Article: The Five Best Right Fielders in Brewers History

[clancyphile]

Right field has been a revolving door for the Brewers, but some right fielders have delivered monster seasons for the Crew.

Despite no player being the primary starter in right field for more than five seasons, right field has rarely been a complete liability for the Brewers over their 54-year history. Who’s been the best of the bunch? Let's take a look.

5. Rob Deer
.229/.329/.450 with 137 HR and 385 RBI in five seasons, four as primary right fielder

“Fear the Deer” is a popular saying with the Bucks these days, but in the late 1980s, “fear Deer” referred to Rob Deer, who provided the Brewers with a lot of power as an NRI following a trade for two minor-league pitchers. Deer set a record for strikeouts in 1986 but also delivered power and OBP. His defense wasn’t too shabby, either.

4. Corey Hart
.276/.334/.491 with 154 HR and 508 RBI in nine seasons, five as primary right fielder

Hart, in some ways, was an accidental right fielder. He was a first baseman in the minors until the Brewers drafted Prince Fielder, arguably their best at that position. So, Hart moved to third. After he won the Southern League MVP at third base, he was moved to the outfield because of Ryan Braun. He saw action mostly in right field but also in center and even handled first base the year after Prince’s departure. He delivered two All-Star Game appearances and a top-25 MVP finish. Best known for power, he also flashed speed, with 83 stolen bases, including two 20-20 seasons.

3. Sixto Lezcano
.275/.354/.452 with 102 HR and 374 RBI in seven seasons, five as primary right fielder

Lezcano is the co-leader for the longest tenure as the primary right fielder, and in the late 1970s, he posted some monster seasons. After a slump in 1980, he was part of the trade that brought Rollie Fingers, Ted Simmons, and Pete Vuckovich to Milwaukee. The Brewers ended up selling high on Lezcano, who never quite reached his late-70s heights. But Lezcano provided real power for the team.

2. Christian Yelich
.283/.385/.503 with 115 HR and 357 RBI in five seasons, two as primary right fielder

Yelich had only two seasons as the primary right fielder for the Brewers, but he secured two top-2 MVP vote finishes (winning in 2018), two All-Star Game appearances, and two Silver Sluggers. There will always be a “what if” had it not been for a freak injury late in the 2019 season, and Yelich has played more left field than right field, but the sheer dominance during his time in right field makes a high position hard to deny.

1. Jeromy Burnitz
.258/.362/.508 with 165 HR and 525 RBI in six seasons, five as primary right fielder

Baseball-Reference lists Burnitz as the Brewers’ primary center fielder in 1997, even though Gerald Williams played there far more that was due to left field being a mess. Burnitz averaged 33 homers and 102 RBI for those five seasons and teamed up with Richie Sexson to become the only teammates to both homer three times in the same game. Burnitz had a top-30 and top-20 MVP finish and one All-Star Game appearance. How he would have done at Miller Park/American Family Field is a question many Brewers fans have today.

Honorable Mentions
Ryan Braun held down right field for two seasons when Khris Davis came up and wasn’t too shabby. Nori Aoki gave the Brewers a leadoff option for two seasons before being traded for reliever Will Smith. Brady Clark manned right field in 2004, following time in the VanderClark platoon in 2003. Charlie Moore held down right field for two seasons during the Brewers' early-80s success while Matt Mieske played right field for four seasons.

Brewer Fanatics, who are your top five right fielders in Brewer history?

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[wiguy94]

I think Yelich has to be number 1 in RF or number 2 in LF. I don’t think it’s fair to him to put him at HM in LF and 2 at RF. 
 

Even if you just want to use 18/19 as Yelich as a RF and 20-22 as a LF I would still put him over Burnitz in RF. 
 

Yelich in 18/19: 277 G, .327/.415/.631 for a 171 OPS+. He had 80 HR, 207 RBI, and 52 SB. He accumulated 14.2 bWAR. He won MVP and had an MVP-runner up. 
 

Burnitz had 15.7 bWAR in 782 games. Nearly 3 times as many games for 1.5 bWAR than those two years of Yelich. 

