Riley Greene Joins Elite Company on SI’s Top Outfielders List
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Things have not been going well for the Detroit Tigers lately, to put it mildly. Fresh off a four-game home sweep at the hands of the division rival Cleveland Guardians, the club has now lost six in a row and nine of their last 10 to fall to an AL Central-worst 20-31, 9.5 games back of the Guardians.
One of the few bright spots in what has been a trying, injury-marred season in Detroit, however, has been star left fielder Riley Greene.
Although Greene is well off track of the 36 home runs he hit last season (he has four thus far), the 25-year-old is pretty much a lock to be named to a third consecutive All-Star team thanks to his American League-leading .326 average and 59 base hits. His average is up nearly 70 points from the .258 mark he recorded last season, while he is getting on base at a .422 clip, more than 100 points higher than his .313 OBP from a year ago.
Greene Cracks SI's List of Top-15 Outfielders
Having reinvented himself from slugging power hitter to on-base maven and on track for his third consecutive All-Star selection before the age of 26, it's no surprise that Greene has been recognized as one of Sports Illustrated's top-15 outfielders.
On a list penned by SI writers Ryan Phillips and Tim Capurso, Greene earns a No. 12 ranking - one spot ahead of Los Angeles Angels legend Mike Trout - for both his legacy as a power hitter and for his improved plate approach in 2026.
As part of their ranking, Phillips and Capurso acknowledged Greene's impressive power numbers over the past two seasons, including a 2025 campaign that resulted in a Silver Slugger award. While recognizing his reputation for sometimes showing impatience at bat (he struck out a league-high 201 times last season), they lauded his improved chase, strikeout and walk rates in 2026.
Greene was the fourth-youngest player to be represented on the list (behind No. 9 James Wood, No. 10 Pete Crow-Armstrong and No. 15 Andy Pages), and Phillips and Capurso made a point of mentioning that he is poised to continue climbing the list in future years.
Because he is still so young, Greene remains under club control through to 2029 and is currently earning a mere $5 million this season.
Eventually, the Tigers will have to open the vault to sign him to what will surely be a lucrative long-term deal. In the meantime, though, their savvy scouting department has helped the club secure Greene and AL Rookie of the Year contender Kevin McGonigle as cost-controlled assets who will be lineup mainstays for years to come.
With so much going wrong for Detroit at the moment and with the impending free agency of Tarik Skubal casting a tall shadow over the organization, it's worth finding a silver lining in the form of Greene, a rising star who likely isn't going anywhere any time soon.
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Ben Fisher is a long-time sportswriter and baseball lover, dating back to 2008, when he was a member of the media relations team for the Toronto Blue Jays. He has covered a wide range of sports for a seemingly endless array of publications, including The Canadian Press, Fansided and The Hockey Writers. When he isn't writing about sports, he can be found coaching his equally baseball-obsessed sons' Little League teams.