A Box-Toppers look at 2017 All-Star Final Vote candidates

Anthony Rendon of the Nationals, Justin Bour of the Marlins and Logan Morrison of the Rays have the most 2017 Box-Toppers points among the 10 players who are All-Star Game Final Vote candidates.

All-Star Final Vote candidates

Here are the 2017 and 2016 Box-Toppers point (BTP) totals of the 2017 All-Star Game Final Vote candidates. Voters will choose one player from each league as the "final" player selected to the All-Star teams. Each league's players are listed from highest to lowest 2017 Box-Toppers point total.  

			BTP
AL player	Pos	Team	’17	’16
Logan Morrison	1b	Rays	4.2	2.0
Elvis Andrus	ss	Rangers	3.5	9.2
Mike Moustakas	dh 3b	Royals	3.0	1.0
Xander Bogaerts	ss	Red Sox	2.5	1.0
Didi Gregorius	ss	Yankees	1.0	2.0
			BTP
NL player	Pos	Team	’17	’16
Anthony Rendon	3b lf	Nationals	4.5	5.5
Justin Bour	1b	Marlins	4.5	2.5
Mark Reynolds	1b	Rockies	3.5	4.0
Kris Bryant	3b lf	Cubs	1.5	10.5
Justin Turner	3b lf	Dodgers	1.0	2.5

But if players’ 2016 Box-Toppers point totals are taken into consideration, Kris Bryant of the Cubs and Elvis Andrus of the Rangers would be considered leading candidates.

Voting ends today as fans pick one of the five players in each league to fill the final roster spots on the 2017 American League and National League All-Star teams.

In the AL, Logan Morrison of the Rays has the most 2017 Box-Toppers points among the five AL candidates with 4.2. That puts him 15th among AL batters for the season and fourth among AL first basemen.

However, Elvis Andrus of the Rangers, who has 3.5 Box-Toppers points this season, had 9.2 points in 2016, most of any of the five AL candidates. That ranked 10th among AL batters in 2016, second among AL shortstops. None of the other five AL candidates had more than 2.0 Box-Toppers points in 2016.

In the NL, Anthony Rendon of the Nationals and Justin Bour of the Marlins have the most 2017 Box-Toppers points among the five Final Vote candidates with 4.5. Rendon ranks 13th among NL batters and third among NL third basemen. Bour ranks 16th among NL batters and sixth among NL first basemen.

However, Kris Bryant of the Cubs, who has 1.5 Box-Toppers points in 2017, has the most 2016 points among the five NL candidates with 10.5. That ranked second among NL batters in 2016, behind Nolan Arenado of the Rockies (10.7). Bryant was also NL Most Valuable Player in 2016.

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.

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Angels' Richards, Cubs' Rizzo lead in Box-Toppers points among All-Star Final Vote candidates

Angels pitcher Garrett Richards and Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo are the most deserving players to be chosen in the All-Star Game Final Vote, according to their Box-Toppers point total.

All-Star Final Vote

Here are the candidates for the 2014 All-Star Final Vote. There are five candidates from each league. One from each league will be chosen by fans in online voting for the final All-Star roster spots. Voting ends Thursday. Players are shown here in order of their Box-Toppers points total this season.

	AL players	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Garrett Richards	pi sp	ana al	10.7
2	Corey Kluber	pi sp	cle al	10.4
3	Chris Sale	pi sp	chi al	10.0
4	Dallas Keuchel	pi sp	hou nl	8.7
5	Rick Porcello	pi sp	det al	5.0
	NL players	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Anthony Rizzo	1b	chi nl	5.5
2	Justin Upton	lf	atl nl	5.2
3	Casey McGehee	3b	fla nl	3.5
4	Anthony Rendon	2b	dc nl	2.0
5	Justin Morneau	1b	col nl	1.5

BTP: Box-Toppers points

Richards has the most points among the five American League players on the ballot and Rizzo has the most among the five National League players on the ballot in which fans vote for the 34th and final roster spots for both teams in the July 15 All-Star Game. Voting ends Thursday.

