MLB: The most valuable right fielders of 2019
By Bill Felber
Hunter Renfroe, San Diego Padres, $7.529 million value; $582,000 salary
The Padres traded Renfroe to the Rays in December for Tommy Pham, who ranked as the fourth best MLB left fielder. In case you’re wondering, Pham delivered about $2 million more in 2019 performance than Renfroe, so feel free to wonder what it was that prompted the Rays to value Renfroe more dearly than Pham.
Whatever it was didn’t have much to do with Renfroe’s offensive production. In 140 appearances he batted just .216, although the value of that was enhanced by 33 home runs. Despite the lackluster average, his 102 OPS+ does identify him as an average threat at the plate, and he managed to produce a 2.6 WAR that was 12th best at the position, worth $4.87 million.
Renfroe’s hidden asset was his arm. He piled up a position-best 13 assists as a right fielder, good for $1.418 million. His 998 innings on the field was average, amounting to $1.241 million in value. Those defensive attributes nudged him ahead of both Trey Mancini and Nicholas Castellanos into the top 10.
Renfroe is a first-year arbitration case, and there have been published projections that he could win as much as $3.5 million. Given the presence of Austin Meadows (see below) in Tampa’s right field, Renfroe is expected to shift to Pham’s vacated spot in left for 2020.