Brewers’ Priester tops players for Friday, July 18; Cubs’ Suzuki extends NL batting lead

Brewers pitcher Quinn Priester is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Box-Toppers Toppers Box

Today’s key Box-Toppers numbers. Click links to jump to charts elsewhere on this page.
▪️ Players of the Game
▪️ B-T points of day’s top players
▪️ Top 10 players in 2025
▪️ Upcoming pitching matchups
▪️ Friday’s Sidelights Sidebar
▪️ Subscribe to newsletter
▪️ Support Box-Toppers

Brewers pitcher Quinn Priester is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day as regular-season games resume after the All-Star break.

Also Friday, Seiya Suzuki of the Cubs extends his lead in Box-Toppers points among National League batters after earning Player of the Game honors.

Other Player of the Game winners Friday include Mariners pitcher Luis Castillo, Rangers pitcher Patrick Corbin, Kyle Stowers of the Marlins and Luis Robert Jr. of the White Sox.

Player of the Day

Priester struck out 10 over six scoreless innings, allowing three hits and no walks, in the 2-0 win over the Dodgers.

Priester earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 7.0 for the season, 47th among all players and 20th among National League pitchers.

American League Player of the Day is Mariners pitcher Luis M. Castillo.

American League Player of the Day

Mariners pitcher Luis M. Castillo struck out seven over 6 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing three hits and two walks, in the 6-1 win over the Astros.

Castillo earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 9.4 for the season, 18th among all players and ninth among AL pitchers.

National League Batter of the Day is Kyle Stowers of the Marlins.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in 2025 Box-Toppers points (BTP) earned in the regular season through Friday, July 18.
  Player Pos Team BTP
1 Zack Wheeler pi sp Phillies 18.1
2 Tarik Skubal pi sp Tigers 14.4
3 Garrett Crochet pi sp Red Sox 13.1
4 Nick Pivetta pi sp Padres 13.0
5 Hunter Brown pi sp Astros 12.4
6 Bryan Woo pi sp Mariners 12.0
7 Yoshinobu Yamamoto pi sp Dodgers 12.0
8 Carlos Rodón pi sp Yankees 11.7
9 Paul Skenes pi sp Pirates 11.4
10 Sonny Gray pi sp Cardinals 11.0
Back to top

National League Batter of the Day

Kyle Stowers of the Marlins hit two home runs, including a walk-off, 10th-inning, two-run homer, in the 8-7, 10-inning win over the Royals. Stowers went 3-for-5, scoring twice and driving in five runs.

Stowers earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being NL Batter of the Day, giving him 7.0 for the season, 46th among all players and sixth among NL batters.

This is the second straight day of the regular season that Stowers has won Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors. He was also overall Player of the Day on Sunday, the last game prior to the All-Star break (3HR 5-5 4R 6BI in the 11-1 win over the Orioles). He earned 2.0 Box-Toppers points Sunday and has now earned 3.5 total points—half his season’s total—over the previous two regular season games.

American League Batter of the Day is Luis Robert Jr. of the White Sox.

American League Batter of the Day

Luis Robert Jr. of the White Sox homered and went 2-for-2, scoring three times and driving in two runs, in the 10-1 win over the Pirates.

Robert earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day, giving him 4.0 for the season, 20th among AL batters.

Seiya Suzuki of the Cubs extends his lead in Box-Toppers points among NL batters after earning Player of the Game honors Friday.

2025 Box-Toppers points—NL batters 1—Seiya Suzuki #Cubs 9.5* 2—Christian Yelich #Brewers 8.2 3—Pete Crow-Armstrong #Cubs 8.0 4—James Wood #Nationals 7.7 5—Pete Alonso #Mets 7.2 6—Kyle Stowers #Marlins 7.0† *Earns 1.0 B-T point Friday †Earns 1.5 B-T points Friday www.box-toppers.com/blog/2025/7/...