Richards has 10.7 Box-Toppers points, 10th among all players and fifth among AL pitchers, narrowly ahead of Indians pitcher Corey Kluber (10.4 Box-Toppers points, 12th among all players).

Richards is also the top-ranked AL player in Box-Toppers points who was not selected to the All-Star team.

Rizzo is the top player among the five NL players on the Final Vote ballot, but is far from the top-ranked NL player in Box-Toppers points who was not selected to the All-Star team. That honor would go to non-All-Star Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg, who has 9.0 Box-Toppers points and ranks eighth among NL players.

Rizzo, by comparison, with 5.5 Box-Toppers points, ranks 29th among NL players. However, he ranks third among NL batters and is the top-ranked NL batter not selected to the All-Star team.

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. Players earn Box-Toppers points 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 deems Freeman, Uehara most worthy candidates for All-Star Final Vote

Red Sox closer Koji Uehara and Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman are the players most deserving to be voted to the All-Star Game in the Final Vote, according to Box-Toppers statistics.

Major League Baseball's All-Star Final Vote process gives fans the chance to select the final player on each All-Star team. Fans choose from a list of five players from each league who were either not selected by fans in general voting (which ended July 4) or selected by All-Star team managers to fill out the rosters.

Box-Toppers deems Freeman most worthy of earning the Final Vote in the National League. Of the 10 players on the Final Vote ballot, Freeman has the most Box-Toppers points with 5.0. He has the second-most Box-Toppers points of any NL first baseman, behind only Paul Goldschmidt of the Diamondbacks (8.7). 

Uehara narrowly earns Box-Toppers' endorsement in the American League. He has 3.0 Box-Toppers points, tied with Rangers relief pitcher Tanner Scheppers. However, Uehara breaks the tie because he has more total Box-Toppers points over the past three seasons (5.0 to 3.0).

Though by Box-Toppers standards, Uehara is the top AL player on the Final Vote ballot, he does rank only 56th among AL pitchers in Box-Toppers points for the season. Scheppers ranks 61st. Even among AL closers, Uehara ranks 13th.

The American League choices are all relief pitchers and are all a little weak in terms of Box-Toppers points. In fact, one player, Tigers relief pitcher Joaquin Benoit has 0.0 Box-Toppers points this season and earned only 1.0 last season.

The National League choices, by contrast, are all batters, and seem a little more interesting, exciting and substantial choices. Rookie sensation Yasiel Puig of the Dodgers is on the list. While his stats for his brief time in the majors are impressive (batting over .400 with eight homers since his June 3 debut), he has earned only 1.5 Box-Toppers points, the fewest of any Final Vote candidate in the National League.

Box-Toppers is set up to determine the players who most help their team win the most games. Top players from the winning team of each game are determined by a formula using standard box score statistics. These top players earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point for being Player of the Game. Among each day's top players, bonus points are awarded for the top players and batters of the day in each league. Players accumulate points through the season to provide a data point for comparison, such as determining which players are most worthy as All-Stars.

Voting on the final candidates ends on Thursday. Fans can vote online.

	FINAL VOTE CANDIDATES
	AL PLAYERS	POS	TEAM	BTP
1	Koji Uehara	pi cp	bos al	3.0
2	Tanner Scheppers	pi mr	tex al	3.0
3	Steve Delabar	pi mr	tor al	1.0
4	David Robertson	pi mr	nyy al	1.0
5	Joaquin Benoit	pi mr	det al	0.0
	NL PLAYERS	POS	TEAM	BTP
1	Freddie Freeman	1b	atl nl	5.0
2	Ian Desmond	ss	dc nl	4.5
3	Adrian Gonzalez	1b	lad nl	3.0
4	Hunter Pence	rf	sf nl	2.0
5	Yasiel Puig	rf	lad nl	1.5

BTP: Box-Toppers points