Hunter Andrew Pence (born April 13, 1983) is a Major League Baseball right fielder for the San Francisco Giants. He previously played for the Houston Astros and Philadelphia Phillies. Pence stands 6Â feet 4Â inches (193Â cm) tall and weighs 220 pounds (100Â kg). He bats and throws right-handed. He was a member of the 2012 World Series and 2014 World Series championship teams with the San Francisco Giants.
Early life
Pence attended Arlington High School in Arlington, Texas. After playing outfield his first three years, he moved to shortstop his senior year. He attended Texarkana College for a year and was a designated hitter on the baseball team. He transferred to the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) where he returned to the outfield. He hit .347 as a sophomore in 2003 and was named a first-team all-conference outfielder. Despite missing 15 of UTA's 30 Southland Conference games the following year due to an injury at mid-season, he was still named the 2004 Southland Conference player of the year, leading the league with a .395 batting average. Pence still holds the conference record for doubles in a single series, with 5.
Professional career
Drafts and minor leagues
Pence was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 40th round of the 2002 Major League Baseball Draft, but did not sign. In the 2004 Major League Baseball Draft he was drafted in the second round (64th pick overall) by the Houston Astros out of the University of Texas at Arlington. He played the 2004 season with the single A Tri-City ValleyCats in Troy, New York. During that year, Pence, along with current major leaguer Ben Zobrist helped lead the 'Cats to a 50 win season in the New Yorkâ€"Penn League, the second-most in ValleyCats history. That year, the 'Cats defeated the Brooklyn Cyclones in the first round, but lost to the Mahoning Valley Scrappers in the league championship.
In 2006 with the AA Corpus Christi Hooks, Pence batted .283 and hit 28 home runs, with 95 RBIs. He had 17 stolen bases, while being caught stealing only 4 times. In 2006, he was one of three outfielders named to the Baseball America Minor League All-Star Team. Pence began the 2007 season as the AAA Round Rock Express' center fielder, though he made a serious run to make the big league club out of spring training.
Houston Astros (2007-2011)
2007
Pence made his major league debut as the Houston Astros center fielder on April 28, 2007, versus the Milwaukee Brewers and got his first major league hit and scored his first run. Pence's first home run in the majors was a grand slam, against the St. Louis Cardinals on May 5. Pence hit a dramatic walk-off home run against José Mesa of the Philadelphia Phillies in the bottom of the 13th inning at Minute Maid Park on July 3 in a 5â€"4 win. It was Mesa's only pitch of the game. Pence was named National League co-Player of the Week for May 14â€"20, after recording a 1.091 slugging percentage and .625 on-base percentage with 2 home runs and 5 RBIs.
On July 23, general manager Tim Purpura announced that Pence would be out with a small chipped bone fracture in his right wrist. On August 21, Pence was activated from the disabled list. At that point, despite having missed a month he was 4th among NL rookies in at bats. Pence led NL rookies in triples (9), and was 2nd to Ryan Braun in batting average (.322), on-base percentage (.360), slugging percentage (.539), and OPS (.899).
Pence was a unanimous selection to the 2007 Topps Major League Rookie All-Star Team. The selection was the result of the 49th annual Topps balloting of Major League managers. Pence (15 points) came in third, and lost out to Braun (128 points) in the vote for the 2007 NL Sporting News Rookie of the Year Award by 488 major league players and 30 managers. He also lost out to Braun in the competition for the 2007 Baseball America Rookie of the Year Award, in the vote for the 2007 Players Choice NL Most Outstanding Rookie by their fellow major league players, and in the Baseball Prospectus 2007 Internet Baseball NL Rookie of the Year Award, with 16 first place votes, versus 666 for Braun.
2008â€"11
After Michael Bourn was traded from the Philadelphia Phillies to the Astros before the 2008 season, Pence moved to right field while Bourn took over in center. In his sophomore season, Pence set new personal single-season records in home runs (25), runs batted in (83), doubles (25), hits (160), and at bats (595). However, his batting average dipped to .269, his on-base percentage fell to .318, and his slugging percentage also fell to .466. Pence led the league in outfield assists with 16, committed 1 error, and had a fielding percentage of .997.
In his third season (2009), Pence was named an All-Star for the first time.
In his fourth season (2010), Pence batted .282 with 25 home runs, drove in 91 RBIS and played 156 games. For the week of August 30â€"September 5, 2010, Pence was named National League Player of the Week for the second time in his career after batting .500 (11-for-22) and slugging .909 with two home runs.
Pence was named a 2011 All-Star as a reserve, the second time he made the All-Star team. He was brought into the middle of the game, threw out José Bautista from the outfield, and scored the National League's 5th run of the game. At the All-Star break, Pence was batting .321 with 10 home runs and 59 RBIs.
Philadelphia Phillies (2011-2012)
2011
On July 29, 2011, the Houston Astros traded Pence to the Philadelphia Phillies for four minor-league players: first baseman Jonathan Singleton, right-handers Jarred Cosart and Josh Zeid, and a player to be named later, determined to be outfielder Domingo Santana. On August 4, Pence hit his first home run as a Phillie, against Madison Bumgarner.
