In Defense of Walker: He Ranks Among Elite Right Fielders in History

Larry Walker is well-known for his offensive abilities. He established himself as one of the game’s best baserunners. But what cannot be overlooked is that Walker is among the elite defensive outfielders in Major League Baseball history.

Walker had a career .986 fielding percentage as a right fielder, which would rank him third among Hall of Fame outfielders. He trails only Tony Gwynn (.987) and Frank Robinson (.986, a minute improvement on Walker).

Courtesy of Stats, Inc., a look at how Walker compares in fielding percentahge to Hall of Famers who played right field:

-	Player	Season	Fld Pct
1	Tony Gwynn	1982-2001(20)	.987
2	Frank Robinson	1961-1972(12)	.986
x	Larry Walker	1989-2005(17)	.986
3	Stan Musial	1941-1962(15)	.986
4	Al Kaline	1953-1973(20)	.985
5	Dave Winfield	1974-1994(18)	.984
6	Andre Dawson	1976-1995(13)	.982
7	Enos Slaughter	1938-1959(18)	.981
8	Mel Ott	1928-1946(19)	.980
9	Hank Aaron	1954-1973(20)	.980
10	Harold Baines	1980-1997(14)	.978
11	Kiki Cuyler	1921-1938(16)	.976
12	Paul Waner	1926-1944(19)	.975
13	Roberto Clemente	1955-1972(18)	.973
14	Sam Rice	1916-1934(17)	.971
15	Harry Hooper	1913-1925(13)	.970
16	Reggie Jackson	1967-1987(21)	.968
17	Babe Ruth	1920-1935(15)	.966
18	Harry Heilmann	1916-1930(14)	.964
19	Vladimir Guerrero	1996-2010(15)	.963
20	Chuck Klein	1928-1944(15)	.963
21	Ross Youngs	1918-1926(9)	.953