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

In baseball statistics, a putout (denoted by PO or fly out when appropriate) is given to a defensive player who records an out by tagging a runner with the ball when he is not touching a base, catching a batted or thrown ball and tagging a base to put out a batter or runner (a force out), catching a thrown ball and tagging a base to record an out on an appeal play, catching a third strike (a strikeout), catching a batted ball on the fly (a fly out), or being positioned closest to a runner called out for interference. 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 the 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.

Paul Waner, the all-time leader in putouts by a right fielder

The overwhelming majority of putouts recorded by right fielders, almost to exclusivity, result from catching fly balls. However, in extraordinary circumstances, an outfielder may record a putout by receiving a throw to force out or tag out a runner while covering a base if one or more infielders are out of position to retrieve an errant throw, or by tagging a runner stranded between bases in a rundown play; however, even in such circumstances, outfielders will more typically act as a backup to infielders than cover a base themselves. Historically, putout totals for outfielders rose after 1920 with the end of the dead-ball era; the same circumstances which had kept home run totals low, such as overused baseballs and legal adulterations including the spitball, had similarly hindered the type of power hitting which lent itself to long fly balls. As strikeout totals have risen in baseball in recent decades, the frequency of other defensive outs including flyouts has declined; as a result, putout totals for outfielders have generally declined, but right fielders have largely defied this trend. Eight of the top nine players, and 17 of the top 20, were active entirely after 1950. Through the 2022 season, none of the top 251 single-season right field putout totals were recorded before 1920, and only 45 were recorded before 1960; nine of the top twelve, and 40 of the top 79, have been recorded since 1996.

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 putout totals are unavailable; players whose totals are missing the figures for pre-1901 games are notated in the table below. Because they are expected to cover more territory in the outfield than their counterparts on either side, often being the fastest player of the three, center fielders typically records the highest putout totals; left fielders usually records slightly more putouts than right fielders due to the ball being more frequently hit to the left side of the field. Paul Waner is the all-time leader in career putouts by a right fielder with 4,533.^[1][2][3] Roberto Clemente (4,459),^[4] Dwight Evans (4,247),^[5] Hank Aaron (4,161),^[6] Tony Gwynn (4,052),^[7] Nick Markakis (4,025),^[8] Sammy Sosa (4,017),^[9] and Ichiro Suzuki (4,005)^[10] are the only other right fielders to record over 4,000 career putouts.

Key

Rank	Rank amongst leaders in career putouts. A blank field indicates a tie.
Player (2024 POs)	Number of recorded putouts during the 2024 Major League Baseball season
MLB	Total career putouts 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
Bold	Denotes active player^[a]

List

 

Jason Heyward, the active leader in putouts by a right fielder and 30th all-time

 

Dwight Evans holds the American League record.

 

Ichiro Suzuki tied the major league record with 381 putouts in 2005.

 

Harry Hooper held the American League record for 54 years, and led the AL in putouts a record ten times.

 

Dave Parker's 381 putouts in 1977 remain the major league record.

 

Babe Herman held the single-season record for 45 years.

• Stats updated as of March 30, 2024.

