San Francisco Giants: Top 10 Center Fielders in Franchise History

11 of 11

October 31, 2012; San Francisco, CA, USA; San Francisco Giants former center fielder Willie Mays waves to the crowd while riding in a car during the World Series victory parade at Market Street. The Giants defeated the Detroit Tigers in a four-game sweep to win the 2012 World Series. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports /

No. 1: Willie Mays, 154.6 WAR

Willie Mays, is easily the number one player on this list, and arguably the best player in the history of Baseball. Mays’ glove was equally as incredible as his bat. Mays AVERAGED 7.3 WAR per season. Baseball Reference would say that 8+ WAR in a season is MVP level. Mays nearly averaged that every season.

Mays won rookie of the year in 1951, and only played 34 games in 1952. He served in the military in 1953, then resumed his dominance in 1954. He won the MVP Award in 1954, with a batting average of .345 and an OPS of 1.078! Mays was incredible with the bat, we know the big numbers. His slashline was .302/.384/.557/.941 over his 22 year career. 660 home-runs, 3,187 career hits, 1,859 RBI, and 336 stolen bases, Mays was exceptional for his entire career.

One dynamic we hadn’t discussed was defensive stats, and even looking at defensive WAR. Well, Mays defense add 18.1 wins to the team over his time with the Giants, which is pretty darn good. Mays had 6 seasons of 10 WAR or higher, topping out at 11.2 in 1965. Mays was an all-star every year from 1954-1973, but was voted MVP only twice in his career. Only twice!

Next: Adrianza Claimed by Brewers

Mays was probably a forgone conclusion as number one on this list. Stay tuned as we get closer to revealing our all time 25 man roster!