Although seamheads have developed several exotic statistical measures that would show Juan Pierre's offense near the bottom of major league center fielders and lead-off men, it only takes a simple old-school stat — on-base percentage — to make the case. Pierre led the league in hits, as the Dodgers stress, but the goal of a lead-off guy isn't to rack up hits but to get on base. Among leadoff hitters who batted first at least 300 times last season, the Dodgers' new CF ranked #24 in on-base percentage. The Dodgers ex-leadoff hitter, Rafael Furcal, ranked #7. (Shocker: Julio Lugo ranked #5 while hitting in the top spot, mostly in Tampa Bay.)
RK PLAYER TEAM OBP (while hitting leadoff)
1 Reed Johnson Tor .391
2 Kevin Youkilis Bos .385
3 Grady Sizemore Cle .374
4 Jason Kendall Oak .373
5 Julio Lugo TB-LA .373
6 Jamey Carroll Col .372
7 Rafael Furcal LA .372
8 Gary Matthews Jr. Tex .372 now with Angels
9 Ichiro Suzuki Sea .370
10 Alfonso Soriano Was .368
11 David DeJesus KC .366
12 Rickie Weeks Mil .360
13 Ryan Freel Cin .359
14 Dave Roberts .359
15 Luis Castillo Min .358
16 Johnny Damon NYY .358
17 Hanley Ramirez Fla .358
18 Jose Reyes NYM .354
19 David Eckstein StL .347
20 Brian Roberts Bal .347
21 Curtis Granderson Det .344
22 Jimmy Rollins Phi .338
23 Marcus Giles Atl .334
24 Juan Pierre ChC .333
25 Scott Podsednik CWS .327
26 Craig Counsell Ari .327
27 Willy Taveras Hou .326
28 Randy Winn SF .325
29 Chris Duffy Pit .323
30 Chone Figgins LAA .321
31 Craig Biggio Hou .310
This surprised me: Pierre moves up to #22 when the sort is on slugging percentage. With his 32 doubles and 13 triples, he jumps ahead of punchless lead-off guys like Marcus Giles and Jason Kendall. Noted: Figgins' overall OBP is .336, a little better than Pierre's .330.
Stats are from ESPN.com
