San Francisco Giants: Top Ten Right Fielders in Franchise History

The San Francisco Giants were founded in 1883. They have won more games than any team in Major League baseball history. As our All-Time List series continues, we now take a look at the ten best right-fielders in team history.

The San Francisco Giants have quite the rich baseball history, dating back to 1883. For players to be in the top 10 in their position in franchise history, they have to have played a minimum of 250 games with the Giants. It’s honestly fair since that’s about two full seasons. It wouldn’t feel right to include a one year player who was fantastic but never stuck around. Those types aren’t necessarily engrained into the history of the team.

There is a decent amount of Giants from the San Francisco era. If you harken back to our top ten shortstops, the majority of them had played for the New York editions of the franchise. This time it’s a little more geared towards the San Francisco crowd.

Some notable omissions here? Nate Schierholtz is one. Nate had a 3.8 WAR in his time with the Giants, putting him 21st all time. Another few omissions came from the 1990s and early 2000s. Ellis Burks just narrowly missed out on the list, coming in eleventh all time with and 8..8 WAR. Another few familiar names would be Armando Rios, Glenallen Hill, Stan Javier, and Willie McGee. All of them fell short of our top ten. Like I said, there are plenty of San Francisco Giants who are on this list. So let’s get started!

No 10: Red Murray 9.6 WAR (1909-1915, 1917)

Before you freak out about Red Murray‘s years, let me explain. Murray played for the Giants from 1909 to 1915, where he was traded midseason to the Cubs. He then played his final 22 games of his career for the Giants in 1917 after not playing in 1916. Now that is out-of-the-way, let’s take a look at who Mr. Murray was.

Red Murray was a decent hitter, a slashline with the Giants of .268/.325/.375/.699. His K/BB ratio is actually pretty close to 1/1 which is impressive. Murray wasn’t really much of a power hitter either, but not many of his time were. Murray played in the dead-ball era, only hitting 37 homers in his entire career. Overall, Murray was a solid player for his time.

No. 9: Hunter Pence 10.6 WAR (2012-Current)

Hey! There is a familiar face. Hunter Pence comes in at number nine on our list. In his five years with the Giants he’s average a little over 2.1 Wins a Season, which isn’t too bad. although, he hasn’t broken 2 WAR in a season since 2014. Part of that is due to the fact he’s only played 158 games in the leagues since 2014. He played in every game in the 2013 and 2014 seasons, so that tells you enough about how the injury struggles the last two seasons affected his trajectory on this list.

Pence’s career numbers with the Giants are pretty nice. He has a.275/.334/.454/.788 slash-line with the Giants. If you incorporate his numbers in his seven years between Houston and Philadelphia, he has a career OPS over .800. Pence has 207 homers in his career, with 76 coming in San Francisco. A good year from Pence could vault him into the 8th spot on this list, leapfrogging another Giant that played in AT&T Park. There are only two players on this list who played there, and pence is one of them. Can you guess who the next one is?

Number 6: Felipe Alou 17.2 WAR (1958-1963)

I told you Marshall was the end of names you wouldn’t recognize. The current portion of the fan base should know this guy quite well. Mr. Felipe Alou not only played for the Giants for 6 years, he managed them for four seasons, with an above .500 record as a manager. He managed the 2003 Giants who won 100 games but got knocked off by the Marlins in the divisional round. His next best year was in 2004, when the Giants won 91 games, but missed out on the postseason.

Alou as a player had quite the good time with the Giants though. A slash-line of .286/.328/.466/.794 is quite decent. He had a total of 85 Home-Runs and 325 RBI in his time with SF. Overall, most Giants fans remember him for his time as our manager. And that’s ok. But he definitely was a good player for the Giants.

Number 5: Jack Clark 30.6 WAR (1975-1984)

Nine Seasons of Jack Clark were quite productive. 30+WAR with one team is quite impressive. I myself am way too young to have seen Jack Clark play. He was my mom’s favorite player growing up, so I’ve heard plenty about him. The second most famous “Clark” to play for the Giants, Jack had a very good career overall. He’s the first player on this list to have hit 100+ HR’s with the Giants.

