Cubs’ Suzuki, Yankees’ Gil top players in spring games for Saturday, March 16

Seiya Suzuki of the Cubs is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Saturday’s spring training games.

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.
▪️ A B-T look at upcoming pitching matchups.
▪️ Subscribe to Box-Toppers Email Newsletter.
▪️ Buy me a coffee & support Box-Toppers.

Seiya Suzuki of the Cubs is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Saturday’s spring training games.

Suzuki hit two home runs, going 3-for-3, scoring three times and driving in three runs, in the 7-6 win over the Royals.

Suzuki would have earned 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day if this were a regular season game. Because it’s a preseason exhibition game, no Box-Toppers points are awarded.

Suzuki has 1.0 career Box-Toppers point earned in 2023 with the Cubs.

American League Player of the Day

Yankees pitcher Luis Gil struck out four over 3 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing one hit and one walk, in the 10-9 win over the Blue Jays. Gil did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because the Blue Jays took the lead after he exited.

Gil would have earned 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day if this were a regular season game.

Gil earned 0.0 Box-Toppers points in 2023 but has 1.0 career point, earned in 2021 with the Yankees.

This is his second Box-Toppers Player of the Game honor of the 2024 spring training season. He also did it March 11 (3.2IP H 0R BB 8K W in the 2-1 win over the Phillies).

American League Player of the Day is Yankees pitcher Luis Gil.

American League Batter of the Day

Eddys Leonard of the Tigers homered, tripled and went 3-for-4, scoring once and driving in four runs, in the 6-4 win over the Pirates.

Leonard would have earned 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day if this were a regular season game.

Leonard, 23, has yet to make his regular season Major League debut and so has 0.0 career Box-Toppers points.

American League Batter of the Day is Eddys Leonard of the Tigers.

National League Batter of the Day

There is no separate NL Batter of the Day for Saturday because the overall Player of the Day is NL batter Seiya Suzuki.

Mariners pitcher Luis Castillo is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Saturday’s wn ver the White Sox.

Notable

In addition to Gil, Mariners pitcher Luis Castillo also earned Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors for the second time in the 2024 spring training season.

Castillo (5IP 4H R BB 5K W in the 8-2 win over the White Sox) was also Player of the Game March 9 (4IP 2H 0R 0BB 4K W in the 7-6 win over the Brewers).

Castillo earned 16.1 Box-Toppers points in 2023, ninth overall and fifth among AL pitchers.

Saturday’s games

In Saturday’s 18 completed spring training games featuring matchups between two Major League teams, there were six Player of the Game winners who had previously earned Box-Toppers points in regular season games.

Most notably, Brewers pitcher Freddy Peralta (5IP 4H R 0BB 5K ND in the 5-1 win over the Rangers) had the most 2023 Box-Toppers points among Saturday’s Player of the Game winners. Peralta earned 17.7 Box-Toppers points in 2023, sixth overall and third among NL pitchers.

In 11 of Saturday’s games, the Player of the Game winner was a player who has yet to earn Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors in the regular season and so has 0.0 career Box-Toppers points.

One game ended in a tie (Phillies vs. Marlins) and so no Player of the Game honor was awarded.

Scoring

No Box-Toppers points are awarded in exhibition games. Were it a regular season day, Suzuki would have earned 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Gil would have earned 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Leonard would have earned 1.5 points for being AL Batter of the Day. All of Saturday’s other Players of the Game (listed in the chart) would have earned 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.

For additional updates, follow Box-Toppers on Twitter.

Buy me a coffee to support Box-Toppers. And thanks!

Buy Me A Coffee

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).

3/16 BTG Game Player AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB +6.0 CHC 7, KC 6 Seiya Suzuki RF 3 3 3 3
+6.0 `SF 11, CHW 7 Spencer Howard 4.0 0 0 0 0 2
AL +5.1 `NYY 10, TOR 9 Luis Gil 3.1 1 0 0 1 4
+5.0 PIT 4, ATL 2 Jared Jones (W, 1‑0) 4.0 2 0 0 1 4
BAT +4.0 DET 6, PIT 4 Eddys Leonard 2B‑SS‑3B 4 1 3 4
+4.0 STL 8, WSH 5 César Prieto 3B 3 0 2 5
+4.0 MIL 11, OAK 4 Oliver Dunn 3B 3 2 2 3
+4.0 SEA 11, CIN 7 Alberto Rodriguez RF 1 1 1 3
+4.0 `MIL 5, TEX 1 Freddy Peralta 5.0 4 1 1 0 5
+4.0 CHC 4, LAA 3 Ben Brown (W, 1‑0) 4.0 3 0 0 1 4
+3.0 COL 11, OAK 9 Michael Toglia 1B 4 2 2 3
+3.0 SEA 8, CHW 2 Luis Castillo (W, 2‑1) 5.0 4 1 1 1 5
+3.0 BAL 5, BOS 4 Matt Krook (W, 1‑0) 1.0 0 0 0 1 3
+2.0 NYM 6, HOU 1 Yolmer Sánchez 2B 4 1 2 3
+2.0 MIN 6, TB 5 Misael Urbina RF 1 1 1 1
+2.0 ARI 5, TEX 4 Jancarlos Cintron SS 1 1 1 1
2.0 SF 6, CLE 0 Jimmy Glowenke PR‑3B 1 1 1 1
0.0 PHI 3, MIA 3 N/A
No points are awarded for exhibition games, but were this an actual regular season day, this is how points would be awarded:
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.
N/A—Not applicable. No Player of the Game was chosen because the game ended in a tie.
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.
Back to top

