Red Sox: Worst outfielders in franchise history
By Rick McNair
The Boston Red Sox have had some wretched outfielders whose play was often amusing and frustrating. Here are my selections.
The first round of examining Boston Red Sox futility was the infielders. That was a collection that had to be reduced considerably. Now the outfielders.
One of the great difficulties in determining fielding ability prior to advanced metrics is the reliance on items such as fielding percentage that can be misleading. There are some dWAR stats available, but my reliance is on first person accounts by myself and others that I remember.
For myself, I have to question if my opinion is being slanted by the combination of seeing a few bad plays and assuming that is the body of work. A second point is that I may have an ingrained prejudice based on an abhorrent behavior pattern. That, however, is for this exercise acceptable.
The outfielders I will mention cover a range of my experience of being a Red Sox fan. As I grew older and better understood some of the basics of outfield play my opinions got tweaked. The understanding of positioning, closing the gaps, going back or in on a ball, relative arm accuracy, and the ability to understand who their partners are in the outfield.
Some that I will single out had decent performances elsewhere – All-Star selections and even Gold Gloves, but this is about Boston. The past is what it is, so my reference is directed to what I saw in Boston.
The worst of the outfielders also will include some hitting futility. Poor hitting is often counterbalanced by great defense. A player can save enough runs (that DRS stat) that it is similar to adding in another 25 RBI.