The Best Right Fielders of All Time is the next installment of the MLB series for KnupSports.
There have certainly been many great RFs in Major League Baseball’s history. This is my attempt to identify the best of the best.
10 BEST RIGHT FIELDERS OF ALL TIME
Let’s dive into the 10 best Right Fielders of all time.
10. Ichiro Suzuki
After a great career in Japan, Ichiro came to the United States and played in the major leagues, where he became a ten-time All-Star, American League MVP, and Rookie of the Year in 2001.
He won ten Gold Glove awards and three Silver Sluggers. He became an American League batting champion three times and was the stolen base leader in one season. He holds an MLB record with 262 hits in one season.
9. Larry Walker
Over his career, Walker produced a .313 batting average, a .400 on-base percentage, and a .565 slugging percentage for a 141 adjusted OPS+. One of only 19 hitters in history with a .300/.400/.500 batting line with at least 5,000 career plate appearances, he is one of only six whose careers began after 1960. Injuries forced him to miss 375 games from 1996 to 2004, as he appeared in 1,083 of 1,458 possible games.
He hit over .300 nine times, hit at least 30 home runs four times, and drove in 100 RBI five times. Defensively, he ranks eighth all-time among right fielders with 94 runs above average, per Baseball-Reference. He was the 40th player in history to reach 2,000 hits, 400 doubles, 300 home runs, 1,000 runs scored, and 1,000 RBI.
8. Tony Gwynn
He was an 8-time NL batting champion and a 15-time All-Star selection. He has 4 times in his career when he got five hits in one game. Also, He won the Silver Slugger award seven times. Gwynn won five Gold glove awards in his career.
7. Reggie Jackson
Jackson hit 563 career home runs and was an American League (AL) All-Star for 14 seasons. He won two Silver Slugger Awards, the AL Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award in 1973, two World Series MVP Awards, and the Babe Ruth Award in 1977. The Yankees retired his uniform number in 1993, and the Athletics retired it in 2004.
Jackson currently serves as a special advisor to the Houston Astros, and a sixth championship associated with Jackson came with Houston’s win in the 2022 World Series. Jackson led his team’s first to place eleven times over his 21-year baseball career and had only two losing seasons.
6. Al Kaline
Kaline finished his career with 3,007 hits (currently 32nd on the all-time list), 498 doubles, 75 triples, 399 home runs (a Tigers record and currently 58th on the all-time list), 1,622 runs scored, 1,277 bases on balls, and 1,582 RBIs (currently 44th on the all-time list). He batted over .300 nine times in his career to finish with a lifetime batting average of .297 and hit 25 or more home runs seven times in his career.
Kaline also holds Tiger career records for games played (2,834), walks (1,277), and sacrifice flies (104).[43] He had more walks than strikeouts (1,020). His highest season strikeout total came in his final season, with 75. Before that, Kaline never struck out more than 66 times in a season.
Among position players, Kaline ranks 29th all-time (15th among outfielders) in Wins Against Replacement (WAR) with a career mark of 92.8.
5. Mel Ott
He was a 12-time All-Star selection and a 1939 World Series championship team member. He led the National League in home runs six times and won the batting title in 1934. The Giants retired his number, and he is a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame.
4. Roberto Clemente
Clemente was an All-Star for 13 seasons, selected to 15 All-Star Games. He was the National League (NL) Most Valuable Player (MVP) in 1966, the NL batting leader in 1961, 1964, 1965, and 1967, and a Gold Glove Award winner for 12 consecutive seasons from 1961 through 1972.
His batting average was over .300 for 13 seasons, and he had 3,000 hits during his major league career. He also was a two-time World Series champion. Clemente was the first player from the Caribbean and Latin America to win a World Series as a starting position player (1960), to receive an NL MVP Award (1966), and to receive a World Series MVP Award (1971).
3. Frank Robinson
A 14-time All-Star, Robinson batted .300 nine times, hit 30 home runs 11 times, and led his league in slugging four times and in runs scored three times. His 586 career home runs ranked fourth in major league history at the time of his retirement, and he ranked sixth in total bases (5,373) and extra-base hits (1,186), eighth in games played (2,808), and ninth in runs scored (1,829).
His 2,943 career hits are the most since 1934 by any player who fell short of the 3,000-hit mark. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility in 1982.
2. Hank Aaron
Aaron holds the MLB records for the most career runs batted in (RBIs) (2,297), extra-base hits (1,477), and total bases (6,856). Aaron is also third all-time for career hits (3,771) and fifth in runs scored (2,174). He is one of only four players with at least 17 seasons with 150 or more hits.
Aaron’s ability as a hitter can be illustrated by his still having over 3,000 hits, even without counting any of his home runs. He was an NL All-Star for 20 seasons and an AL All-Star for one season, and he holds the record for the most All-Star selections (25), while sharing the record for most All-Star Games played (24) with Willie Mays and Stan Musial. He was a three-time Gold Glove winner.
1. Babe Ruth
He was the first real hero in baseball to the masses of fans. He was a two-time All-Star selection and a seven-time World Series champ. He won a batting title once and was league MVP in 1923. Twelve times, he led the league in home runs, and in five seasons, he led in RBI’s. Numerous awards have been named after him. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1936.
ALSO:
-Had his number 3 retired by Yankees
-Monument Park honoree
-Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame
–Major League Baseball All-Century Team
-Major League Baseball All-Time Team
Just out: Vladimir Guerrero, Mookie Betts
That’s a glance at our 10 best Right Fielders of all time. Thanks for reading! Check out our other top MLB positions list:
- Best Catchers of All Time
- Best First Basemen of All Time
- Best Second Basemen of All Time
- Best Shortstops of All Time
- Best Third Basemen of All Time
- Best Left Fielders of All Time
- Best Center Fielders of All Time
