With just two weeks left in the season, Mike Trout will repeat as AL WAR champion and Andrew McCutchen, last year’s NL WAR runner-up, looks like the senior circuit’s champ. In second place are Josh Donaldson in the AL and Carlos Gomez in the NL.

Come again, you say? You’re forgiven if those two runners-up weren’t the names you were expecting to hear. Both of these players are new to baseball’s leader boards. After the jump, more on the new kids on the WAR block.

Josh Donaldson

Playing out on the west coast, the Athletics’ 3rd baseman Josh Donaldson may not be a familiar name to everyone. But, he’s a big reason why the no-name As are again contenders and, at this juncture, in the catbird’s seat’ for the AL West crown.

Donaldson is in his first full major league season and is sporting a 7.4 WAR score including 6.1 offensive WAR and 1.7 defensive WAR. Third baseman with oWAR over 6 and dWAR over 1.5 are pretty unusual. Donaldson would be just the 17th post-1901 third-sacker with such a season, 14 of those since 1961. Mike Schmidt leads the way with four such seasons; nobody else has more than one.

Relaxing the standard a bit to having 5+ oWAR to go with 1.5 dWAR yields these additional seasons not included in the list above.

So, a few more names, but certainly not a season that most players will turn in on a regular basis. Worthwhile noting Evan Longoria’s name at the top of this list. He is just fractionally below the 1.5 dWAR threshold this year and could well be there at season’s end. If so, he would join Mike Schmidt as the only 3rd baseman with 4 such seasons (Schmidt had four consecutively in 1974-77 and one more in 1980).

Carlos Gomez

Gomez is in his 7th major league season, but this will be only his second qualifying year. His first qualifying season was a 77 OPS+ year for the Twins as a 22 year-old in 2008; he’s done rather better with his second opportunity.

While Donaldson had an unusual season for his position, Gomez’s season is almost unprecedented. His 7.4 WAR total from 3.6 oWAR and 4.1 dWAR is just the fourth center-field season with 3+ oWAR and more dWAR, and the first of those four with dWAR above 4.

Measuring defensive contribution is fraught with peril, so there is reason to be cautious in assessing Gomez’s defensive prowess. That said, this season did not come completely out of the blue; Gomez posted 1.6 dWAR in his first qualifying season in 2008 and 1.8 dWAR in part-time duty in 2011, a rate that almost matches his 2013 performance. However, comparing Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) with Total Zone Runs (TZR and the predecessor to DRS in dWAR scores), there is a big divergence for 2013 with DRS at 34 and TZR at only 7 (similar to Gomez’s 6 TZR in his other full season in 2008).

Mindful of those reservations about defensive metrics, here is a larger net of comparable center-field seasons, those with 6+ WAR comprised of 3 to 5 oWAR  and 1.5 dWAR.

Nice list – a veritable who’s who of top defensive center-fielders. And, in most cases, it’s their best season or in the top 3, as the list gets much smaller for the same players having a season with oWAR over 5.

Closing Thought

Third on the AL WAR list is Robinson Cano. If it wasn’t already apparent, Cano is unmistakably among the all-time greats at his position which, with the pinstripes on his uniform, positions him clearly on a HOF career trajectory.

Here’s a table showing number of second base seasons at different WAR levels, in the first 9 years of a career. Search or sort it however you like.

[table id=151 /]