Royals pitcher Chris Young is Friday’s Player of the Day.
Meanwhile, Alex Rodriguez of the Yankees was top player in the game in which he tied Willie Mays’ career home run mark and Mets pitcher Matt Harvey rose to fifth place in Box-Toppers player rankings.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2015 season as of May 1.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Hernandez, Felix 2064 | pi sp | sea al | 6.0 |
| 2 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | pit nl | 6.0 |
| 3 | Archer, Chris 3194 | pi sp | tb al | 5.0 |
| 4 | Keuchel, Dallas 3050 | pi sp | hou al | 4.7 |
| 5 | Harvey, Matt 3075 | pi sp | nym nl | 4.7 |
| 6 | Stanton, Giancarlo 2737 | rf | fla nl | 4.5 |
| 7 | Cueto, Johnny 2400 | pi sp | cin nl | 4.4 |
| 8 | Kazmir, Scott 1947 | pi sp | oak al | 3.7 |
| 9 | Cabrera, Miguel 1776 | 1b | det al | 3.7 |
| 10 | DeSclafani, Anthony 3441 | pi sp | cin nl | 3.7 |
Young allowed no hits and no runs over five innings, striking out nine, in the 4-1 win over the Tigers.
National League Player of the Day—Cardinals pitcher Lance Lynn struck out 10 over seven innings and allowed one run in the 2-1, 10-inning win over the Pirates. Lynn exited the game with the score tied at 1-1 and so did not earn the win, but picked up a no-decision.
National League Batter of the Day—Justin Upton of the Padres went 3-for-4, scored three times and drove in two runs, in the 14-3 win over the Rockies.
American League Batter of the Day—Brett Hayes of the Indians hit a three-run home run in the 9-4 win over the Blue Jays.
Rankings—Matt Harvey rose to fifth place in Box-Toppers player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Friday (7IP 0R W in the 4-0 win over the Nationals). Harvey earned 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 4.7 for the season.
Notable—Alex Rodriguez of the Yankees tied Willie Mays’ career home run mark of 660 Friday and also earned Player of the Game honors (pinch-hit homer in the 3-2 win over the Red Sox). Rodriguez earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 3.5 for the season and moves into 11th place in player rankings, second among AL batters (Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers leads with 3.7). Rodriguez has already eclipsed his 2013 Box-Toppers point total of 3.0.
Rodriguez now has 182.8 career Box-Toppers points, fourth among all players since 1995 (when Box-Toppers record keeping began) and first among all batters.
Debuts—Two players made their Box-Toppers debut Friday, the first time in their career they earned Player of the Game honors:
- Mark Canha of the Athletics (HR 2-4 R 2BI in the 7-5 win over the Rangers) made his Major League debut April 8 and was playing in his 18th career game. He is the 3,454th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
- Mike Foltynewicz of the Braves is the first pitcher in 2015 to earn Player of the Game honors for batting. In 2014, seven different pitchers earned Player of the Game honors for batting—Madison Bumgarner of the Giants did it twice. Foltynewicz (2B 2BI in the 4-3 win over the Reds) made his Major League debut Aug. 2, 2014, and was playing in his 17th career game. He is the 3,455th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Young earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Lynn earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day. Upton and Hayes each earn 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Friday’s other Players of the Game (listed in the chart below) 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.
Top player from each game
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score
| 5/1 | Score | Team | Player | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 11.0 | Royals | Chris Young (W, 2-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 9 | |
| NL | 10.0 | `Cardinals | Lance Lynn | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 10 | |
| 8.0 | Rays | Alex Colome (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | ||
| 7.0 | Twins | Kyle Gibson (W, 2-2) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | ||
| 7.0 | Cubs | Jon Lester (W, 1-2) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | ||
| 4.1 | Astros | Josh Fields (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | ||
| BAT | 4.0 | Padres | Justin Upton LF | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | Mets | Matt Harvey (W, 5-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | ||
| 3.1 | Dodgers | Carlos Frias (W, 2-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 5.1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | ||
| 3.1 | `Giants | Chris Heston | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.1 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | ||
| 2.0 | Marlins | Marcell Ozuna CF | 4 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| BAT | 2.0 | Indians | Brett Hayes C | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 2.0 | Yankees | Alex Rodriguez PH, DH | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | Athletics | Mark Canha LF, 1B, LF | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | Braves | Mike Foltynewicz P | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| `Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save. | ||||||||||||||||
