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List of Major League Baseball career assists as a right fielder leaders

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Harry Hooper, the all-time leader in career assists by a right fielder

In baseball, an assist (denoted by A) is a defensive statistic, baseball being one of the few sports in which the defensive team controls the ball. An assist is credited to every defensive player who fields or touches the ball (after it has been hit by the batter) before the recording of a putout, even if the contact was unintentional. For example, if a ball strikes a player's leg and bounces off him to another fielder, who tags the baserunner, the first player is credited with an assist. A fielder can receive a maximum of one assist per out recorded. An assist is also credited if a putout would have occurred, had another fielder not committed an error. For example, a shortstop might field a ground ball cleanly, but the first baseman might drop his throw. In this case, an error would be charged to the first baseman, and the shortstop would be credited with an assist. Unlike putouts, exactly one of which is awarded for every defensive out, an out can result in no assists being credited (as in strikeouts, fly outs and line drives), or in assists being credited to multiple players (as in relay throws and rundown plays). The right fielder (RF) is one of the three outfielders, the defensive positions in baseball farthest from the batter. The right field is the area of the outfield to the right of a person standing at home plate and facing toward the pitcher's mound. The outfielders must try to catch long fly balls before they hit the ground or to quickly catch or retrieve and return to the infield any other balls entering the outfield. The right fielder must also be adept at navigating the area of right field where the foul line approaches the corner of the playing field and the walls of the seating areas. Being the outfielder farthest from third base, the right fielder often has to make longer throws than the other outfielders to throw out runners advancing around the bases, so they often have the strongest or most accurate throwing arm. The right fielder normally plays behind the second baseman and first baseman, who play in or near the infield; unlike catchers and most infielders (excepting first basemen), who are virtually exclusively right-handed, right fielders can be either right- or left-handed. In the scoring system used to record defensive plays, the right fielder is assigned the number 9, the highest number.

Right fielders are most commonly credited with an assist when they throw the ball to an infielder who tags a runner attempting to advance on the basepaths, even on a caught fly ball that results in an out (see tag up); of special importance are throws to the catcher if the runner is trying to reach home plate to score a run, perhaps on a sacrifice fly. Right fielders will often record assists by throwing out runners who try to advance farther than the batter, such as going from first to third base on a single, or batter/runners who try to stretch a hit into a longer one. Right fielders also earn assists on relay throws to infielders after particularly deep fly balls, by throwing to a base to record an out on an appeal play, or in situations where they might deflect a fly ball before another defensive player makes the catch. Outfielders record far fewer assists than other players due to the difficulty of making an accurate throw in time to retire a runner from a great distance; middle infielders routinely record more assists in a single season than outfielders do in their entire careers. Assists are an important statistic for outfielders, giving a greater indication about an outfielder's throwing arm than assists by infielders do. In recent years, some sabermetricians have begun referring to assists by outfielders as baserunner kills.

The list of career leaders is dominated by players from the 1890s through 1920s, including the dead-ball era, due to that period's emphasis on more aggressive baserunning. Eight of the top nine players were active before 1930; only six of the top 19 players were active after 1950, none of them after 1992. Only 15 of the top 102 single-season totals were recorded after 1936, and only four after 1978; only 16 of the top 268 have been recorded since 1990. Because game accounts and box scores often did not distinguish between the outfield positions, there has been some difficulty in determining precise defensive statistics before 1901; because of this, and because of the similarity in their roles, defensive statistics for the three positions are frequently combined. Although efforts to distinguish between the three positions regarding games played during this period and reconstruct the separate totals have been largely successful, separate assist totals are unavailable; players whose totals are missing the figures for pre-1901 games are notated in the table below. Harry Hooper is the all-time leader in career assists as a right fielder with 333;[1][2][3] he is the only right fielder with more than 300 career assists. Jason Heyward, who had 67 assists through the 2022 season to place him 115th all-time, is the leader among active players.

