Hardball Retrospective – Amateur Draft – Average Yearly WAR and Win Shares
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 drafted and signed 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 Rickey Henderson and Reggie Jackson’s career WAR and WS are included in the Athletics (OAK) franchise totals, Greg Maddux to the Cubs (CHC), Ken Griffey Jr. to the Mariners (SEA), etc. Statistics through the 2019 season.
Hardball Retrospective - Amateur Draft - Average Yearly WAR and Win Shares for "Original" Players
| Franchise | Total_WAR | Total_WS | FDY | TDY | AvgWAR | AvgWS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BOS_Da | 1843.73 | 11275.52 | 1965 | 55 | 33.52 | 205.01 |
| OAK_Da | 1694.28 | 10635.65 | 1965 | 55 | 30.81 | 193.38 |
| STL_Da | 1528.63 | 10358.40 | 1965 | 55 | 27.79 | 188.33 |
| ANA_Da | 1474.80 | 9998.64 | 1965 | 55 | 26.81 | 181.79 |
| LAD_Da | 1551.59 | 9919.88 | 1965 | 55 | 28.21 | 180.36 |
| TEX_Da | 1404.51 | 9756.93 | 1965 | 55 | 25.54 | 177.40 |
| WSN_Da | 1453.76 | 9201.05 | 1968 | 52 | 27.96 | 176.94 |
| TOR_Da | 1266.32 | 7577.45 | 1977 | 43 | 29.45 | 176.22 |
| ATL_Da | 1346.10 | 9660.56 | 1965 | 55 | 24.47 | 175.65 |
| CIN_Da | 1361.43 | 9511.15 | 1965 | 55 | 24.75 | 172.93 |
| KCR_Da | 1416.90 | 8904.58 | 1968 | 52 | 27.25 | 171.24 |
| MIN_Da | 1382.17 | 9373.83 | 1965 | 55 | 25.13 | 170.43 |
| PIT_Da | 1403.88 | 9314.78 | 1965 | 55 | 25.53 | 169.36 |
| MIL_Da | 1209.99 | 8332.92 | 1968 | 52 | 23.27 | 160.25 |
| NYM_Da | 1237.35 | 8709.97 | 1965 | 55 | 22.50 | 158.36 |
| SFG_Da | 1225.01 | 8709.19 | 1965 | 55 | 22.27 | 158.35 |
| SEA_Da | 1065.70 | 6779.53 | 1977 | 43 | 24.78 | 157.66 |
| CHC_Da | 1288.44 | 8659.50 | 1965 | 55 | 23.43 | 157.45 |
| PHI_Da | 1199.69 | 8434.60 | 1965 | 55 | 21.81 | 153.36 |
| NYY_Da | 1213.74 | 8250.26 | 1965 | 55 | 22.07 | 150.00 |
| CLE_Da | 1251.52 | 8086.19 | 1965 | 55 | 22.75 | 147.02 |
| HOU_Da | 1096.92 | 7771.09 | 1965 | 55 | 19.94 | 141.29 |
| COL_Da | 529.93 | 3869.51 | 1992 | 28 | 18.93 | 138.20 |
| DET_Da | 1117.87 | 7600.65 | 1965 | 55 | 20.32 | 138.19 |
| SDP_Da | 951.33 | 7133.80 | 1968 | 52 | 18.29 | 137.19 |
| ARI_Da | 504.43 | 3275.20 | 1996 | 24 | 21.02 | 136.47 |
| BAL_Da | 1144.89 | 7496.30 | 1965 | 55 | 20.82 | 136.30 |
| CHW_Da | 1067.04 | 6871.75 | 1965 | 55 | 19.40 | 124.94 |
| TBD_Da | 456.93 | 2879.22 | 1996 | 24 | 19.04 | 119.97 |
| FLA_Da | 418.24 | 2871.53 | 1992 | 28 | 14.94 | 102.55 |
Legend: FDY = First Draft Year TDY = Total Draft Years
Top 10 players based on Franchise and Transaction Type
Players ranking in the top 10 with less than 10 Win Shares are omitted.
I am a New Jersey native with a passion for baseball, statistics, computers and video games who enjoys spending quality time with his family. Co-chair of the SABR Games and Simulations Committee (https://sabrbaseballgaming.com) since August 2022.
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My Books:
“Hardball Architects – Volume 1 (American League Teams)”,published in July 2020, is available in paperback and digital (Kindle) format at Amazon.com.
“Hardball Architects – Volume 2 (National League Teams)”,published in April 2022, is available in paperback and digital (Kindle) format at Amazon.com.
“Hardball Architects” examines the trades, free agent acquisitions, draft picks and other transactions for the 30 Major League Baseball franchises, divided into a 2-volume set (American League and National League). All key moves are scrutinized for every team and Sabermetric principles are applied to the roster construction throughout the lifetime of the organization to encapsulate the hits and misses by front office executives.
“Hardball Retroactive”,published in June 2018, is available in paperback and digital (Kindle) format at Amazon.com. A cross-section of essays that I penned for Seamheads.com along with my Baseball Analytics blog spanning nearly a decade touching on subjects including "Taking the Extra Base", "General Manager Scorecard", "Worst Trades", "BABIP By Location" and "Baseball Birthplaces and the Retro World Baseball Classic". Rediscover your favorite hardball arcade and simulations in "Play Retro Baseball Video Games In Your Browser" or take a deep dive into every franchise's minor league successes and failures in relation to their major league operations in "Minors vs. Majors".
“Hardball Retrospective” is available in paperback and digital (Kindle) format at Amazon.com.Supplemental Statistics, Charts and Graphs along with a discussion forum are offered at TuataraSoftware.com. In Hardball Retrospective, I placed every ballplayer in the modern era (from 1901-present) on their original teams. Using a variety of advanced statistics and methods, I generated revised standings for each season based entirely on the performance of each team’s “original” players. I discuss every team’s “original” players and seasons at length along with organizational performance with respect to the Amateur Draft (or First-Year Player Draft), amateur free agent signings and other methods of player acquisition. Season standings, WAR and Win Shares totals for the “original” teams are compared against the real-time or “actual” team results to assess each franchise’s scouting, development and general management skills.
Don Daglow (Intellivision World Series Major League Baseball, Earl Weaver Baseball, Tony LaRussa Baseball) contributed the foreword for Hardball Retrospective. The foreword and preview of my book are accessible here.
“Hardball Retrospective - Addendum 2014 to 2016”supplements my research for Hardball Retrospective, providing retroactive standings based on Wins Above Replacement (WAR) and Win Shares (WS) for each "original" team over the past three seasons (2014-2016). Team totals from 2010 - 2013 are included for reference purposes. “Addendum” is available in paperback and digital (Kindle) format at Amazon.com.