— Box-Toppers Baseball (@boxtoppers.bsky.social) Jul 19, 2025 at 9:13 AM

Rankings

Seiya Suzuki of the Cubs extends his lead in Box-Toppers points among NL batters after earning Player of the Game honors Friday.

Suzuki (HR 2-4 R 3BI in the 4-1 win over the Red Sox) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 9.5 for the season, most among Friday’s Player of the Game winners and 16th among all players.

Suzuki extends his lead over second-place NL batter Christian Yelich of the Brewers (8.2). He also now has the most 2025 Box-Toppers points among all batters, passing Riley Greene of the Tigers, whose 9.0 points is 19th overall and first among AL batters.

Despite leading NL batters in 2025 Box-Toppers points, Suzuki was not selected to participate on the NL All-Star team.

Notable

Rangers pitcher Patrick Corbin Friday becomes the 95th player to reach 100 career Box-Toppers points since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995.

Corbin (5.2IP 3H 0R 2BB 6K ND in the 2-0 win over the Tigers) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 100.4 career points, 93rd among all players since tracking began in 1995. With his 1.0 point Friday, he passes three players on the “all-time” career points list—Jim Edmonds (99.8), Larry Walker (100.1) and Jeff Bagwell (100.4). (It should be noted that Edmonds, Walker and Bagwell all debuted before the start of Box-Toppers tracking in 1995 and would likely have more points if their entire careers were tracked.) Corbin now trails 92nd-ranked player, Paul Konerko (100.7).

Corbin ranks 15th among active, signed players and seventh among active AL pitchers. He has 3.0 Box-Toppers points in 2025.

Rangers pitcher Patrick Corbin Friday becomes the 95th player to reach 100 career Box-Toppers points since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995.

Debut

Will Wagner of the Blue Jays made his Box-Toppers debut Friday with his first career Player of the Game honor.

Wagner (2B 1-2 R 2BI in the 4-0 win over the Giants) made his Major League debut Aug. 12, 2024, and was playing in his 55th career game.

Wagner is the son of former Major League relief pitcher Billy Wagner, who will be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame July 27. He is one of three sons of former Major Leaguers currently on the Blue Jays roster, along with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (son of Vladimir Guerrero) and Bo Bichette (son of Dante Bichette).

Will Wagner of the Blue Jays made his Box-Toppers debut Friday with his first career Player of the Game honor.

Daniel Bard, 40, announces retirement. Bard earned 19.7 career Box-Toppers points from 2009-23. Best season—2022 with #Rockies, 8.0 B-T points, 1st among NL closing pitchers. Last #MLB game—2023. He played 7 minor league games with #Mariners in 2025.

[image or embed]

— Box-Toppers Baseball (@boxtoppers.bsky.social) Jul 19, 2025 at 9:44 AM

Scoring

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

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

  • Stowers and Robert 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.

For additional updates, follow Box-Toppers on Bluesky or Twitter (X).

Friday’s Sidelights Sidebar

Reviewing the day’s top pitchers, overlooked top performers & lowest Box-Toppers game scores.

Top pitching matchup

A Box-Toppers look at Friday’s pitching matchups Notable—BAL at TB Charlie Morton #Orioles 14.4 B-T points over 2024-25, 28th* Taj Bradley #Rays 17.1 B-T points over 2024-25, 19th* *Rank among AL pitchers, 2024-25 All Friday pitching matchups: www.box-toppers.com/blog/2025/7/...

[image or embed]

— Box-Toppers Baseball (@boxtoppers.bsky.social) Jul 18, 2025 at 12:22 PM
Result—TB 11, BAL 1
Taj Bradley, Rays, was Player of the Game with +8.0 B-T game score (6IP 3H 0R BB 6K W).
Charlie Morton, Orioles, had -15.9 B-T game score in loss (5.1IP 8H 7R 3BB 4K L), 2nd-lowest among all players Friday.
Bradley earned 1.0 B-T point, giving him 18.1 B-T points over 2024-25, rising to 14th among AL pitchers over that span.

