Athletics’ Kurtz tops players for Friday, July 25 with 2025’s top game score for a batter

Nick Kurtz of the Athletics is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, recording the highest Box-Toppers game score for a batter in 2025.

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

Nick Kurtz of the Athletics is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, recording the highest Box-Toppers game score for a batter in 2025 and what seems to be the third-best by a batter since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in 2025 Box-Toppers points (BTP) earned in the regular season through Friday, July 25.
  Player Pos Team BTP
1 Zack Wheeler pi sp Phillies 19.1
2 Tarik Skubal pi sp Tigers 16.4
3 Nick Pivetta pi sp Padres 14.7
4 Garrett Crochet pi sp Red Sox 13.1
5 Paul Skenes pi sp Pirates 12.4
6 Hunter Brown pi sp Astros 12.4
7 Bryan Woo pi sp Mariners 12.0
8 Yoshinobu Yamamoto pi sp Dodgers 12.0
9 Carlos Rodón pi sp Yankees 11.7
10 Sonny Gray pi sp Cardinals 11.0
Back to top

Other Player of the Game winners Friday include Diamondbacks pitcher Ryne Nelson, Kyle Schwarber of the Phillies and Rangers pitcher Nathan Eovaldi.

Player of the Day

Kurtz hit four home runs, including one three-run homer, in the 15-3 win over the Astros. Kurtz also doubled and went 6-for-6, scoring six times and driving in eight runs.

Kurtz earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 3.5 for the season, 200th among all players and 34th among American League batters.

Kurtz becomes the 20th player in Major League Baseball history to hit four home runs in a game and the second to do it in 2025. Eugenio Suárez of the Diamondbacks did it April 26 (4HR 4-4 4R 5BI) but did not win Player of the Game honors because the Diamondbacks lost to the Braves, 8-7 in 10 innings.

Kurtz recorded a +14.0 Box-Toppers game score Friday, highest for a batter earning Player of the Game honors in 2025, beating the previous leader, Brandon Nimmo of the Mets, who recorded a +11.0 game score April 28 in the 19-5 win over the Nationals (2HR 2B 4-6 4R 9BI).

Kurtz’s +14.0 game score seems to be the third-best by a batter in the 31 seasons of Box-Toppers tracking.

While Box-Toppers has records for each Player of the Game since the start of 1995, the data from actual game score records from box scores only goes back to the start of 2011. However, looking back at some of the most likely games to produce high Box-Toppers game scores for batters from 1995 to 2010 (games in which players had large home run, RBI or hit totals), it appears Kurtz’s is the third-best since 1995.

With that caveat, here are what are possibly the highest Box-Toppers game scores by batters earning Player of the Game honors since tracking began:

While Ohtani, Kurtz and Gennett all had +14.0 game scores, Ohtani ranks highest because he had both the most at bats (six) and most RBIs (10) in his game. Kurtz was second to Ohtani because he had fewer RBIs (eight vs. 10), but beats Gennett because he had more at bats (six vs. five).

Among the four players with +13.0 game scores, Green ranks highest because he had the most at bats among the four (six). Reynolds and Garcia had the same at-bat total (five), but Reynolds ranks ahead of Garcia because he had more RBIs (10 vs. eight). Duvall ranks fourth among the four batters with +13.0 game scores because he had the fewest at bats (four).

While Kurtz’s +14.0 game score is best among batters in 2025, it ranks 17th among all Player of the Game winners so far in the 1,554 games played so far this season. Pitchers have earned Player of the Game honors in 2025 with higher game scores on 16 occasions, including the highest game score of 2025: +20.0 by Tarik Skubal of the Tigers (CG 2H 0R 0BB 13K W in the 5-0 win over the Guardians) on May 25.

Kurtz becomes the ninth batter in 2025 to win overall Player of the Day honors. Pitchers have won on the other 110 days of the season so far. In the entire 2024 season, only five batters won overall Player of the Day honors.

National League Player of the Day is Diamondbacks pitcher Ryne Nelson.

National League Player of the Day

Diamondbacks pitcher Ryne Nelson struck out four over six scoreless innings, allowing one hit and two walks, in the 1-0, 11-inning win over the Pirates.

Nelson earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 8.4 for the season, 28th among all players and 10th among NL pitchers.

National League Batter of the Day is Kyle Schwarber of the Phillies.

National League Batter of the Day

Kyle Schwarber of the Phillies hit two home runs and went 3-for-5, scoring three times and driving in four runs, in the 12-5 win over the Yankees.

Schwarber earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being NL Batter of the Day, giving him 6.5 for the season, eighth among NL batters.

American League Batter of the Day

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

Rangers pitcher Nathan Eovaldi becomes the 13th player to reach 10 Box-Toppers points in 2025 after earning Player of the Game honors Friday.