 

[wiguy94]

9 minutes ago, wiguy94 said:

I think Yelich has to be number 1 in RF or number 2 in LF. I don’t think it’s fair to him to put him at HM in LF and 2 at RF. 
 

Even if you just want to use 18/19 as Yelich as a RF and 20-22 as a LF I would still put him over Burnitz in RF. 
 

Yelich in 18/19: 277 G, .327/.415/.631 for a 171 OPS+. He had 80 HR, 207 RBI, and 52 SB. He accumulated 14.2 bWAR. He won MVP and had an MVP-runner up. 
 

Burnitz had 15.7 bWAR in 782 games. Nearly 3 times as many games for 1.5 bWAR than those two years of Yelich. 

 

Yelich’s 18 and 19 were the 3rd and 4th best seasons in franchise history by position player fWAR. Only behind 2014 Lucroy and 1982 Robin Yount. 

[sveumrules]

Yelich’s peak makes him an easy #1 for me.

I’d have Sixto (125 OPS+ | 19.1 WAR) at #2 over Burnitz (123 OPS+ | 15.7 WAR) and Hart (116 OPS+ | 15.5 WAR) in the 3/4 spots.

Deer (112 OPS+ | 6.9 WAR) is obviously a sentimental favorite for a lot of people (myself included) but I’d probably give a nod to the late Darryl Hamilton (100 OPS+ | 11.0 WAR) for that #5 spot.

[CheezWizHed]

I'll give Deer #5 just for Easter day 1987. 😉 But yes, a sentimental favorite of mine as a kid - Moliter then Deer for my 12 yo self. 

Burnitz was #1 in helicoptering bats into the stands and was certainly a nice find on a bad team, but Yellich's peak as MVP give him the edge, IMO. 

I forgot how good Hart actually was.... 

[nate82]

4 hours ago, sveumrules said:

Deer (112 OPS+ | 6.9 WAR) is obviously a sentimental favorite for a lot of people (myself included) but I’d probably give a nod to the late Darryl Hamilton (100 OPS+ | 11.0 WAR) for that #5 spot.

I was going to say Hamilton at 5 would be better than Deer.

[MrTPlush]

Figured Yelich was being saved for #1 in RF....now that he is not, I don't know if I really get labeling him a RFer. Even his two big seasons, one was in LF more than RF.

If you are going to base him as a RF purely based on those two seasons, then he should just vault to the top. It was probably two of the Top 5 offensive performances in franchise history. The Athletic puts them both in the Top 3. 

I was kind of excited for this position because when I thought of it, I remembered Corey Hart is totally going to make it. Sadly, he was never the same after getting injured. For a second it looked like he was going to slide in and be a really solid 1B after Fielder left. He always flew under the radar and put up great numbers. 

[clancyphile]

4 hours ago, MrTPlush said:

Figured Yelich was being saved for #1 in RF....now that he is not, I don't know if I really get labeling him a RFer. Even his two big seasons, one was in LF more than RF.

If you are going to base him as a RF purely based on those two seasons, then he should just vault to the top. It was probably two of the Top 5 offensive performances in franchise history. The Athletic puts them both in the Top 3. 

I was kind of excited for this position because when I thought of it, I remembered Corey Hart is totally going to make it. Sadly, he was never the same after getting injured. For a second it looked like he was going to slide in and be a really solid 1B after Fielder left. He always flew under the radar and put up great numbers. 

Yelich, if he'd stuck in right all along, might have edged Burnitz out for #1. But the shift to left and the sudden drop from a 7 WAR player to one who goes to 3 is pretty jarring. In a sense, I had to reward Burnitz for the consistent 30 HR, 100 RBI he delivered from 1997-2001. 

As for Hart, he would have been a great 1B. His only problem was Prince Fielder fell to number 7 in the 2002 amateur draft and the Crew snapped him up. So, off to third, where in 2003, he wins Southern League MVP for the Huntsville Stars. But then he got moved to the outfield.

That said, he was the type of guy who could be a long-term standby in the offense.