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

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; 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

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

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

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

External links

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