Notable

Rangers pitcher Nathan Eovaldi becomes the 13th player to reach 10 Box-Toppers points in 2025 after earning Player of the Game honors Friday.

Eovaldi (5IP 3H 0R 4BB 7K W in the 8-3 win over the Braves) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 10.4 for the season, 13th among all players and sixth among AL pitchers.

This is Eovaldi’s third season with 10 or more points. His best season was 2021 with the Red Sox when he had 14.1 Box-Toppers points, sixth among AL pitchers. In 2024, he earned 13.0 points with the Rangers, 12th among AL pitchers. Eovaldi has 92.7 career Box-Toppers points, 114th-most among all players since tracking began in 1995 and ninth among active AL pitchers.

Willson Contreras of the Cardinals Friday earned Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors for the second straight day.

Also notable

Willson Contreras of the Cardinals Friday earned Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors for the second straight day and for third time in the past five days.

Contreras (2B 2-2 2R 0BI in the 3-0 win over the Padres) was also NL Player of the Day Thursday in the 9-7 win over the Padres (HR 2B 2-3 R 4BI) and on Monday in the 8-2 win over the Rockies (HR 2B 3-5 2R 2BI). He earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point Friday and has earned 3.7 over the past five days, giving him 5.7 for the season, 13th among NL batters.

Scoring

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

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

  • Schwarber 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.

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—SD at STL Nick Pivetta #Padres 14.7 B-T points in 2025, 2nd* Miles Mikolas #STLCards 7.0 B-T points in 2025, 20th* *Rank among NL pitchers, 2025 All Friday pitching matchups: www.box-toppers.com/blog/2025/7/...

[image or embed]

— Box-Toppers Baseball (@boxtoppers.bsky.social) Jul 25, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Result—STL 3, SD 0
Neither starter was Player of the Game.
Nick Pivetta, Padres, had a +0.1 B-T game score in loss (6.1IP 3H 3R 2ER 2BB 4K L).
Miles Mikolas, Cardinals, had -1.0 B-T game score (5IP 7H 0R 0BB K W).
Player of the Game—Willson Contreras, Cardinals (2B 2-2 2R 0BI) with +2.0 game score.

High scores, no points

Highest Box-Toppers game scores for the day among players who did not earn Player of the Game honors:
▪️+7.0—Mike Burrows, Pirates (6IP 3H 0R BB 5K ND)
Was not Player of the Game in loss vs. ARI.
Player of the Game—Ryne Nelson, Diamondbacks (6IP H 0R 2BB 4K ND) with +7.0 game score.
▪️+5.0—Freddy Peralta, Brewers (5IP 5H R 2BB 9K ND)
Was not Player of the Game in loss vs. MIA
Player of the Game—Cal Quantrill, Marlins (5IP 3H R 0BB 4K ND) with +4.0 game score.
▪️+5.0—Anthony DeSclafani, Diamondbacks (4IP 0H 0R 2BB 3K W)
Was not Player of the Game in win vs. PIT.
Player of the Game—Teammate Ryne Nelson (6IP H 0R 2BB 4K ND) with +7.0 game score.

Lowest Box-Toppers game scores

Out of 419 total players Friday, 125 pitchers
-21.0—Shota Imanaga, Cubs (3IP 12H 7R 0BB 2K L vs. CHW)
-16.9—Ryan Gusto, Astros
-13.0—Keider Montero, Tigers
-13.0—Logan Webb, Giants

