The top 8 Reds right fielders since 1900

Since I already went through this exercise with the shortstop position in my last post, in honor of Zack Cozart, I figured I'd do the same positional rundown for Jay Bruce.

At first glance, it might seem like RF has not been a particularly productive position in Cincinnati.  If you go to baseball-reference.com and enter a query stipulating that the players must have spent at least 50% of their time at a given position, and earned at least 30 WAR, you get the list below: 

C - Bench and Lombardi
1B - Perez, Votto, Klu, McCormick
2B - Morgan (plus BP and Frey have accumulated 29 WAR each)
3B - Groh
SS - Larkin and Concepcion
LF - Foster
CF - Pinson, Roush, and Davis
RF - no one

But this leaves out two ENORMOUS names in Reds history - Pete Rose (#1 all-time in Reds WAR with 77.7) and Frank Robinson (#4 all-time, with 63.8).  Both of them switched positions frequently during their careers, so they aren't really "attached" to a given position.  I think the most fair thing to do is to include them in this discussion, but only count the seasons when they played most of the time in RF.

Wins Above Replacement

1) Frank Robinson - 29.4 total, earned during 1961, 1962, 1964 and 1965 (his seasons predominantly in RF with Reds)

2) Ken Griffey, Sr. - 25.3 (mostly during his first stint with the team from 1973 to 1981)

3) Pete Rose - 22 total, earned during 1968-1971 (his seasons in RF with Reds)

4) Reggie Sanders - 21.4 (1991-1998)

5) Ival Goodman - 21.4 (1935-1942)

6) Curt Walker - 18.8 (1924-1930)

7) Jay Bruce - 16.1 (2008-2016)

8) Wally Post - 15.8 (during two stints in the '50s and '60s)


Conclusion:

Griffey Sr. is the best among the full-time right fielders, but Robinson and Rose put up big numbers in only four years.

Bruce fits nicely into the next tier, which are hard to really separate.  Sanders, Goodman, and Post especially are well-respected in Reds history, and I believe Bruce deserves a place in the Reds Hall as well.  I'm almost 100% certain he'll make it.

Unlike at the shortstop position, where Cozart simply hasn't had enough time to accumulate WAR, Bruce has actually played with the Reds as long (or longer) as anyone else on the list.  His counting stats are impressive, but it's his lack of ability to get on base (career OBP .319) and his defensive deterioration that have held down his WAR.  Nevertheless, he is an all-time Red.  Given more time, he probably would've gotten very close to Bench for most HRs (he had 233, Bench had 389).  And he was one of the most likeable Reds in recent memory as well.  So long, Jay.