer batters reach 10 Box-Toppers points in a season than they did from 1995 to 2009, when an average of 22.7 per season did it. (The average from 2010 on is 7.8 per season, excluding 2020 when no batters reached 10 points.) The most batters to reach 10 points in a season is 28, done in 1997, 1999 and 2000.

It should be noted that among the seven batters counted with 10 points in 2023 is Shohei Ohtani of the Angels, who has 19.4 total points. He is categorized both as a pitcher and a batter and has earned 9.7 points as a pitcher and 9.7 points as a batter.

National League Batter of the Day is Freddie Freeman of the Braves.

Debut

Angels pitcher Davis Daniel made his Box-Toppers debut Friday with his first career Player of the Game honor.

Daniel (5IP 2H 0R BB 2K W in the 5-1 win over the Athletics) made his Major League debut Sept. 7 and was playing in his third career game.

Angels pitcher Davis Daniel is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Friday’s win over the Athletics.

Scoring

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

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

  • Witt and Freeman each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s 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).

9/29 BTG Game Player AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB +14.0 BOS 3, BAL 0 Nick Pivetta (W, 10‑9) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 7.0 2 0 0 1 10
NL +9.0 SD 3, CHW 2 Nick Martinez (W, 6‑4) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 5.0 2 0 0 2 8
+9.0 `MIL 4, CHC 3 (F/10) Colin Rea ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 5.0 2 0 0 0 6
BAT +4.0 KC 12, NYY 5 Bobby Witt Jr. SS 3 2 2 3 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+4.0 SEA 8, TEX 0 J.P. Crawford SS 3 2 1 4 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+4.0 LAA 5, OAK 1 Davis Daniel (W, 1‑1) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 5.0 2 0 0 1 2
+3.0 TOR 11, TB 4 Bo Bichette SS 5 3 4 1 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
BAT +3.0 LAD 6, SF 2 Freddie Freeman 1B 4 3 3 1 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+3.0 CIN 19, STL 2 Jonathan India 2B 4 3 2 2 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+3.0 HOU 2, ARI 1 José Urquidy (W, 3‑3) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 6.0 2 0 0 3 2
+3.0 MIN 7, COL 6 Kody Funderburk (W, 2‑0) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 2.0 1 0 0 1 3
+3.0 MIA 4, PIT 3 Huascar Brazoban (W, 5‑2) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 1.0 0 0 0 0 2
+2.0 CLE 7, DET 5 Bo Naylor C 4 2 2 2 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+2.0 WSH 10, ATL 6 Carter Kieboom 3B 4 2 1 3 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
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 +/‑
Freeman, Freddie 2887 1b lad nl 10.0 18.5 44.2 85.9 +1.5
Pivetta, Nick 3825 pi mr bos al 9.0 16.7 36.4 44.4 +1.3
Witt, Bobby Jr. 4592 ss kc al 7.7 9.7 9.7 9.7 +5.7
Martinez, Nick 3430 pi sp sd nl 7.4 12.4 12.4 19.1 +2.4
Crawford, J.P. 3937 ss sea al 6.5 8.5 19.0 19.0 +4.5
Rea, Colin 3582 pi sp mil nl 5.0 5.0 5.0 8.7 +5.0
India, Jonathan 4469 2b cin nl 4.0 4.0 7.7 7.7 +4.0
Naylor, Bo 4885 ca cle al 3.5 3.5 3.5 3.5 +3.5
Urquidy, Jose 4194 pi sp hou al 2.0 10.0 23.1 23.1 -6.0
Bichette, Bo 4233 ss tor al 2.0 8.5 17.0 17.0 -4.5
Kieboom, Carter 4276 3b dc nl 2.0 2.0 3.0 3.0 +2.0
Brazoban, Huascar 4787 pi mr fla nl 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 +2.0
Funderburk, Kody 4915 pi mr min al 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 +2.0
Daniel, Davis 4953 pi cp ana al 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 +1.0
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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
CLE McKenzie, Triston 4303 2.0 17.7 32.1 32.1
DET Undecided 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
TB Armstrong, Shawn 4204 1.0 1.0 5.0 5.0
TOR Ryu, Hyun Jin 3139 2.0 3.0 45.5 71.6
PHI Undecided 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
NYM Quintana, Jose 3040 0.0 11.4 32.9 83.1
MIA Chargois, JT 3736 0.0 0.0 2.0 3.0
PIT Presser, Quinn* 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
CHC Wicks, Jordan 4912 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
MIL Undecided 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
NYY Schmidt, Clarke 4581 2.0 6.4 6.4 6.4
KC Cruz, Steven* 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
PHI Sanchez, Cristopher 4850 4.0 4.0 4.0 4.0
NYM Undecided 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
SD Wacha, Michael 3276 9.0 17.4 32.5 59.2
CHW Clevinger, Mike 3707 10.4 16.8 49.9 64.3
BOS Crawford, Kutter 4660 5.7 9.7 9.7 9.7
BAL Gibson, Kyle 3312 8.7 17.7 43.2 62.2
CIN Phillips, Connor 4943 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
STL Rom, Drew 4935 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
TEX Undecided 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
SEA Castillo, Luis Miguel 3840 16.1 26.1 62.5 70.9
WSH Adon, Joan 4580 2.0 3.0 3.0 3.0
ATL Strider, Spencer 4626 21.1 34.5 34.5 34.5
HOU Verlander, Justin 2112 10.7 36.7 89.3 243.3
ARI Kelly, Merrill 4143 13.0 24.0 39.0 39.0
MIN Pagan, Emilio 3876 0.0 2.7 5.7 7.7
COL Undecided 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
LAD Kershaw, Clayton 2494 11.1 21.8 63.6 270.4
SF Beck, Tristan 4823 6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0
OAK Boyle, Joe 4948 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
LAA Undecided 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
Starters subject to change.
* Player has yet to earn Box-Toppers points.
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