Juan Pierre, one of the top leadoff hitters in baseball, is a seven-year Major League veteran who recently signed a five-year contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers in late November 2006. One of the toughest players to strike out in the game, he spent the 2006 season with the Chicago Cubs, where he led the National League with 204 hits and 609 at-bats while finishing second with 58 stolen bases. Last year, he batted .292 with 89 runs scored, 32 doubles, 13 triples and three home runs while playing errorless in 384 chances in center field. The durable Pierre has played in all 162 regular season games in each of the past four seasons and enters the 2007 campaign with a career batting average of .303 with 607 runs scored, 1,244 hits, 149 doubles, 61 triples, 12 homers, 287 RBIs and 325 stolen bases in 1,007 contests.
Before playing just one season in Chicago, Pierre was a member of the Florida Marlins (2003-05) and Colorado Rockies (2000-02). He led the National League in stolen bases in both 2001 and 2003. Pierre was a major contributor to the Marlins’ 2003 World Series championship, batting .305 with 65 steals during the regular season before hitting .333 with five walks and a .481 on-base percentage in his first World Series. In 2004, he led the league in at-bats for the second straight year with 678, in hits with 221 and in triples with 12. In addition, he was the only player in the Major Leagues to play every inning of each game in 2004, and only the third player to accomplish that feat since 1971.
Pierre was drafted on three occasions, the last time in 1998 by Colorado in the 13th round. He hit .352 in his first minor league season and made his Major League debut on Aug. 7, 2000. Pierre attended the University of South Alabama in his hometown of Mobile, earning Sun Belt Conference Player-of-the-Year honors in 1998. He also attended Galveston (Texas) Junior College and graduated from Alexandria (La.) High School.
A lifelong Catholic, Pierre has a very strong faith in the Lord. His father was Catholic and his mother was Baptist, so he has a lot of appreciation for all Christians. Pierre was very influenced by Jack McKeon, his former manager, who used to take him to daily Mass while playing for the Marlins. Pierre says a little prayer, “I can do all things through Christ” and makes the sign of the cross before every at-bat.
