The 2016 All-WAR Team

by
October 4, 2016

The regular season is over. The playoffs are upon us. Award season will soon be rearing its head. Let’s take a very simple look at each position’s resident WAR leaders. All WAR data taken from FanGraphs.

1st Team
National League American League
C:  Buster Posey
1B: Freddie Freeman
2B: Daniel Murphy
3B: Kris Bryant
SS: Corey Seager
LF: Christian Yelich
CF: Dexter Fowler
RF: Bryce Harper		 4.0
6.1
5.5
8.4
7.5
4.2
4.8
3.4		 C:  Jonathan Lucroy
1B: Miguel Cabrera
2B: Jose Altuve
3B: Josh Donaldson
SS: Fransico Lindor
LF: Jose Ramirez
CF: Mike Trout
RF: Mookie Betts		 4.6
4.9
6.6
7.6
6.3
4.6
9.4
7.7
TOTAL: 43.9
AVG: 5.5		 TOTAL: 51.7
AVG: 6.5
2nd Team
National League American League
C:  Wilson Ramos
1B: Anthony Rizzo
2B: Jean Segura
3B: Justin Turner
SS: Brandon Crawford
LF: Starling Marte
CF: Charlie Blackmon
RF: Stephen Piscotty		 3.5
5.1
5.0
5.6
5.6
4.0
4.1
2.7		 C:  Salvador Perez
1B: Edwin Encarnacion
2B: Robinson Cano
3B: Manny Machado
SS: Carlos Correa
LF: Khris Davis
CF: Jackie Bradley Jr.
RF: Adam Eaton		 2.2
3.8
6.0
6.4
4.9
2.6
4.9
6.0
TOTAL: 35.6
AVG: 4.5		 TOTAL: 36.8
AVG: 4.6

I have excluded the DH as to keep both leagues’ data as similar as possible for comparison.

Interesting notes:

  • The AL has a much higher WAR overall and per player.
  • The top NL outfielders had a rough year with WAR. Not only do they total 12 WAR (2/player) less than the AL; outside of the C position, they are the lowest in the NL.
  • The NL players account for 79.5/285.5 WAR or 28% of the NL WAR total. While the AL accounts for 88.5/284, or around 31% of their total.

I find it particularly interesting that you only have to go two deep before finding players who didn’t manage a 3 WAR seeing as a 3 WAR is generally considered a solid MLB starter.

Players WAR 2016 (971)
WAR 7.0+ 6.0 5.0 4.0 3.0
# Players 5 13 23 47 62
% of League .5% 1.3% 2.4% 4.8% 6.4%

It’s not hard to see how truly exceptional the top players in the league are when compared to their peers across a 162-game season.

What sticks out most to you?





 

9 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
YKnotDisco
7 years ago

What I find interesting is, Gary Sanchez (and also 5 more catchers) accumulated more WAR playing for an AL team than Jonathan Lucroy did (3.1 vs 1.7). I do see Lucroy has the most combined WAR (4.6) at the C position between both leagues (2.9 NL + 1.7 AL) and needs to be recognized for this. Based on WAR he was the best C in the MLB. Just not in the NL or AL. I found the semantics(?) interesting.

2
YKnotDisco
7 years ago
Reply to  YKnotDisco

* The WAR totals include when they played other positions as well. Lucroy had 5.1 WAR while catching only. He lost .5 WAR combined when playing 1B, DH, and PH. Sanchez had 2.7 WAR while catching only. He gained .4 WAR when at DH. Posey is another example from playing at 1st. I wish the list reflected WAR when playing at the specific position only.

0
Michael Herring
7 years ago

Sanchez, Gattis, and Leon each accumulated more WAR than Perez.

2
eyesoverthecity
7 years ago
Reply to  Michael Herring

This is based off of all qualified players at the position. None of the three you mention played enough to qualify.

-1
YKnotDisco
7 years ago
Reply to  eyesoverthecity

To qualify for the most WAR? It’s a counting stat. And why count WAR when they are playing at other positions? That one is not as big of a deal as the qualify thing but would it be more accurate to only count WAR accumulated at that said position?

-1
eyesoverthecity
7 years ago
Reply to  YKnotDisco

WAR is not really a counting stat. More games played does generally mean a larger WAR, but not always. If it was, then it would be impossible to end up negative. Without a large enough body of work the results are skewed terribly. Both to a players benefit and detriment.

You can’t compare a player with 53 games vs. one with 142 games effectively. Thus the need for a qualifying minimum.

1
YKnotDisco
7 years ago
Reply to  eyesoverthecity

That is true. I can’t just assume a player at the very worst would play like a replacement player for the duration of difference in games played. Well depending on the player huh? Take Kershaw and his NL led SP WAR. He doesn’t qualify for the ERA title.

1
YKnotDisco
7 years ago
Reply to  eyesoverthecity

What’s the qualification of being a LF? I ask because Jose Ramirez has started 47 games in left for a total of 375.1 innings.

1
TKDCmember
7 years ago
Reply to  eyesoverthecity

Catchers and “qualified” don’t really mix.

1