I was recently discussing the merits of Juan Pierre as a leadoff hitter, and I was arguing that Pierre is an average, at best, leadoff hitter. In general, a leadoff hitters job is to get on base, and then run the bases well once he gets on. If you get a little pop out of your leadoff hitter (like Soriano), that's just an added bonus. So, I thought I'd take a look at every team's leadoff hitter, and see how Pierre stacks.
New York Yankees: Johnny Damon - .285/.359/.482, 25 SBs, 10 CS's, 24 HRs
Boston Red Sox: Kevin Youkilis - .279/.381/.429, 5 SBs, 2 CS's, 13 HRs
Toronto Blue Jays: Reed Johnson - .319/.390/.479, 8 SBs, 2 CS's, 12 HRs
Baltimore Orioles: Brian Roberts - .286/.347/.410, 36 SBs, 7 CS's, 10 HRs
Tampa Bay Devil Rays: Julio Lugo - .308/.373/.478, 18 SBs, 4 CS's, 12 HRs (73 games)
Detroit Tigers: Curtis Granderson - .260/.335/.438, 8 SBs, 5 CS's, 19 HRs
Chicago White Sox: Scott Podsednik - .261/.330/.353, 40 SBs, 19 CS's, 3 HRs
Minnesota Twins: Luis Castillo - .296/.358/.370, 25 SBs, 11 CS's, 3 HRs
Cleveland Indians: Grady Sizemore - .290/.375/.533, 22 SBs, 6 CS's, 28 HRs
Kansas City Royals: David DeJesus (from Brooklyn!) - .295/.364/.446, 6 SBs, 3 CS's, 8 HRs
Los Angeles Angels: Chone Figgins - .267/.336/.376, 52 SBs, 16 CS's, 9 HRs
Seattle Mariners: Ichiro Suzuki - .322/.370/.416, 45 SBs, 2 CS's, 9 HRs
Texas Rangers: Gary Matthews Jr. - .313/.371/.495, 10 SBs, 7 CS's, 19 HRs
Oakland A's: Jason Kendall - .295/.367/.342 (wow...that SLG is TERRIBLE!!!), 11 SBs, 5 CS's, 1 HR
New York Mets: Jose Reyes - .300/.354/.487, 64 SBs, 17 CS's, 19 HRs
Philadelphia Phillies: Jimmy Rollins - .277/.334/.478, 36 SBs, 4 CS's, 25 HRs
Atlanta Braves: Marcus Giles - .262/.341/.387, 10 SBs, 5 CS's, 11 HRs
Florida Marlins: Hanley Ramirez - .292/.353/.480, 51 SBs, 15 SBs, 17 HRs
Washington Nationals: Alfonso Soriano - .277/.351/.560, 41 SBs, 17 CS's, 46 HRs
St. Louis Cardinals: David Eckstein - .292/.350/.344, 7 SBs, 6 CS's, 2 HRs
Chicago Cubs: Juan Pierre - .292/.330/.388, 58 SBs, 20 CS's, 3 HRs
Houston Astros: Craig Biggio - .246/.306/.422, 3 SBs, 2 CS's, 21 HRs
Pittsburgh Pirates: Chris Duffy - .255/.317/.338, 26 SBs, 1 CS, 2 HR (84 games)
Cincinnati Reds: Ryan Freel - .271/.363/.399, 37 SBs, 11 CS's, 8 HRs
Milwaukee Brewers: Rickie Weeks - .279/.363/.404, 19 SBs, 5 CSs, 8 HRs (95 games)
San Francisco Giants: Randy Winn - .262/.324/.396, 10 SBs, 8 CS's, 11 HRs
Los Anglees Dodgers: Rafael Furcal - .300/.369/.445, 37 SB, 13 CS's, 15 HRs
Arizona Diamondbacks: Craig Counsell - .255/.327/.347, 15 SBs, 8 CS's, 4 HRs
Colorado Rockies: Jamey Carroll - .300/.377/.404, 10 SBs, 12 CS's (that's terrible), 5 HRs
San Diego Padres: Dave Roberts - .293/.360/.393, 49 SBs, 6 CS's, 2 HRs
So, I'd say that Damon, Brian Roberts, Reed Johnson, Lugo, Sizemore, Ichiro, Reyes, Rollins, Soriano, Weeks, Furcal, and Dave Roberts are all considerably better than Pierre. Hanley Ramirez had a much better year than Pierre last year, although he was only a rookie, so the jury is still out.
Pierre is definitively better than Craig Counsell, Jamey Carroll, Randy Winn, Jason Kendall, and Craig Biggio. I'll even give him the edge over Eckstein, Figgins, Castillo, Duffy, and Giles
That means that Pierre is probably somewhere between the 13th best and 20th best leadoff man in baseball.
His OBP is pathetic, his power numbers are even more pathetic, and he falls just below the requisite 75% stolen base clip that many people believe is required to be considered an effective base-stealer. I feel the numbers above support my assertion that Pierre is an average, at-best (and probably below-average) leadoff hitter.
Just wanted to share..
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