Rank	Player (2024 POs)	Putouts as a right fielder			Other leagues, notes
		MLB	American League	National League
1	Paul Waner*	4,533	0	4,533
2	Roberto Clemente*	4,459	0	4,459
3	Dwight Evans	4,247	4,247	0
4	Hank Aaron*	4,161	0	4,161
5	Tony Gwynn*	4,052	0	4,052
6	Nick Markakis	4,025	2,605	1,420
7	Sammy Sosa	4,017	676	3,341
8	Ichiro Suzuki	4,005	3,743	262	Holds the single-season record of 381 (tied in 2005)
9	Al Kaline*	3,865	3,865	0	Held American League record, 1972-1988
10	Mel Ott*	3,767	0	3,767
11	Harry Hooper*	3,755	3,755	0	Held modern major league record, 1920-1938; held American League record, 1918-1972; held AL single-season record, 1915-1917 (tie), 1922-1923
12	Bobby Abreu	3,733	1,126	2,607
13	Dave Winfield*	3,657	1,892	1,765
14	Dave Parker	3,633	2	3,631	Holds the single-season record of 381 (set in 1977)
15	Reggie Jackson*	3,624	3,624	0
16	Paul O'Neill	3,544	2,219	1,325
17	Jermaine Dye	3,237	3,113	124	Held American League single-season record, 1999-2004
18	Vladimir Guerrero*	3,166	1,220	1,946
19	Magglio Ordóñez	3,155	3,155	0
20	Tom Brunansky	3,146	2,557	589
21	Wally Moses	3,138	3,138	0
22	Larry Walker*	3,124	0	3,124
23	Shawn Green	3,053	1,129	1,924
24	Johnny Callison	2,954	170	2,784
25	Bobby Bonds	2,917	1,191	1,726
26	Rusty Staub	2,907	231	2,676
27	Hunter Pence	2,889	15	2,874
28	Sam Rice*	2,864	2,864	0	Held American League single-season record, 1917-1922, 1923-1926
29	Jay Bruce	2,827	94	2,733
30	Jason Heyward (11)	2,801	0	2,801
31	Jesse Barfield	2,773	2,773	0
32	Tim Salmon	2,700	2,700	0	Held American League single-season record, 1997-1999
33	Rubén Sierra	2,626	2,603	23
34	Raúl Mondesí	2,571	879	1,692
35	Bill Nicholson	2,565	1	2,564
36	Harry Heilmann*	2,562	2,290	272
37	Enos Slaughter*	2,555	278	2,277
38	Jeromy Burnitz	2,473	250	2,223
39	Carl Furillo	2,467	0	2,467
40	Jay Buhner	2,450	2,450	0
41	Alex Ríos	2,446	2,446	0
42	Jeff Francoeur	2,428	684	1,744
43	Al Cowens	2,389	2,389	0
44	J. D. Drew	2,352	1,018	1,334
45	Chuck Klein*	2,342	0	2,342
46	Darryl Strawberry	2,337	30	2,307
47	Curt Walker	2,333	0	2,333	Held modern National League record, 1929-1933
48	Sam Crawford* †	2,312	1,906	406	Held modern major league record, 1914-1920; held modern National League record, 1902-1903; held American League record, 1913-1918
49	Reggie Sanders	2,310	197	2,113
50	Rocky Colavito	2,295	2,278	17
51	Andre Dawson*	2,280	42	2,238
52	Jackie Jensen	2,264	2,264	0
53	Tony Oliva*	2,260	2,260	0
54	Frank Robinson*	2,251	1,094	1,157
55	Ken Singleton	2,245	1,535	710
56	José Guillén	2,213	914	1,299
57	Giancarlo Stanton (0)	2,183	181	2,002
58	Babe Ruth*	2,146	2,141	5
59	Tommy Griffith	2,138	0	2,138	Held modern National League record, 1924-1929
60	Sixto Lezcano	2,137	1,447	690
61	Kole Calhoun	2,134	1,965	169
62	Ross Youngs*	2,116	0	2,116
63	Dixie Walker	2,097	266	1,831
64	Gary Sheffield	2,042	562	1,480
65	Hank Bauer	2,032	2,032	0
66	Roger Maris	2,017	1,626	391
67	Harold Baines*	1,982	1,982	0
68	Mookie Betts (0)	1,972	1,270	702
69	Josh Reddick	1,958	1,819	139
70	Brian Jordan	1,956	94	1,862
71	Jack Clark	1,939	29	1,910
72	Pete Fox	1,929	1,929	0
73	Bing Miller	1,925	1,925	0
74	Jayson Werth	1,921	45	1,876
75	José Bautista	1,907	1,742	165
76	Bruce Campbell	1,903	1,903	0
77	Shin-Soo Choo	1,893	1,893	0
78	Max Flack	1,881	0	1,751	Includes 130 in Federal League
79	Rob Deer	1,871	1,825	46
80	Jack Tobin	1,866	1,507	0	Includes 359 in Federal League
81	Babe Herman	1,857	0	1,857	Held the single-season record, 1932-1977
82	Ival Goodman	1,851	0	1,851
83	Chief Wilson	1,845	0	1,845	Held modern National League record, 1916-1924; held the single-season record, 1909-1920
84	Claudell Washington	1,844	844	1,000
85	Glenn Wilson	1,843	365	1,478
86	John Titus	1,837	0	1,837	Held modern major league record, 1911-1914; held modern National League record, 1909-1916
87	Ken Griffey Sr.	1,816	227	1,589
88	Nelson Cruz	1,770	1,766	4
89	Austin Kearns	1,766	80	1,686
90	Elmer Valo	1,762	1,574	188
91	Don Mueller	1,752	57	1,695
92	Frank Schulte	1,736	115	1,621
93	Billy Southworth*	1,724	3	1,721
94	Trot Nixon	1,723	1,714	9
95	David Justice	1,693	196	1,497
96	Brian Giles	1,686	45	1,641
97	Reggie Smith	1,670	373	1,297
98	Dante Bichette	1,664	601	1,063
99	Matt Lawton	1,659	1,353	306
100	Tommy Henrich	1,658	1,658	0

