Ranking the Best Right Fielders in Seattle Mariners History

Mariners #5 RF: Jose Guillen – 2.2 fWAR

I don’t know about you, but whenever I think about Jose Guillen, I immediately think about his arm strength. That’s even more apparent when I had to go back and change it to Jose after accidentally typing Hose.

As was the case with many a 90s and 2000”s right-fielder, Guillen had an arm… and not much else on defense. 2001 and 2005 were the only years in his 14-year career that he had a positive DEF rating. That’s not what he was about though. It was hosing guys and hitting bombs.

He would finish his career with 109 assists and still had the arm his lone year in Seattle when he would rack up 9 in 2007. He would also put up the third-best WRC+ number of his entire career while he was a Mariners RF, at 117. When you have a cannon and a slash line of .290/.353/.460, with 23 HR and 99 RBI, it makes sense that he was able to accrue a 2.2 fWAR.

It was the only year that Guillen was in Seattle, but it was still good enough to get him into the top five. We’ve gotta go way back to get to #4 on the list, and he holds an impressive trivia stat that would be sure to stump nearly anyone you asked.

Mariners #4 RF: Leon Roberts – 9.0 fWAR

Yup. Leon Roberts was the first Mariners player to hit .300 or better. The team started in 1977, and the best hitter on the team that year was the previous right-fielder, Leroy Stanton. He would hit .275 and see Roberts take the role of RF in 1978 as Stanton struggled.

Roberts had been with the Tigers and Astros for two years apiece and came to Seattle in 1978. He would actually have a fantastic two-year stretch for the Mariners, with a 4.1 fWAR that season and a 3.4 the next year. He would only play one more year with the Mariners, before bouncing around to the Rangers and Royals before retiring at the end of the 1984 season.

1978 was special though. He put up an incredible 145 WRC+, hitting .301/.364/.515, striking out a minuscule 9.8% of the time. Add to that 22 HR, 78 R, and 92 RBI, and you can see why it ranks as one of the best offensive seasons outside of the main guys that frequent the leaderboard.

He dropped down a bit in 1979, and even further in 1980. It was still enough to launch him into the top-5 all-time for Mariners right fielders. He would’ve been third prior to 2021, but was passed by the Mariners current guy that mans the position.

Mariners #3 RF: Mitch Haniger  – 10.9 fWAR

You know, if there was one Mariners player that I could pick to have a healthy career, Mitch Haniger would be up there. Sure, there are other ones that you could definitely point to. However, Haniger’s on the team right now, so it’s the one that sticks out and always comes to mind.

Throw out 2019. He was hurt, playing hurt, and nothing went right for him. That leaves three seasons in Seattle that he has gotten to play (since he missed all of 2020). Do you know what his 162 game averages are?

32 HR, 100 R, 92 RBI, 6 SB, 32 2B, .263/.339/.481. That’s with a BABIP that is well below league average as well. I know he is unlikely to play 162 games, but he’s had freak injuries, so I don’t think that it’s unreasonable to think he plays in the mid-150s for games, which is what he did in 2018 and 2021.

2018 easily stands out as the best of his career so far, and put the league on notice that not only was Haniger a good player, he was a legitimate All-Star and someone capable of finishing near the top of the MVP voting. He finished with a 4.5 fWAR that year, although this is one of the biggest differences I can remember seeing between Fangraphs and Baseball-Reference, as they have him at a 6.5. Regardless of what WAR you want to give him, he had an incredible season.

.285/.366/.493, 38 2B, 26 HR, 90 R, 93 RBI, 137 WRC+

With the added power last year, Haniger has a shot at finishing top-10 MVP again. There are just too many insanely good players out there right now for him to win it, but finishing in that 5-7 range seems plausible. He’s currently the 3rd best Mariners RF of all-time. I don’t think there’s any argument to be made, currently, that he is 2nd. However, If he ends up re-signing and sticking around, then there is an amazing chance that he gets to number 2. For now, that belongs to The Bone.

Mariners #2 RF: Jay Buhner – 22.3 fWAR

Buhner Buzzcuts. For those that are old enough to remember, this was something that happened every year while Buhner was here, starting in 1994. Hundreds and then thousands of people would show up before the game to get their hair buzzed, Jay Buhner style, and go into the game. You’d have a boatload of fans, a lot of which would be situated in RF behind Buhner, all rocking the same buzz that The Bone was rocking. It actually had its own name… The Boneyard.