Lowest Box-Toppers game scores by batters

Out of 294 total batters Friday
-5.0—Nick Gonzales, Pirates 0-5 2K
-5.0—Matt McLain, Reds 0-5 K
-5.0—Bryan Reynolds, Pirates 0-5 K
-5.0—J.P. Crawford, Mariners 0-5
-5.0—Trent Grisham, Yankees 0-5
-5.0—Andrew McCutchen, Pirates 0-5
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).
7/25 BTG Game Player of the Game AB R H BI   IP H R ER BB K
MLB +14.0 ATH 15, HOU 3 Nick Kurtz DH 6 6 6 8   ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
  +11.0 MIN 1, WSH 0 Zebby Matthews (W, 2‑2) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑   6.0 2 0 0 0 7
NL +7.0 `ARI 1, PIT 0 (F/11) Ryne Nelson ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑   6.0 1 0 0 2 4
BAT +5.0 PHI 12, NYY 5 Kyle Schwarber DH 5 3 3 4   ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
  +5.0 TEX 8, ATL 3 Nathan Eovaldi (W, 8‑3) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑   5.0 3 0 0 4 7
  +4.0 `MIA 5, MIL 1 Cal Quantrill ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑   5.0 3 1 1 0 4
  +2.0 CHW 12, CHC 5 Edgar Quero C 5 2 4 1   ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
  +2.0 NYM 8, SF 1 Francisco Lindor SS 5 3 3 1   ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
  +2.0 LAD 5, BOS 2 Teoscar Hernández RF 3 1 1 3   ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
  +2.0 STL 3, SD 0 Willson Contreras 1B 2 2 2 0   ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
  +2.0 `LAA 3, SEA 2 (F/10) José Soriano ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑   6.0 4 2 2 1 5
  +1.0 CIN 7, TB 2 Tyler Stephenson C 5 1 2 3   ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
  +1.0 COL 6, BAL 5 Mickey Moniak CF 3 2 1 1   ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
  +1.0 TOR 6, DET 2 Jose Berríos (W, 7‑4) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑   6.0 5 2 2 2 6
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 +/‑
Eovaldi, Nathan 2928 pi sp tex al 10.4 23.4 57.2 92.7 -2.6
Berrios, Jose 3791 pi sp tor al 9.7 19.4 51.2 88.7 0.0
Nelson, Ryne 4728 pi sp ari nl 8.4 16.8 25.2 25.2 0.0
Soriano, Jose 4884 pi sp ana al 7.7 10.7 11.7 11.7 +4.7
Schwarber, Kyle 3536 dh phi nl 6.5 15.0 28.5 47.0 -2.0
Quantrill, Cal 4195 pi sp fla nl 5.7 10.7 26.4 28.4 +0.7
Contreras, Willson 3776 1b stl nl 5.7 9.2 24.7 37.2 +2.2
Lindor, Francisco 3586 ss nym nl 4.5 15.4 33.1 55.2 -6.4
Moniak, Mickey 4849 rf cf col nl 4.0 7.0 10.0 10.0 +1.0
Stephenson, Tyler 4384 ca dh cin nl 4.0 6.0 13.0 13.0 +2.0
Kurtz, Nick 5221 1b oak al 3.5 3.5 3.5 3.5 +3.5
Hernandez, Teoscar 3713 rf lad nl 2.7 7.7 20.7 31.4 -2.3
Matthews, Zebby 5186 pi sp min al 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 +2.0
Quero, Edgar 5172 ca chi al 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 +2.0
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
PHI Suarez, Ranger 4228 8.1 18.5 36.2 37.2
NYY Stroman, Marcus 3327 1.0 4.0 27.4 66.2
CLE Williams, Gavin 4865 4.0 7.7 11.7 11.7
KC Wacha, Michael 3276 5.4 15.8 42.3 77.0
TOR Gausman, Kevin 3191 6.7 16.7 62.8 104.8
DET Skubal, Tarik 4414 16.4 37.5 67.6 67.6
ARI Kelly, Merrill 4143 9.7 11.7 42.7 50.7
PIT Heaney, Andrew 3515 7.0 16.0 43.8 63.5
TB Pepiot, Ryan 4714 7.0 16.7 23.7 23.7
CIN Abbott, Andrew 4839 7.7 12.7 23.7 23.7
COL Senzatela, Antonio 3760 1.0 1.0 6.0 14.0
BAL Rogers, Trevor 4311 4.7 6.7 20.7 20.7
ATL Holmes, Grant 5127 3.0 5.0 5.0 5.0
TEX Rocker, Kumar 5108 4.7 5.7 5.7 5.7
CHC Horton, Cade 5216 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
CHW Civale, Aaron 4173 1.0 8.1 33.5 36.5
MIA Junk, Janson 4697 3.0 3.0 4.7 4.7
MIL Quintana, Jose 3040 1.0 11.0 23.4 94.1
ATH Lopez, Jacob 5202 4.4 4.4 4.4 4.4
HOU Brown, Hunter 4729 12.4 24.4 35.5 35.5
WSH Parker, Mitchell 4982 2.0 8.0 8.0 8.0
MIN Ryan, Joe 4539 9.7 19.4 45.5 45.5
LAD Kershaw, Clayton 2494 3.7 5.7 48.6 276.1
BOS Crochet, Garrett 4434 13.1 23.8 24.8 24.8
CLE Bibee, Tanner 4792 4.0 18.0 26.7 26.7
KC Bubic, Kris 4413 8.7 8.7 13.7 13.7
SD Vasquez, Randy 4841 1.0 3.0 4.0 4.0
STL Liberatore, Matthew 4662 5.0 6.0 12.0 12.0
NYM Peterson, David 4347 4.0 8.7 21.7 21.7
SF Ray, Robbie 3502 7.4 11.1 44.2 87.3
SEA Kirby, George 4595 4.0 19.4 44.5 44.5
LAA Anderson, Tyler 3656 4.0 12.0 36.4 49.4
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