White Sox' Pierre never stops working
GLENDALE, Ariz. — Some days, it's exhausting just to watch Juan Pierre work.
Make that almost every day.
Now 33, Pierre hasn't slowed down much, on the basepaths and definitely not in his work regimen.
Meet the man who embodies the cliché first on the field and last off.
And don't look now but one of the hardest-working men in baseball has put in parts of 11 big-league seasons.
If he's in the leadoff spot, as expected, Friday as the White Sox start the 2011 season at Cleveland, it'll be his eighth Opening Day as a major-league leadoff man.
He credits, naturally, the hard work.
“I think God put that in me at an early age, and now it's just second nature,” he said Monday before the White Sox took on the Cincinnati Reds at Camelback Ranch. “I call it preparation.
“I don't get there early just to play on the computers or hang out in the clubhouse. I'm early doing work. If I don't have any work to do that day, which is never, then I wouldn't get in so early.”
Pierre's pregame regimen, which can begin six or seven hours before a night game during the regular season, might include running, lifting, stretching, bunting and hitting.
“I know what I need to do every day to prepare to play this game,” he said. “That's one of the main reasons I've stayed around so long, because I put in the work.
“But you've got to go out there and perform. You can do all the work you want, but if you bat .190 every year, I guarantee you wouldn't have been in the big leagues for 10 years. You've definitely got to perform. That helps the way I perform, the preparation.”
Pierre is an interesting study as a leadoff man, and like most players he's not without his detractors.
He is a lifetime .298 hitter, and he has 527 stolen bases, including 68 last year to lead the major leagues. He became the first White Sox player to lead the big leagues in steals since Luis Aparicio in 1961.
Pierre's career on-base percentage is .341, which raises red flags among some statistically inclined observers. His walk and strikeout rates are virtually identical, at around 6 percent, but he also makes contact with about 94 percent of pitches he swings at.
He has an admirer in Reds manager Dusty Baker, who managed Pierre with the Cubs in 2006. Pierre led the National League with 699 at-bats that year but had an OBP of just .330.
“I love Juan Pierre,” Baker said. “Nobody works harder. Nobody's here earlier. Nobody lives cleaner. He stays ready. A lot of people get down on him because he's a leadoff man but not with a .380 on-base percentage. But what he hits is what his on-base percentage is.
“What he swings at, he usually puts in play. He'd have a higher on-base percentage and walk more if he would swing and foul off pitches and they can't repeat pitches to him.
“But when he swings, most of the time it goes into play. I don't see anything wrong with what he's doing.”
Pierre did walk 45 times last year, the most since he had 45 walks in 2004 with the Florida Marlins.
“And the hit-by-pitches,” he quickly added, pointing to the 21 times he was plunked last year. “Some of them, I was aiming to do it, and some of it is they like to throw inside a lot in the American League.”
Pierre's work ethic has kept him not only stealing bases but playing in general. In each season from 2003-07, he played in all 162 games. He fell off the pace for two years but then rebounded to play in 160 for the White Sox last season.
Opening Day, he says, will be special.
“Just Opening Day in general, it's a great feeling,” Pierre said. “It's Opening Day, and then you start the rest of the season.
“Just grateful and just thankful to be around to have these Opening Days and getting the family involved and have them enjoying it. It's one of the best days of the year.”