Juan Pierre (5-7-25)

Juan talks about the 2009 Dodgers, mentoring younger players like Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier, and the "Beast Mode" mentality.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
We are in Florida, and that means a former Dodger
always comes to see some of the guys that he
still connects with on a daily basis as much as
he can. And that's the one and only. Jan Pierre One.
Great to see you, and beast mood still lives on. Ah.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
Thanks man.

Speaker 3 (00:15):
Always good to be here and connect. Really loved my
time in LA with the Dodgers. Man, so I bled
that Dodger blue. So it's always good to come back
and see old faces.

Speaker 1 (00:25):
We were reminiscing about two thousand and nine about the
good days with Matt Camp and Andre Ethier. What do
you remember about those guys as they were coming up
and just trying to make a name for themselves.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
You just knew they were special from the on set.

Speaker 3 (00:40):
I got a free agent deal, so I didn't know
much about him and I got it, and I'm like, man,
these guys are really good and just trying to help
them throughout their early in their career, because that's what
guys did for me when I was a young guy.
But you knew they were going to be special. Alone
with Russell Martin, James Loney, they had billis Lee Robson,
They had a lot of young guys there, and it

(01:00):
was kind of turning the tame from from the older
guys to the for them taking over. And those guys
proved to be pretty good. They they went on a
run too here and helped the Dodgers to what they
are right now.

Speaker 1 (01:13):
What did it mean to you in your career to
be able to play such a big part in those
guys's career, especially Matt Kemp.

Speaker 2 (01:21):
That's what it's all about.

Speaker 3 (01:22):
I think that's the essence of the sports, sports in general,
definitely baseball. You pass on your knowledge to the younger crew,
and then they pass it on and they pass it on,
and that's what it is. And I don't know how
much of a part I played in it, but it
definitely was really nice to see them as become All Stars,
you know, MVP votes and all that stuff, which you

(01:43):
kind of known.

Speaker 2 (01:44):
In their career early that they had that the.

Speaker 3 (01:47):
Opportunity to get to those levels and just to see
it come to fuition was really.

Speaker 1 (01:52):
Cooljan Pierre started the mentality of beast mode, Matt Kemp
carried it forward. Can you remind us what the mentality
and what beast smode represented to you?

Speaker 2 (02:02):
Uh?

Speaker 3 (02:02):
Bespo was just every single day, every single day, you
bringing it, you get, leaving it all out on the field,
whether you're good or bad, whether it's a left or
right he throwing, whether you're starting or not starting. It
was just that mentality that it had on the back
was twenty four seven three sixty five, So that meant
every day and as you know, baseball can be every
day most of the year, and just having that mentality

(02:26):
that if you don't even feel good, you don't feel right,
you could still bring some and help the team win
that day.

Speaker 1 (02:31):
Do you feel like you were a guy that led
by example or did you have to vocalize all of that?

Speaker 2 (02:36):
Beast Smode led by example a lot.

Speaker 3 (02:39):
Guys will always see me at the field early, always
in the cage, always doing something, and I know they
used to.

Speaker 2 (02:44):
Say, man, do you ever sit down in your locker?
You know what I mean?

Speaker 3 (02:46):
So, and I would talk, you know some to them,
but mostly I like to lead by example and just
being out there every day because I believe that old
seven year I played on one sixty two that year
and I think Kemp got to see it andret this
guy's out there every single day, So I think that
carried on, and I know Kemp really wanted.

Speaker 2 (03:05):
To play every game, you know, he didn't like sitting out.
So that was that was cool to see.

Speaker 1 (03:09):
To see the career that Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier had.
Did you see that when you got to the Dodgers?
Did you envision they had a chance to have that
lasting impact?

Speaker 2 (03:19):
Oh, without a doubt.

Speaker 3 (03:20):
I mean Kemp was a god, could hit the ball
eight hundred feet and run still fifty bases and and
and do that type stuff.

Speaker 2 (03:27):
And Ethier just had such a.

Speaker 3 (03:28):
Sweet swing, great defender, smart base runner. It's just a
matter of them getting games under their belt. You know,
they were young, and even when they're young, we're there.
I think we made the playoffs two of the three
years that I was there, so they were getting the
playoff experience early in their careers.

Speaker 2 (03:43):
And to see them blossom. And now they're family.

Speaker 3 (03:46):
Man, they have families, kids and and all that stuff.

Speaker 2 (03:49):
So that's that's that's.

Speaker 3 (03:50):
Really even more important to see than even the baseball side.

Speaker 1 (03:54):
Wan Pierre is our guest, and we were talking right
now with Scott Akasaki. You coach kids out here in Florida.
If you had to give over zealous parents an advice
on how to handle their Little leaguers. What would be
the biggest piece of advice.

Speaker 3 (04:08):
Let them have fun the kids. We know the business
side of it. It gets serious enough when you get
paid to play. These kids are young, They're gonna make mistakes,
they're gonna do stuff.

Speaker 2 (04:17):
That frustrate you.

Speaker 3 (04:18):
But as a parent, you just try to encourage them
as much as possible and just let them be kids.
Let them have fun. I remember my Little League day.
That was the best time of life. You get to
play with your boys, have fun, You go to school
with the kids, you play on the weekend, and basically
it was fun.

Speaker 2 (04:32):
It wasn't drills every day.

Speaker 3 (04:34):
It wasn't Now you get your work in, but you
don't need to be over zealous about anything. But most
important for the parent is just encourage the kid and
always be there for them. And they don't need you
to coach and yell from the stands every time.

Speaker 2 (04:48):
And as a coach, let us coach them for two hours.

Speaker 1 (04:51):
Yeah, Wan Pier doesn't need any coaching from the stands.

Speaker 2 (04:55):
Well, I probably can't.

Speaker 3 (04:56):
I'm not the best, I'm not the gourgu but I
know the.

Speaker 2 (04:58):
Kids don't get nothing out of it. Just confuse them.
I'm telling them one thing, and the parents and another thing,
and the kids get all confused.

Speaker 3 (05:04):
But at the end of the day's for the kids,
and hopefully they have fun and they have smiles on
their face. Even if they cry out you lose, it's
all gonna make them better at the end.

Speaker 1 (05:13):
Juan Pierre, awesome to see you. You've left a big
impact on so many guys. I've seen it here in
a short time in the Dodger Clubhouse, so your legacy
lives on through a lot of other people. Thanks a
lot for the time.

Speaker 2 (05:24):
Thank you anytime.