It just further cemented his place as an All-Timer with the Mariners. Kids (and adults) all over the state of Washington were shaving their heads. I know I rocked the shaved head for quite a long time, and it was all because of Buhner.

Oh, it helps that he was a darn good player too. At least at the plate. He wasn’t great in the field, and like Guillen and so many others, was out there because he had a rocket arm. 100 assists in his career, highlighted by 14, 14, 9, 11, 5, 10 from 91-96 with the Mariners.

Even though he wasn’t fast by any means, Buhner was still a decent base runner, only 9.0 runs below average throughout his entire career. For someone who only had 6 SB in his entire career, that’s actually a pretty good number.

What everyone always wants to talk about though, is the bat. Buhner was hitting home runs with the best of them for a while, 27, 25, 27, and then 21 in the shortened 1994 season. Coming into 1995, he became a true force alongside Griffey. He would hit 40, 44, and 40 from 95-97, driving in 121, 138, and 109 over that same time frame.

His WRC+ shows how good he was as well, going 127, 127, 132. It’s a shame for Buhner that 1994 was shortened, as he was having a great season. He was at .279/.394/.542 with a 138 WRC+ with 21 HR in just 101 games. He was also at a 2.5 fWAR. All in all, it ended up being a strong five-year run for Buhner once you throw 1993 in. He went 2.3, 2.5, 2.6, 3.7, 3.0 over that stretch, giving a wonderful outfield partner to The Kid in Center.

Buhner was a joy to have, and it would be cool to see someone take over in that underrated mold of Buhner and Seager.

Mariners #1 RF: Ichiro Suzuki – 54.5 fWAR

Shortstop. Center. DH. Right Field. Everyone knows who the top player is, and there really is no debate about it.

Ichiro is a beast. Imagining what he possibly could’ve done if he spent his entire career in the states puts him in a completely different conversation, and he enters into the greatest MLB Players of All-Time list.

Think about it quickly. If he joins the MLB at 22, he would spend 24 seasons playing. Really, that adds five seasons to the beginning of his career. With how dominant he was in Japan early in his career, (.356, .345, .358, .343, .387) I don’t see any issue with him coming out of the gates strong just like he did at age-27. So, five seasons would be about 1125 more hits to add to his total, as he averaged about 225 his first ten seasons in the bigs. Pete Rose was as 4,256. That would’ve put Ichiro up to 4,214.

Also… imagine if Ichiro came over at 21. You know, back in 1995. I can’t. I’m getting too excited. Ichiro, Griffey, Edgar, A-Rod (96 was the insane year, who cares), and Buhner all in the same lineup? MY OH MY.

Anyway, back to the actual realistic talk about Ichiro and what he did.

Ichiro was a hitting machine. He would slap the ball all over the field, wherever he wanted. He’s the singular guy I think about that would’ve loved to watch the shifts of today, because he would’ve 100% put the time in to adjust how he plays and start hitting it other places since it is what he did anyway.

2004 was the season that he broke the hits record, and it was so fun keeping track of that. Waking up every day to check box scores, whether it was through AOL Dial-up (yes kids, the internet did use to come in the mail), the newspaper, or on ESPN back when they were actually good.

After saying that… Oh man do I feel old. Like, get off my lawn old. Jeez.

By the end of June that year, Ichiro was hitting .315. A great number, and fairly in line with what he had done in his career so far, as he was a .328 hitter through his first three years. Do you remember what he did for the remaining three months of the season?

July – .432

August – .464

September – .379

Goodness gracious that’s insane.

For three months, for 84 games, for just over half the season, Ichiro would hit .423/.459/.509.

It’s hard to comprehend just how good that is. Guys have OBP that high every once in a while. Joey Votto did it a couple of times. So has Trout. Pujols did it. Bonds can shove it. It’s the batting average though. Holy cow. For anyone with 400+ Abs in a season, that would’ve been fifth all-time. EVER. No one has hit anywhere close to that since pre-depression. (No, not the beginning of March 2022, although it feels that way for baseball fans)

Ichiro is the greatest Right Fielder that the Mariners have ever had, and a worthy finisher for rounding out the entire field. Stay tuned to see who follows Edgar as the greatest DH in team history.

We’ve made it all the way around the field. A couple of decisions were made throughout to not put certain hitters in the field, leaving them at DH instead. That’ll be next up, so stay tuned for the greatest DHs in the history of the Seattle Mariners.