San Francisco Giants: Top Ten Right Fielders in Franchise History

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.