High scores, no points

Highest Box-Toppers game scores for the day among players who did not earn Player of the Game honors:
▪️+8.0—Reese Olson, Tigers (5IP 2H 0R BB 6K ND)
Was not Player of the Game in loss vs. TEX.
Player of the Game—Patrick Corbin, Rangers (5.2IP 3H 0R 2BB 6K ND) with +6.2 game score.
▪️+7.0—Brandon Walter, Astros (6IP 3H R BB 7K L)
Was not Player of the Game in loss vs. SEA
Player of the Game—Luis M. Castillo (6.2IP 3H 0R 2BB 7K W) with +8.2 game score.
▪️+6.0—Yandy Diaz, Rays (HR 3-4 3R 4BI)
Was not Player of the Game in win vs. BAL.
Player of the Game—Teammate Taj Bradley (6IP 3H 0R BB 6K W) with +8.0 game score.

Lowest Box-Toppers game scores

Out of 440 total players Friday, 129 pitchers
-16.8—Justin Verlander, Giants (2.2IP 9H 4R 2BB 0K L vs. TOR)
-15.9—Charlie Morton, Orioles
-14.9—Kyle Finnegan, Nationals
-14.8—Andre Pallante, Cardinals
-12.0—JP Sears, Athletics

Lowest Box-Toppers game scores by batters

Out of 311 total batters Friday
-5.0—Jonathan Aranda, Rays 0-5 2K
-5.0—Francisco Lindor, Mets 0-5
-5.0—Chase Meidroth, White Sox 0-5
-4.0—Jose Altuve, Astros 0-4 3K
-4.0—Jasson Dominguez, Yankees 0-4 3K
-4.0—Cedric Mullins, Orioles 0-4 3K
-4.0—Dane Myeres, Marlins 0-4 3K
-4.0—Luis Rengifo, Angels 0-4 3K
Box-Toppers uses Baseball-Reference.com, MLB.com and other sources to compile this information.