Other Hall of Famers

Player	Putouts as a right fielder			Other leagues, notes
	MLB	American League	National League
Kiki Cuyler*	1,640	0	1,640
Casey Stengel*	1,537	0	1,537
Willie Keeler* †	1,531	1,142	389
Elmer Flick* †	1,431	1,153	278	Held modern major league record, 1901-1908; held modern National League record, 1901-1902; held modern single-season record, 1901-1909
Stan Musial*	1,225	0	1,225
Ty Cobb*	1,103	1,103	0
Billy Williams*	657	0	657
Kirby Puckett*	528	528	0
Ken Griffey Jr.*	456	8	448
Lou Brock*	432	0	432
Duke Snider *	342	0	342
Goose Goslin*	309	309	0
Ted Williams*	282	282	0
Max Carey*	265	0	265
Hack Wilson*	257	0	257
Chick Hafey*	225	0	225
Monte Irvin*	217	0	189	Includes 28 in Negro National League (second) (incomplete)
Mickey Mantle*	207	207	0
Heinie Manush*	206	30	176
Larry Doby*	199	199	0	Negro League totals unavailable
Honus Wagner* †	153	0	153
Freddie Lindstrom*	146	0	146
Jud Wilson*	67	0	0	Includes 41 in Eastern Colored League, 14 in Negro National League (second), 12 in American Negro League (incomplete)
Frank Chance* †	58	0	58
Pete Hill*	57	0	0	Includes 57 in Negro National League (first) (incomplete)
Joe Medwick*	53	0	53
Lloyd Waner*	47	0	47
Cristóbal Torriente*	46	0	0	Includes 46 in Negro National League (first) (incomplete)
Willard Brown*	41	35	0	Includes 6 in Negro American League (incomplete)
Ed Delahanty* †	26	26	0
Hugh Duffy* †	14	0	14
Sam Thompson* †	14	14	0
Joe Mauer*	3	3	0
Todd Helton*	2	0	2
Jesse Burkett* †	0	0	0
Billy Hamilton* †	0	0	0
King Kelly* †	0	0	0
Tommy McCarthy* †	0	0	0
Jim O'Rourke* †	0	0	0
John Montgomery Ward* †	0	0	0

Notes

1. A player is considered inactive if he has announced his retirement or has not played for a full season.

References

1. "Paul Waner Career Stats". Baseball Reference. Retrieved July 28, 2021.
2. Wancho, Joseph. "Paul Waner Bio". Society For American Baseball Research. Retrieved July 28, 2021.
3. "Paul Waner Hall of Fame Profile". National Baseball Hall of Fame. Retrieved August 1, 2021.
4. "Roberto Clemente Career Stats". Baseball Reference. Retrieved July 28, 2021.
5. "Dwight Evans Career Stats". Baseball Reference. Retrieved July 28, 2021.
6. "Hank Aaron Career Stats". Baseball Reference. Retrieved July 28, 2021.
7. "Tony Gwynn Career Stats". Baseball Reference. Retrieved July 28, 2021.
8. "Nick Markakis Career Stats". Baseball Reference. Retrieved July 28, 2021.
9. "Sammy Sosa Career Stats". Baseball Reference. Retrieved July 28, 2021.
10. "Ichiro Suzuki Career Stats". Baseball Reference. Retrieved July 28, 2021.

External links

• "Career Leaders & Records for Putouts as RF (s.1901)". Baseball-Reference.com.