Hardball Retrospective – Amateur Free Agents – Average Yearly WAR and Win Shares

Derek Bain

3 years ago

Based on my research for Hardball Retrospective, the following table reveals the average and total Wins Above Replacement (WAR) and Win Shares (WS) for every franchise based on the players that were signed as amateur free agents to their first professional Major League Baseball contract. Each player’s statistics are mapped to the appropriate franchise for the duration of their career. Therefore Eddie Mathews and Joe Torre’s career WAR and WS are included in the Braves (ATL) franchise totals, Bobby Murcer to the Yankees (NYY), Ivan Rodriguez (TEX), etc. Statistics through the 2019 season.

Hardball Retrospective - Amateur Free Agents - Average Yearly WAR and Win Shares for "Original" Players

Franchise	Total_WAR	Total_WS	FYR	TYR	AvgWAR	AvgWS
NYY_Fa	2046.06	13758.71	1901	119	17.19	115.62
LAD_Fa	2024.92	13812.82	1884	136	14.89	101.56
NYM_Fa	782.63	5144.05	1962	58	13.49	88.69
CLE_Fa	1562.31	9881.00	1901	119	13.13	83.03
BOS_Fa	1360.69	9721.87	1901	119	11.43	81.70
STL_Fa	1797.41	11120.30	1882	138	13.02	80.58
HOU_Fa	727.07	4475.32	1962	58	12.54	77.16
ATL_Fa	1561.79	10330.13	1876	144	10.85	71.74
PIT_Fa	1372.67	9858.63	1882	138	9.95	71.44
DET_Fa	1127.75	8050.49	1901	119	9.48	67.65
PHI_Fa	1396.60	9243.68	1883	137	10.19	67.47
SFG_Fa	1357.91	8870.74	1883	137	9.91	64.75
OAK_Fa	986.64	7676.91	1901	119	8.29	64.51
CIN_Fa	1368.13	9054.23	1876	144	9.50	62.88
SEA_Fa	393.80	2564.75	1977	43	9.16	59.65
BAL_Fa	1048.86	6999.11	1901	119	8.81	58.82
FLA_Fa	188.13	1497.39	1993	27	6.97	55.46
MIN_Fa	877.90	6438.21	1901	119	7.38	54.10
WSN_Fa	319.26	2757.89	1969	51	6.26	54.08
ARI_Fa	152.96	1199.47	1997	23	6.65	52.15
CHW_Fa	847.58	5864.73	1901	119	7.12	49.28
TEX_Fa	418.87	2828.66	1961	59	7.10	47.94
TOR_Fa	237.95	1894.04	1977	43	5.53	44.05
ANA_Fa	355.59	2553.09	1961	59	6.03	43.27
CHC_Fa	897.39	6018.18	1876	144	6.23	41.79
COL_Fa	115.95	843.71	1993	27	4.29	31.25
SDP_Fa	233.25	1578.61	1969	51	4.57	30.95
KCR_Fa	189.46	1406.54	1969	51	3.71	27.58
TBD_Fa	69.40	458.29	1997	23	3.02	19.93
MIL_Fa	98.17	877.23	1969	51	1.92	17.20

Average Yearly WAR and Win Shares for "Original" Players for players signed as amateur free agents by each franchise - statistics compiled over the duration of their careers. For example, Eddie Mathews career WAR and Win Shares are included in the ATL_Fa totals.