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).
7/18 BTG Game Player of the Game AB R H BI   IP H R ER BB K
MLB +13.0 MIL 2, LAD 0 Quinn Priester (W, 8‑2)   6.0 3 0 0 0 10
  +11.1 `SD 7, WSH 2 Dylan Cease   5.1 4 0 0 0 10
  +9.0 ARI 7, STL 3 Brandon Pfaadt (W, 10‑6)   7.0 4 0 0 0 6
AL +8.2 SEA 6, HOU 1 Luis M. Castillo (W, 7‑5)   6.2 3 0 0 2 7
  +8.0 ATL 7, NYY 3 Spencer Strider (W, 4‑7)   6.0 3 0 0 3 8
  +8.0 TB 11, BAL 1 Taj Bradley (W, 6‑6)   6.0 3 0 0 1 6
  +6.2 `TEX 2, DET 0 Patrick Corbin   5.2 3 0 0 2 6
BAT +5.0 MIA 8, KC 7 (F/10) Kyle Stowers LF 5 2 3 5  
BAT +5.0 CHW 10, PIT 1 Luis Robert Jr. CF 2 3 2 2  
  +5.0 CIN 8, NYM 4 Nick Lodolo (W, 7‑6)   7.0 4 2 2 1 7
  +3.0 `LAA 6, PHI 5 Reid Detmers (H, 9)   1.0 0 0 0 0 2
  +2.0 COL 6, MIN 4 Jordan Beck LF 5 2 3 2  
  +2.0 CHC 4, BOS 1 Seiya Suzuki DH 4 1 2 3  
  +2.0 TOR 4, SF 0 Will Wagner 3B 2 1 1 2  
  +1.2 CLE 8, ATH 6 Emmanuel Clase (S, 21)   0.2 1 0 0 0 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.
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. Players are ranked by their Box-Toppers point total in 2025 (’25). Also shown is their point total for this season and last (’24-’25), the period 2020-2025 (’20-25) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2025 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2024 total (+/-).
Back to top
Player of the Game Pos Team ’25 ’24‑25 ’20‑25 Career +/‑
Suzuki, Seiya 4924 dh chi nl 9.5 15.5 16.5 16.5 +3.5
Castillo, Luis Miguel 3840 pi sp sea al 9.4 20.1 60.2 91.0 -1.3
Stowers, Kyle 5019 rf fla nl 7.0 8.5 8.5 8.5 +5.5
Priester, Quinn 5059 pi mr sp mil nl 7.0 8.0 8.0 8.0 +6.0
Bradley, Taj 4780 pi sp tb al 6.0 18.1 23.1 23.1 -6.1
Cease, Dylan 4231 pi sp sd nl 5.7 26.8 71.6 73.6 -15.4
Pfaadt, Brandon 4812 pi sp ari nl 5.7 18.1 21.8 21.8 -6.7
Lodolo, Nick 4586 pi sp cin nl 5.7 14.7 21.7 21.7 -3.3
Strider, Spencer 4626 pi sp atl nl 4.0 5.0 39.5 39.5 +3.0
Robert, Luis 4296 cf chi al 4.0 5.0 14.0 14.0 +3.0
Corbin, Patrick 3027 pi sp tex al 3.0 8.0 25.8 100.4 -2.0
Clase, Emmanuel 4225 pi cp mr cle al 3.0 7.0 18.0 19.0 -1.0
Detmers, Reid 4513 pi sp mr ana al 3.0 6.7 21.4 21.4 -0.7
Beck, Jordan 5183 lf col nl 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.5 +2.5
Wagner, Will 5224 3b tor al 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 +1.0
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 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 2025 (’25), this year and last year (’24-25), over a six-year period (’20-25) and their career point total.
Back to top
Game Starter ’25 ’24‑25 ’20‑25 Career
SF Webb, Logan 4258 5.0 16.0 54.6 56.3
TOR Lauer, Eric 4017 5.0 5.0 22.4 35.8
CIN Martinez, Nick 3430 3.7 13.4 25.8 32.5
NYM Holmes, Clay 4022 4.0 7.0 16.0 17.0
KC Wacha, Michael 3276 5.4 15.8 42.3 77.0
MIA Quantrill, Cal 4195 3.0 8.0 23.7 25.7
LAA Kikuchi, Yusei 4136 5.7 16.4 39.8 43.8
PHI Walker, Taijuan 3453 3.0 4.0 34.8 61.2
CHW Houser, Adrian 4162 4.7 5.7 19.1 21.1
PIT Burrows, Mike 5196 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
SD Darvish, Yu 3003 0.0 8.7 55.3 139.7
WSH Parker, Mitchell 4982 2.0 8.0 8.0 8.0
BAL Kremer, Dean 4330 3.0 11.7 32.8 32.8
TB Littell, Zack 4533 4.0 12.4 18.4 18.4
DET Montero, Keider 5057 2.0 6.7 6.7 6.7
TEX Rocker, Kumar 5108 2.7 3.7 3.7 3.7
ATH Severino, Luis 3567 1.0 7.7 20.1 65.9
CLE Allen, Logan T. 4789 5.0 8.0 15.7 15.7
NYY Warren, Will 5143 8.4 8.4 8.4 8.4
ATL Wentz, Joey 4639 1.0 1.0 6.0 6.0
BOS Bello, Brayan 4727 5.4 13.1 16.1 16.1
CHC Imanaga, Shota 4960 5.0 25.7 25.7 25.7
STL Gray, Sonny 3259 11.0 23.4 57.0 121.3
ARI Nelson, Ryne 4728 6.7 15.1 23.5 23.5
MIN Matthews, Zebby 5186 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
COL Senzatela, Antonio 3760 1.0 1.0 6.0 14.0
MIL Peralta, Freddy 3965 8.0 21.4 61.2 77.9
LAD Sheehan, Emmet 4886 1.0 1.0 5.7 5.7
HOU McCullers, Lance 3488 2.0 2.0 18.8 51.7
SEA Evans, Logan 5192 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
Starters subject to change.
* 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