Key

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Rank Rank amongst leaders in career assists. A blank field indicates a tie.
Player Name of player
MLB Total career assists as a right fielder in Major League Baseball
* Denotes elected to National Baseball Hall of Fame
Denotes total is missing figures for pre-1901 games

List

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Jason Heyward, the active leader in assists by a right fielder and tied for 110th all-time.
Roberto Clemente holds the modern National League record.
Mel Ott shared the National League record for 24 years.
Paul Waner held the National League record for 33 years.
Chuck Klein had 41 assists in 1930, the most by a right fielder since 1900.
Dwight Evans' 155 assists were the most by an American League right fielder since 1920.
  • Stats updated as of July 30, 2024.
Rank Player (2023 As) Assists as a right fielder Other leagues, notes
MLB American League National League
1 Harry Hooper* 333 333 0
2 Roberto Clemente* 255 0 255
3 Mel Ott* 235 0 235 Held modern National League record, 1946-1970
Paul Waner* 235 0 235 Held modern National League record, 1937-1970
5 Sam Crawford* † 195 152 43 Held modern major league record, 1905-1909, 1914-1918; held American League record, 1906-1907, 1911-1915
6 Sam Rice* 192 192 0
7 Ross Youngs* 185 0 185 Held modern National League record, 1926-1937
8 Tommy Griffith 182 0 182 Held modern National League record, 1925-1926
9 John Titus 180 0 180 Held modern major league record, 1909-1914; held modern National League record, 1907-1925
10 Hank Aaron* 179 0 179
11 Chuck Klein* 174 0 174 Holds the modern single-season record of 41 (set in 1930)
12 Harry Heilmann* 173 157 16 Holds the American League single-season record (31 in 1924)
13 Johnny Callison 159 6 153
Rusty Staub 159 10 149
15 Gavvy Cravath 158 3 155
16 Dwight Evans 155 155 0
17 Jesse Barfield 154 154 0
18 Max Flack 153 0 137 Includes 16 in Federal League
19 Jack Tobin 151 102 0 Includes 49 in Federal League
20 Larry Walker* 150 0 150
21 Tony Gwynn* 148 0 148
22 Al Kaline* 146 146 0
23 Mike Mitchell 145 0 145 Held the modern single-season record, 1907-1930
24 Chief Wilson 143 0 143
25 Dave Parker 136 0 136
Frank Schulte 136 9 127
27 Wally Moses 134 134 0
28 Bobby Abreu 130 38 92
29 Jeff Francoeur 128 38 90
Dave Winfield* 128 51 77
31 Sammy Sosa 127 23 104
32 Vladimir Guerrero* 126 42 84
Reggie Jackson* 126 126 0
34 Shano Collins 120 120 0
Red Murray 120 0 120
Curt Walker 120 0 120
37 Nick Markakis 119 92 27
Casey Stengel* 119 0 119
39 Enos Slaughter* 118 6 112
40 Willie Keeler* † 117 86 31
41 Carl Furillo 115 0 115
42 Babe Ruth* 114 114 0
43 Bill Nicholson 112 0 112
44 Steve Evans 111 0 81 Includes 30 in Federal League
Dixie Walker 111 11 100
46 Elmer Flick* † 110 87 23 Held modern major league record, 1901-1902; held American League record, 1905-1906, 1907-1911; held the modern single-season record, 1901-1902
47 Bobby Bonds 108 47 61
Magglio Ordóñez 108 108 0
49 Paul O'Neill 105 53 52
50 Bruce Campbell 104 104 0
Kiki Cuyler* 104 0 104
Cliff Heathcote 104 0 104
53 Jackie Jensen 103 103 0
Raúl Mondesí 103 37 66
55 Al Cowens 102 102 0
56 Willard Marshall 100 1 99
Tim Salmon 100 100 0
Ichiro Suzuki 100 97 3
59 Tom Brunansky 99 81 18
60 Harry Lumley 98 0 98
Rubén Sierra 98 97 1
62 Ty Cobb* 96 96 0 Held American League single-season record, 1907-1924
Jermaine Dye 96 94 2
Gene Moore 96 19 77
65 George Browne 95 6 89
Jay Buhner 95 95 0
José Guillén 95 40 55
Billy Southworth* 95 1 94
Glenn Wilson 95 15 80
70 Jay Bruce 94 4 90
Shoeless Joe Jackson 94 94 0
72 Sixto Lezcano 93 61 32
73 Jack Clark 91 1 90
74 Babe Herman 90 0 90
Hunter Pence 90 0 90
76 José Bautista 88 79 9
77 Rocky Colavito 87 87 0
Tommy Henrich 87 87 0
79 Hank Bauer 86 86 0
80 Bob Meusel 84 83 1
81 Jeromy Burnitz 83 13 70
Shawn Green 83 43 40
Cory Snyder 83 65 18
84 Wally Post 82 0 82
85 Socks Seybold 81 81 0
Elmer Smith 81 78 3
Ellis Valentine 81 5 76
88 Patsy Donovan 80 15 65 Held modern major league record, 1902-1905; held modern National League record, 1902-1906; held the modern single-season record, 1902-1907
89 Pete Fox 79 79 0
Danny Moeller 79 78 1
91 Andre Dawson* 77 0 77
Braggo Roth 77 77 0
93 Cozy Dolan 76 0 76 Held modern National League record, 1906-1907
Doc Gessler 76 68 8
Darryl Strawberry 76 3 73
96 Danny Murphy 75 67 0 Includes 8 in Federal League
Ron Northey 75 1 74
98 Dante Bichette 74 32 42
George Harper 74 7 67
100 Ival Goodman 73 0 73
Gary Sheffield 73 17 56