Clark holds a slash-line with the Giants of .277/.359/.477/.836, which is just slightly better than his career averages. Clark holds a career WAR over 50, which is quite impressive. His K/BB ratio is just a little over 1:1 with the Giants, which is quite ok when you have an OPS of .836. Clark is one of those really good Giants that came from an era of bad baseball by the bay. The Giants only had two winning seasons in his time with the Giants, and failed to make the playoffs once while he was playing for them.

Number 4: Ross Youngs 32.2 WAR (1917-1926)

Ok, so, I lied. There are still a few more players whose names you likely won’t recognize. Mr. Youngs is one of them. Youngs’ career resembles that of one Jack Clark. Clark hit more homers, Youngs hit more doubles, triples, and stole more bases. Clark is one of the more modern type right fielders, while Youngs is very typical of someone you’d see in the dead-ball era. A lot of gap to gap hitting, and stolen bases.

Youngs has the best career batting average of anyone on this list. He boasts a career slash-line of .322/.399/.441/.839. Not too shabby at all. Youngs had almost a 2:1 BB to K ratio in his time with the Giants, which is quite nice. He got on base a lot, with over 1400 hits with the New York Giants. As we compared him to Jack Clark, we have to compare the teams he had to Clark’s as well. While the Giants of Clark’s era didn’t make the postseason once, the Giants of Youngs’ era played in four world series, going 2-2.

Number 3: Bobby Bonds 38.0 WAR (1968-1975)

Back to Players we recognize! Bobby Bonds is the second most popular Bonds to play for the Giants, and frankly that’s ok. His son’s career WAR more than quadruples that of his, so it’s to be expected. However, a young Barry really did resemble the game, and playing style of his father. Bobby Bonds was a two-time all-star, two-time gold glove winner, and finished in the top 5 of MVP voting twice in his seven years in San Francisco.

Bobby Bonds’ numbers with the Giants were quite impressive as well. A slash-line of .276/.356/.478/.834 coupled with 186 homers, 263 stolen bases easily stick up this high on the list. Bobby Bonds’ imprint on the Giants was quite a good one. The Giants haven’t officially retired Barry Bonds number, but when they do, it might be worth it to throw Bobby’s name under it as well. After all, the only reason Barry wore it was because his dad had. The number hasn’t been issued since 2007, and will likely stay that way for the remainder of franchise history.

Number 2: Mike Tiernan 42.2 WAR (1887-1899)

At first glance, I had an issue that Tiernan was so high on the list.  Players who spend their entire careers with the Giants might have a better WAR overall than someone who played five or six really, really good years with the team. But as we looked deeper,  Tiernan’s numbers over his 13 years with the Giants are actually pretty darn good.

Tiernan’s career – with the Giants was a solid .311/.382/.463/.855. Along with that, he had more than 100 of every type of hit, from singles to homers. He’s the only player on this list to accomplish that in their time with the Giants. Looking even further, Tiernan is only one of three Giants who can boast that in franchise history. Quite incredible. On top of that, he has a total BB:K ratio better than 2:1, and had 400+ stolen bases. After a long glance, Tiernan definitely belongs at number two on our list. The number one right fielder, however, has no dispute to his place on the list.

Number One: Mel Ott 107.9 WAR (1926-1947)

Mel Ott is easily deserving of number one on our list. Why you say? Let’s just look at his numbers: .304/.414./.533/.947. A near .950 OPS? Wow! Then we look again: 2876 career hits, with 511 home-runs. Ott is good for 25th all time in home-runs.

Ott was incredible. He had 1000 more RBI in his career than Tiernan. No, not 100. A full thousand! That’s insane. On top of that, he had 700 more walks in his career than strikeouts! Ott was the original force at the plate. Can you imagine being the Giants, and you have this guy, then all of a sudden Willie Mays falls in your lap? Three world series appearances is what happens. The Giants only won one of them though. Ott could easily make it into the Top 5 Giants of all time so there is a solid reason for him at the top.

Next: Reading Way To Much into the First Lineup of the Year

That concludes our top ten list for right fielders. Have you read our other top ten lists we made? By position:

• First Base
• Second Base
• Third Base – coming Soon!
• Shortstop
• Left Field
• Center Field
• Right Field – you’re reading it
• Catchers
• Right Handed – Coming Soon!
• Left Handed Pitchers
• Bullpen – Coming Soon!
• Managers – Coming Soon!