SF Giants all-time starting lineup by WAR

Catcher - Buster Posey: 44.8 WAR

To the surprise of exactly no one, Buster Posey get the nod here with 44.8 rWAR in over 5,600 plate appearances with the Giants from 2009 to 2021. Posey was the best catcher in all of baseball for a big chunk of his career and won Rookie of the Year and a MVP trophy to go along with his seven All-Star Game appearances to prove it. Putting up a .302/.372/.460 line for his career as a catcher is still completely absurd especially given how good he was in the field as well.

A pair of early Giants catchers fill out the rest of the podium. Second place went to Buck Ewing with 33.2 rWAR who played for the Giants from 1883 to 1892. Taking home bronze was Roger Bresnahan for his 28.1 rWAR from 1902 to 1908.

First Base - Willie McCovey: 59.4 WAR

First base was closer than expected, but Willie McCovey still took it home with 59.4 rWAR from 1959 to 1980. McCovey is one of those Giants' Mount Rushmore guys as he, too, won a ROY and MVP title with San Francisco. His peak in the late 1960's was a sight to behold and his career .274/.377/.524 line with 469 homers with the Giants was enough to get the starting first base spot and helped him get elected to the Hall of Fame in 1986.

Surprisingly, Bill Terry was pretty close to McCovey in second place with 56.5 rWAR for his work from 1923-1936 where he posted an .899 OPS with the Giants. Roger Connor put up a good showing as well as his 53.0 rWAR placed him third as the Giants' first baseman from 1883 to 1894.

Second Base - Larry Doyle: 42.7 WAR

The Giants had another somewhat tight battle at second base as well, but Larry Doyle won out for his 42.7 rWAR from 1907-1920. Despite the fact that Doyle had 6,812 plate appearances with the Giants, Doyle only managed to hit 67 home runs. As it turns out, playing that much with a career .292/.359/.411 while stealing 291 bags adds up. He also walked more than 200 times more than he struck out in his career which is pretty neat.

The silver went to Frankie Frisch and his 38.1 rWAR from 1919 to 1926. Frisch's WAR pace was much better than Doyle's, but he went on to play the second half of his Hall of Fame career with St. Louis and his numbers there don't count here. Robby Thompson comes in third just edging out Jeff Kent's 31.6 rWAR with 33.8 rWAR from 1986 to 1996.