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. No points are awarded during spring training games, so all players have 0.0 Box-Toppers points for 2024. Players are ranked by their Box-Toppers point total in 2023 (’23). Also shown is their point total for the period 2019-2023 (’19-23) and each players’ career point total. (Player of the Game winners not listed here have yet to earn Box-Toppers points during the regular season.)
Back to top

Player of the Game Pos Team ’24 ’23 ’19‑23 Career
Peralta, Freddy 3965 pi sp mil nl 0.0 17.7 47.8 56.5
Castillo, Luis Miguel 3840 pi sp sea al 0.0 16.1 54.5 70.9
Suzuki, Seiya 4924 rf chi nl 0.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
Howard, Spencer 4386 pi mr sf nl 0.0 0.0 2.0 2.0
Gil, Luis 4498 pi sp nyy al 0.0 0.0 1.0 1.0
Sanchez, Yolmer Carlos 3589 2b nym nl 0.0 0.0 2.0 8.0
What are those numbers after players' names?
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Chart is sortable. Click a column header to re-sort the chart by the values in that column. Refresh page to restore chart to default view.
Back to top

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 2024 (’24)†, last year (’23), over a five-year period (’19-23) and their career point total.
Back to top

Game Starter ’24† ’23 ’19‑23 Career
BAL Teheran, Julio 3176 0.0 2.7 10.7 74.9
DET Maeda, Kenta 3609 0.0 11.1 33.9 64.6
NYM Megill, Tylor 4464 0.0 4.0 15.7 15.7
WSH Gore, MacKenzie 4582 0.0 7.0 11.7 11.7
HOU Valdez, Framber 4048 0.0 10.0 39.4 41.4
STL Liberatore, Matthew 4662 0.0 4.0 6.0 6.0
TB Uceta, Edwin* 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
PIT Fleming, Josh 4316 0.0 1.0 10.7 10.7
TOR Berrios, Jose 3791 0.0 10.4 42.5 69.3
PHI Wheeler, Zack 3204 0.0 14.7 60.2 83.6
ATL Strider, Spencer 4626 0.0 21.1 34.5 34.5
BAL Wells, Tyler 4428 0.0 5.7 10.7 10.7
BOS Bello, Brayan 4727 0.0 2.0 3.0 3.0
ATL Lopez, Reynaldo 3712 0.0 1.0 21.5 29.2
NYY Warren, Will* 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
BOS Houck, Tanner 4342 0.0 2.0 13.7 13.7
MIN Alcala, Jorge 4493 0.0 0.0 2.0 2.0
TOR Rodriguez, Yariel* 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
MIA Undecided 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
NYM Quintana, Jose 3040 0.0 0.0 22.8 83.1
COL Quantrill, Cal 4195 0.0 2.0 17.7 17.7
SF Winn, Keaton 4931 0.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
TEX Urena, Jose 3492 0.0 0.0 3.0 23.4
CHC Assad, Javier 4899 0.0 4.7 4.7 4.7
CHW Nastrini, Nick* 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
OAK Wood, Alex 3246 0.0 3.0 23.0 63.1
LAA Sandoval, Patrick 4357 0.0 3.0 14.0 14.0
ARI Gallen, Zac 4171 0.0 16.7 51.1 51.1
ARI Walston, Blake* 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
SEA Gilbert, Logan 4439 0.0 13.4 34.5 34.5
CIN Williamson, Brandon 4813 0.0 4.7 4.7 4.7
CLE Bieber, Shane 4005 0.0 4.0 53.9 60.3
MIL Clarke, Taylor 4199 0.0 0.0 4.0 4.0
KC Ragans, Cole 4889 0.0 4.4 4.4 4.4
Starters subject to change.
Games shown are spring training games between MLB teams. Doesn't include games vs. non-MLB teams.
† Players don’t earn Box-Toppers points in spring training games, only regular season games, so no pitcher has earned any points in 2024.
* Player has yet to earn any career Box-Toppers points.
What are those numbers after players' names?
Chart is sortable. Click a column header to re-sort the chart by the values in that column. Refresh page to restore chart to default, game-by-game view.
Back to top