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Schuster: Juan Pierre Collects His 2,000th Hit

By: David Schuster

Juan Pierre reached a milestone of 2,000 hits Thursday night but also has been one of the more maligned players in Chicago history. Both Cub and Sox fans have taken turns ripping this guy since he has played on both sides of town.

Truth be told, Pierre is at best an average defensive outfielder with a noodle for an arm but the criticism by some has been way over the top.

Now days you can use all the fancy sabermetric numbers you want to determine a players worth but I prefer to use the old fashioned numbers that I grew up with. Those numbers show Pierre to be a career.297 hitter with an on base percentage of .346. Those are pretty good.

Also good (contrary to popular belief) are the numbers he has put up in his stints on both sides of town. In 2006 with the Cubs, Pierre his .292, amassed 204 hits and stole 58 bases. You don't think the Cubs would kill to have a leadoff hitter like that now? And once his two seasons are over with the Sox he will have averaged 175 hits and hit about.280.

No question that Pierre blew a couple of games early this season with rare drops of fly balls and his start of seasons have been traditionally slow. But, overall he has been a pretty decent leadoff hitter who also has come up with some big hits in the clutch unlike some of the boobs in the middle of the lineup.

Pierre will move on to play in another uniform next season and no question his numbers will continue to drop but he has taken unfair criticism here in Chicago. On both sides of town.

 

 

 

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