Juan D'Vaughn Pierre (born August 14, 1977) is an American former professional baseball outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 2000–2013 for the Colorado Rockies, Florida/Miami Marlins, Chicago Cubs, Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago White Sox, and Philadelphia Phillies. Known for his speed, he stole 614 bases in his career, the 18th-most in MLB history at the time of his retirement, and the most since 2000. He worked as an MLB Network on-air analyst before joining the Marlins as a Minor League Outfield Coordinator for the 2019 season.
In 1,994 games over 14 seasons, Pierre posted a .295 batting average, with 2217 hits (the most by a non-all-star), 1075 runs, 255 doubles, 94 triples, 18 home runs, 517 RBI, 614 stolen bases, 464 bases on balls, .343 on-base percentage and .361 slugging percentage. His 205 bunt hits are the second most all-time. He finished his career with a .990 fielding percentage playing at center and left field. In 26 postseason games, he hit .304 (24-for-79), with 16 runs, five doubles, two triples, seven RBI, three stolen bases and eight walks.
In retrospective rankings published by MLB.com, Pierre was named the best center fielder in Marlins franchise history and fifth all-time among Rockies center fielders.
He was born in Mobile, Alabama, to Derry and James. Soon after his birth, his family moved to Alexandria, Louisiana. The Pierre family have been deeply rooted in Louisiana since colonial times and are of Creole heritage. Juan was named after Dominican Hall of Fame pitcher and former Giants player Juan Marichal, his father's favorite player, who also gave him his middle name, D'Vaughn, because he said it had a "good rhyme to it." He attended Alexandria Senior High School, where he played baseball, basketball, and was the salutatorian of his graduating class.
He has four sons Joshua, Jonathan, Jacob and Jairus, with his wife Liz.
He was mentioned in the song "Déjà Vu" by Beyonce and Jay-Z in the line "I used to run base like Juan Pierre."
In 1996, he played summer league baseball for the Manitowoc Skunks of the Northwoods League. He led the league with a .360 batting average. Pierre was the second Northwoods League alum to play in MLB.
He played college baseball at Galveston College in 1997 and the University of South Alabama in 1998. With the South Alabama Jaguars, Pierre was the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year, leading the league in stolen bases (54), runs (77), and hits. The Jaguars finished the season with a 42-19 record and won the Sun Belt regular-season championship. He was later inducted into the South Alabama Athletic Hall of Fame.
Pierre was drafted twice by the Seattle Mariners, in 1995 and 1996, before signing with the Colorado Rockies, who drafted him in the 13th round of the 1998 MLB draft.
He began his professional career in 1998 with the Portland Rockies of the Northwest League. He won the league batting and stolen base titles in his first professional season and was a fan favorite. Pierre moved on to the Asheville Tourists in 1999, again batting well over .300 and began 2000 with the Carolina Mudcats before finishing the year in Colorado.
Pierre made his major league debut on August 7, 2000, as a pinch runner for the Rockies against the Pittsburgh Pirates. He made his first start in center field the following day and got his first hit in the first inning off José Silva. He appeared in 51 games in 2000, hitting .310 with 20 RBIs and 7 stolen bases. Pierre received a single vote in 2000 National League Rookie of the Year voting, tying him for sixth place with Lance Berkman and Chuck Smith.
In 2001, Pierre became the Rockies primary starter in center field, appearing in 156 games, 140 of which were starts, hitting .327 with 2 home runs and 55 RBIs. He led the NL in both stolen bases (46) and caught stealing (17), and his 202 hits were second behind the San Francisco Giants' Rich Aurilia.
Prior to the start of the 2002 season, Pierre signed a 4-year, $7.5 million contract extension, which kept him signed through the 2005 season. In the 2002 season, Pierre was once again the starter in center field, appearing in 152 games, starting 133 of them, and hit .287 with 1 home run and 35 RBIs. His 47 stolen bases and 144 singles both ranked 2nd in the NL, trailing only the Marlins' Luis Castillo in both categories.
On November 16, 2002, Pierre was traded along with Mike Hampton and cash to the Florida Marlins for Charles Johnson, Preston Wilson, Vic Darensbourg, and Pablo Ozuna.
In the 2003 regular season, Pierre posted a .305 batting average, led the NL in games played (162), at-bats (668), stolen bases (65), and sacrifice hits (15), and he led the majors with the lowest strikeout percentage (5.2%). During the postseason, he was a major contributor to the Marlins' 2003 World Series championship. He batted .333 in the World Series and .301 overall in his first playoff experience. Pierre received thirty-nine votes in 2003 National League MVP voting, finishing in tenth place.
In 2004, he led the National League in at-bats (for the second year in a row) with 678; hits (221); triples (12); games played (162); bunt hits (24); infield hits (38); and strikeout percentage (5.2%). In addition, he was the only major league player to play every inning of each of his team's games, being the last player to do so as of 2023. Pierre received nine votes in 2004 National League MVP voting, tying him for sixteenth place with Todd Helton.
In 2005, Pierre led the National League in games played (162) and had the third-lowest strikeout percentage in baseball (6.9%).
He holds Marlins single-season records for hits (221 in 2004), multi-hit games (70 in 2004), triples (12 in 2004) and stolen bases (65 in 2003).