Box-Toppers top catchers by time frame (after 2017)

Mike Piazza has the most Box-Toppers points of any catcher since tracking began in 1995.

Brian McCann leads active catchers in career points. Buster Posey leads catchers in 

Box-Toppers points over the past season, past two seasons and past six seasons.

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Box-Toppers top third basemen by time frame (after 2017)

Alex Rodriguez has the most Box-Toppers points of any third baseman since tracking began in 1995.

Other leaders at third base include Jose Ramirez, Nolan Arenado, Manny Machado and Adrian Beltre.

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Box-Toppers top shortstops by time frame (after 2017)

Miguel Tejada has the most Box-Toppers points of any shortstop since tracking began in 1995. Derek Jeter ranks a distant second.

Other leaders at shorstop include Troy Tulowitzki, Elvis Andrus, Corey Seager and Stephen Drew.

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Box-Toppers top second basemen by time frame (after 2017 season)

Jeff Kent has a dominating lead in Box-Toppers points among second basemen since tracking began in 1995.

Robinson Cano of the Mariners leads active second basemen in career Box-Toppers points. Other leaders at the position include Scooter Gennett, Jose Ramirez, Daniel Murphy and Rougned Odor.

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Box-Toppers top first basemen by time frame (after 2017 season)

Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers has the most Box-Toppers points of any first basemen since tracking began in 1995, passing previous leader Jim Thome.

Cabrera has 146.9 career Box-Toppers points and in 2017 passed former player and newly elected Hall of Famer Thome, who has 146.7 points. Other leaders at first base include Anthony Rizzo, Edwin Encarnacion and Paul Goldschmidt.

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How 2018 Hall of Fame candidates fared in Box-Toppers

Four players—Chipper Jones, Vladimir Guerrero, Jim Thome and Trevor Hoffman—were elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame Wednesday. Key players overlooked: Curt Schilling, Jeff Kent, Johan Santana and the PED-clouded five of Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, Manny Ramirez, Gary Sheffield and Sammy Sosa.

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Box-Toppers top pitchers and batters by team, 2017

Three of the four players who won Cy Young or Most Valuable Player awards in 2017 also led their teams in Box-Toppers points for the season.

The only exception: American League Most Valuable Player Jose Altuve did not lead Astros batters in Box-Toppers points. In fact, with only 2.5 Box-Toppers points, he finished 11th among Astros batters and 21st among all Astros players.

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Box-Toppers All-time All-Star teams, 1995-2017

Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw leads the list of Box-Toppers Active Career All-Stars and is one of three active players to be included on Box-Toppers All-Time All-Star team.

The Box-Toppers All-Time All-Star team consists of the best players by position since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995 and includes 12 players who have retired and three who are still active—Kershaw, along with Albert Pujols of the Angels and Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers.

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Box-Toppers 2012-17 All-Star teams

The Box-Toppers All-Star teams for 2012-17 consist of the best players over the past six seasons, which includes 12 of the 27 players who are also on Box-Toppers 2016-17 All-Star teams.

Also, among the 27 players on the teams, there are 11 players who are on Box-Toppers 2017 All-Star teams and 10 who are on All-Star teams over all three time spans—for 2017, for 2016-17 and for 2012-17.Leading the 2012-17 All-Stars is Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw, who ranks first in Box-Toppers points over the past six seasons with 147.2.

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Box-Toppers 2016-17 All-Star teams

The Box-Toppers All-Star teams for 2016-17 consist of the best players at each position in each league over the past two seasons.

Among the 27 players included on the American and National League teams are 17 who are also on Box-Toppers 2017 All-Star teams. Leading the 2016-17 All-Stars is Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer, who ranks first in Box-Toppers points over the past two seasons with 50.7.

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Carlos Beltran ties Jason Giambi in 2017 for most consecutive seasons earning Box-Toppers points (19)

In 2017, Carlos Beltran tied Jason Giambi for the longest streak of consecutive seasons earning Box-Toppers points at 19. With Beltran's retirement, CC Sabathia and Albert Pujols now have the longest active streaks of consecutive seasons earning Box-Toppers points at 17.

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An overview look at how baseball's 2017 statistical leaders ranked in Box-Toppers points

How did baseball’s statistical leaders do in Box-Toppers points in 2017?

The leaders of five of the seven key statistics were among Box-Toppers’ overall top 100 players for 2017. However, Jose Altuve of the Astros who led the other two statistical categories—batting average and wins above replacement (WAR)—ranked far outside the overall top 100 players. Altuve ranked 387th with just 2.5 Box-Toppers points, 90th among American League batters.

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4 of top 10 WAR leaders for 2017 rank outside Box-Toppers’ top 100 players—some way outside

Six of the 10 leaders in baseball’s Wins Above Replacement statistic for 2017 are among the top 100 players in Box-Toppers points for the season.

However, four of the top 10 in WAR, including overall leader, Jose Altuve, rank well outside Box-Toppers’ top 100 players for 2017.

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Box-Toppers' leader Chris Sale also led pitchers in strikeouts in 2017

Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale, 2017’s leader in Box-Toppers points, also was the season’s leader in strikeouts.

Six of the 10 leaders in strikeouts in 2017 were among the top 10 pitchers in their league in Box-Toppers points. All 10 strikeout leaders were among the overall top 100 players in Box-Toppers points.

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Half of top 10 RBI leaders are among their league's top 10 batters in Box-Toppers points

Half of the top 10 runs batted in leaders are among their league’s top 10 batters in Box-Toppers points in 2017.

Overall RBI leader Giancarlo Stanton of the Marlins (132) ranked second among National League batters in Box-Toppers points with 14.2.

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Wins leaders generally coincide with overall Box-Toppers points leaders

Three of the four pitchers who led the Major Leagues in wins in 2017 are among Box-Toppers’ top 10 players for the season.

And seven of the top 12 pitchers in wins in 2017 are among Box-Toppers’ top 10-ranked players.

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How did 2017 home run leaders fare in Box-Toppers points? 4 of top 10 finish in Box-Toppers' top 100

Giancarlo Stanton of the Marlins led all players in home runs in 2017 and ranked second among all batters in Box-Toppers points for the season. Four of the top 10 home run leaders in 2017 are among the overall top 100 players.

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8 of top 10 ERA leaders also rank in Box-Toppers top 10 player rankings

Corey Kluber of the Indians had the lowest earned run average of any pitcher in 2017 and ranked fifth in Box-Toppers player rankings.

The overall Box-Toppers points leader, Chris Sale of the Red Sox (25.1), finished sixth place in ERA (2.90). Eight of the top 10 ERA leaders finished in the top 10 in Box-Toppers points in 2017.

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Astros' Jose Altuve led in batting average for 2017 but ranked low in Box-Toppers points

Five of the top 10 players in batting average for 2017 are among Box-Toppers’ top 100 players.

But two of the top 10 on the list were not even among the top half of players in 2017, including the overall batting average leader, Jose Altuve of the Astros, who ranked 387th among players in 2017 with just 2.5 Box-Toppers points.

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An overview of Box-Toppers category leaders over several time frames

Four different players lead Box-Toppers’ four main leaderboards.

Three of the four were the top three-ranked players in Box-Toppers points in 2017 and the fourth is Box-Toppers’ all-time leader, Randy Johnson.

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