Milwauke Brewers' Christian Yelich Names All-Time Outfielder Mount Rushmore
In this story:
Baseball and gaming YouTuber SeeHendo recently spoke with Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Christian Yelich about a handful of topics, including who the former All-Star would put on his Mount Rushmore of MLB outfielders.
According to Yelich, Ken Griffey Jr., Barry Bonds, Willie Mays and Mike Trout are the top four outfielders in baseball history.
Bonds has the highest career WAR of any position player at 162.8, in addition to owning the all-time records for home runs and walks. Mays ranks No. 2 in WAR during the live ball era, and he stands along Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron as the only members of the 600 home run club to also own a career batting average over .300.
Griffey and Trout were certainly on pace for that kind of production before their 30th birthdays, but both struggled with injuries after electric starts to their careers.
Still, Griffey has the second-most home runs by any player not connected to steroids since Mays and Aaron retired, only behind first baseman Albert Pujols. Trout, meanwhile, leads active players with a 85.2 career WAR, and he still has plenty of years left to crawl up the leaderboards.
Notably left off of Yelich's Mount Rushmore were Ruth, Aaron, Ted Williams and Mickey Mantle, among others.
Yelich hardly ever had a shot to break into that company, but he was on pace to be one of the top outfielders of his generation through seven big league seasons.
From 2013 to 2019, Yelich hit .301 with an .875 OPS, averaging 24 home runs, 22 stolen bases and 88 RBI per 162 games. Yelich finally broke out when the Miami Marlins traded him to the Brewers, winning back-to-back batting and OPS titles in 2018 and 2019.
Yelich won NL MVP in 2018, then finished second in 2019.
The next three years were not as kind to Yelich, as he hit .243 with a .745 OPS and 17 home runs, 16 stolen bases and 74 RBI per 162 games from 2020 to 2022. Yelich was putting up similar numbers through 60-plus games in 2023, batting .253 with a .738 OPS and just seven home runs.
Since June 10, though, Yelich is batting .305 with an .884 OPS. If he had played at this level for a full season, Yelich could have reached 24 home runs, 28 stolen bases and 106 RBI.
Follow Fastball on FanNation on social media
Continue to follow our Fastball on FanNation coverage on social media by LIKING us on Facebook and by following us on Twitter @FastballFN.
You can also subscribe to "The Payoff Pitch" podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