Other Hall of Famers

[edit]
Player Assists as a right fielder Other leagues, notes
MLB American League National League
Harold Baines* 71 71 0
Tony Oliva* 70 70 0
Frank Robinson* 69 33 36
Stan Musial* 68 0 68
Kirby Puckett* 29 29 0
Lou Brock* 27 0 27
Billy Williams* 23 0 23
Goose Goslin* 19 19 0
Max Carey* 17 0 17
Hack Wilson* 16 0 16
Chick Hafey* 13 0 13
Ken Griffey Jr.* 12 0 12
Ted Williams* 11 11 0
Heinie Manush* 10 1 9
Duke Snider* 10 0 10
Larry Doby* 9 9 0 Negro League totals unavailable
Pete Hill* 8 0 0 Includes 8 in Negro National League (first) (incomplete)
Monte Irvin* 8 0 7 Includes 1 in Negro National League (second) (incomplete)
Mickey Mantle* 8 8 0
Honus Wagner* † 8 0 8
Frank Chance* † 7 0 7
Jud Wilson* 7 0 0 Includes 3 in Eastern Colored League, 3 in Negro National League (second),
1 in American Negro League (incomplete)
Freddie Lindstrom* 4 0 4
Lloyd Waner* 4 0 4
Ed Delahanty* † 3 3 0
Joe Medwick* 3 0 3
Cristóbal Torriente* 2 0 0 Includes 2 in Negro National League (first) (incomplete)
Willard Brown* 1 0 0 Includes 1 in Negro American League (incomplete)
Hugh Duffy* † 1 0 1
Jesse Burkett* † 0 0 0
Billy Hamilton* † 0 0 0
Todd Helton* 0 0 0
King Kelly* † 0 0 0
Joe Mauer* 0 0 0
Tommy McCarthy* † 0 0 0
Jim O'Rourke* † 0 0 0
Sam Thompson* † 0 0 0
John Montgomery Ward* † 0 0 0

References

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  1. ^ "Harry Hooper Career Stats". Baseball Reference. Retrieved June 30, 2021.
  2. ^ Zingg - Reed, Paul - E. A. (Betsy). "Harry Hooper Bio". Society For American Baseball Research. Retrieved June 30, 2021.
  3. ^ "Harry Hooper Hall of Fame Profile". National Baseball Hall of Fame. Retrieved August 1, 2021.
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