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Diamondbacks pitcher Merrill Kelly is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Wednesday’s spring training games.
Kelly struck out eight over three scoreless, hitless innings, allowing no walks, in the 5-3 win over the Giants. Kelly did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because the Giants tied the game after he exited.
Read MoreMets pitcher Jacob deGrom is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Tuesday’s spring training games.
deGrom struck out five over two scoreless innings, allowing one hit and no walks, in the 2-0 win over the Astros. deGrom did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because the game was in a scoreless tie when he exited.
Read MoreMarlins pitcher Max Meyer is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Monday’s spring training games.
Meyer struck out five over four scoreless and hitless innings of middle relief, walking none, in the 3-0 win over the Mets. Meyer did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because starting pitcher Elieser Hernandez was credited for the win, despite pitching only two innings.
Read MoreNationals pitcher Cade Cavalli is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Sunday’s spring training games.
Cavalli struck out six over three scoreless innings, allowing one hit and no walks, in the 3-2 win over the Astros.
Read MoreRed Sox pitcher Nick Pivetta is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Saturday’s spring training games.
Pivetta struck out five over three scoreless and hitless innings, allowing no walks, in the 1-0 win over the Twins.
Read MoreGuardians pitcher Tanner Tully is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Friday’s spring training games.
Tully struck out four over three scoreless innings, allowing no hits, no runs and one walk, in the 3-2 win over the Reds.
Read MoreElih Marrero of the Red Sox is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Thursday’s opening spring training games.
Marrero hit two doubles and went 2-for-2, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 14-1 win over the Twins.
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With a new collective bargaining agreement finalized and set to be ratified Thursday, Major League clubs will soon be scrambling to sign players in the rich free agency pool.
And baseball bloggers will be scrambling to finish their blogs on free agent players before they quickly become outdated. Clayton Kershaw leads Box-Toppers’ list of free agent players.
Read MoreThe leaders in three specific pitching categories—earned run average, wins and strikeouts—were among the overall top 10 players in Box-Toppers points.
However, the leaders in three specific batting categories—batting average, home runs and runs batted in—did not fare well in Box-Toppers points. All three ranked outside the top 200 overall players in Box-Toppers points and also ranked outside the top 10 players among their league’s batters.
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Looking at the top 10 players in the Wins Above Replacement (WAR) statistic for each of the past 25 seasons, gives the impression batters are holding steady as the dominant force in baseball.
Yet, in recent years, batters are striking out more and hitting for lower batting averages against pitchers who are holding batters down and stealing their lunch money. Looking at the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points for each of the past 25 seasons provides a more accurate reflection of the game—one in which batters performed well and even dominated through about 2009, until pitchers’ announced their presence with authority from 2010 on.
Read MoreSix of the 10 top strikeout leaders in 2021 were also among the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points for the season.
Blue Jays pitcher Robbie Ray led all players with 248 strikeouts. He ranked sixth overall in Box-Toppers points with 17.7, second among American League pitchers. Ray won the AL Cy Young Award.
Read MoreFive of the top 11 runs batted in leaders were among the top 100 players in Box-Toppers points in 2021. All five were also among their league’s top 10 batters in Box-Toppers rankings.
However, Salvador Perez of the Royals, who led all players with 121 RBIs, had just 4.5 Box-Toppers points in 2021, 222nd among all players and 44th among American League batters.
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Julio Urias of the Dodgers, who led all pitchers in wins in 2021 with 20, also ranked fourth among all players in Box-Toppers points with 19.1.
Among the 13 pitchers with 14 or more wins in 2021, Urias is one of five who were among the top 10 in Box-Toppers points for the season. Meanwhile, Max Scherzer of the Dodgers, who led all players in Box-Toppers points in 2021, also had Box-Toppers’ highest Sincere Win Differential (SWD) of +10.1.
Read MoreWhile six of the top 12 home run hitters in 2021 ranked among their league’s top 10 batters in Box-Toppers points for the season, the two top home run hitters ranked low.
Salvador Perez of the Royals and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. of the Blue Jays led all players with 48 home runs each in 2021, but both were the lowest ranked among the 12 top home run hitters in Box-Toppers points, both ranking outside the overall top 200 players.
Read MoreSeven of the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points in 2021 also recorded among the 10 lowest earned run averages for the season.
Brewers pitcher Corbin Burnes, who had the lowest ERA (2.43), ranked fifth in Box-Toppers points for 2021 (18.1), fourth among National League pitchers. Dodgers pitcher Max Scherzer, who led all players with 25.1 Box-Toppers points, had the second-lowest ERA (2.46).
Read MoreOnly one of the top 10 batting average leaders for 2021 is among Box-Toppers’ top 100 ranked players for the season.
Nick Castellanos of the Reds, whose .309 batting average ranked ninth among all players, ranked 35th among all players with 11.5 Box-Toppers points. That also led all NL batters.
Read MoreDodgers pitcher Max Scherzer holds the lead in five of Box-Toppers’ main leaderboards at the end of 2021, most of any player.
Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole leads four Box-Toppers leaderboards, second most of any player.
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Randy Johnson leads all players in career Box-Toppers points and the two active players most likely to pass his total won’t likely do it until 2023 at the very earliest.
Johnson earned 282.5 Box-Toppers points from the time Box-Toppers record keeping began in 1995 until he retired in 2009.
Read MoreYankees pitcher Gerrit Cole is Box-Toppers’ top-ranked player over the past two seasons while Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer ranks first in points over the past six seasons.
Cole earned 29.8 Box-Toppers points combined in 2020 and 2021 to lead all players in that span, while Scherzer earned 120.3 from 2016-2021, most in that span.
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Dodgers pitcher Max Scherzer tops Box-Toppers list of the top 100 players of 2021.
Scherzer had 25.1 Box-Toppers points during the regular season. It is his fourth season with 25.0 or more Box-Toppers points. Only two other players have as many or more seasons with 25.0 or more points.
Read MoreBox-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.