Pence finished fourth in the NL in batting average (.314; behind Jose Reyes, Ryan Braun, and Matt Kemp) and eighth in RBI, with 97. Pence made the playoffs for the first time in his career; however, the Phillies lost the 2011 National League Division Series to the eventual World Series-champion St. Louis Cardinals in 5 games.
San Francisco Giants (2012-present)
2012
On July 31, 2012, the Phillies sent Pence in a deadline deal to the San Francisco Giants. In return, the Phillies received Nate Schierholtz, Tommy Joseph, and Seth Rosin. On August 12, Pence hit his first home run as a Giant off Rockies' relief pitcher Rafael Betancourt. On August 21, despite Pence no longer being on the team, the Phillies went ahead with a previously-planned Hunter Pence bobblehead promotion.
Before Game 3 of the 2012 NLDS, with the Giants down 2â€"0 and facing elimination against the Cincinnati Reds, Pence gave his teammates a passionate pregame speech in the dugout shortly before the first pitch. The Giants ended up beating the Reds in 3 straight games to advance to the NLCS. His inspirational speeches have been credited by his teammates as helping them rally together during the Giants' postseason and to eventually win the 2012 World Series. His speeches have also become the source of good-natured ribbing between Giants teammates.
2013
On July 13, 2013, Pence had a five-RBI game in a 9â€"0 Giants win over the San Diego Padres at Petco Park. With two outs in the bottom of the 8th inning, Pence robbed Jedd Gyorko of a hit by making a diving catch to preserve Tim Lincecum's no-hitter. On August 27, 2013, Hunter Pence hit what at the time was the longest home run of the season to date. The ball hit a wall above the left field bleacher seats at Coors Field. According to ESPN Tracking, the ball traveled an estimated 476 feet.
Pence was named NL Player of the Month for September, hitting .293 with a .393 on-base percentage and 11 home runs and 32 RBIs. On September 10, Pence hit his 20th home run in the 1st inning and became the 7th San Francisco Giants player to hit 20 home runs and steal 20 bases in the same season and the first since Barry Bonds in 1998. (Bobby Bonds, Willie Mays, Jeffrey Leonard, Orlando Cepeda and Glenallen Hill are the others.) On September 14, Pence lifted his first career Giants grand slam over the center-field wall at Dodgers Stadium in Los Angeles off of Los Angeles Dodgers relief pitcher Stephen Fife and drove in a career-high 7 RBIs, helping propel the Giants to a historic 19â€"3 rout of their longtime rival the Dodgers. With the help of Brandon Belt's first career five-hit game, they scored the most runs in the history of Dodger Stadium. On September 16, Pence was named National League Player of the Week for the third time in his career, after hitting .448 with 6 home runs and 19 RBI.
On September 27, Pence won the Willie Mac Award. The next day, Pence agreed to a 5-year, $90 million contract extension with the Giants through the 2018 season. Pence started all 162 games during the 2013 season, becoming the first Giants player to do so since Alvin Dark in 1954, when the season was 154 games long.
2014
On July 6, Pence was elected to his third All-Star Game. On the second-to-last game of the season, Pence was held out of the starting lineup, ending his streak of consecutive starts at 331. Pence pinch-hit in the seventh inning to continue his games-played streak.
On October 7, in Game 4 of the 2014 NLDS against the favored Washington Nationals, Pence made a leaping catch against the right field wall in the 6th inning to deny Jayson Werth an extra-base hit. This dramatic play held the Giants' 2â€"1 lead, helping the Giants to secure an eventual 3â€"2 victory.
In Game 4 of the 2014 World Series, Pence went 3â€"5 with a double, scored two runs, had three RBIs including one by beating out a double play in the first leading to a run, scored on a fly caught by Jarrod Dyson in shallow center field, and made a nice sliding catch of a bloop hit by Lorenzo Cain in the ninth.
His performance helped lead the Giants to their third World Series title in five years, as San Francisco went on to beat the Royals 3â€"2 in Game 7. Pence finished the series batting .444 with 5 RBIs and 7 runs scored. He had 12 hits in the series and, along with teammate Brandon Belt, had at least one hit in every game of the 7 game series. Pence's performance drew some media comparisons to Barry Bonds, in terms of unusual statistical production.
2015
On March 5, 2015, Pence suffered a fractured left forearm after being hit by a pitch during a spring training game against the Chicago Cubs. He started the regular season on the disabled list, ending his league-leading iron man streak of consecutive games played at 383. Pence started a rehab assignment with the Triple-A Sacramento River Cats on May 8 and was activated from the disabled list on May 16. Pence batted .282 with two home runs and 13 RBIs in 18 games before returning to the disabled list on June 11 with left wrist tendinitis.
Pence was re-activated on July 7 and drove in two runs and started a double play after making a diving catch in a 3â€"0 victory over the New York Mets. On July 10, Pence hit an opposite-field grand slam off former teammate Cole Hamels, part of a 15â€"2 rout of the Philadelphia Phillies. Pence returned to the disabled list on August 20 with a left oblique strain and missed the rest of the season.
2016
Pence was named National League Player of the Week for the fourth time in his career after batting .421 (8-for-19) with 2 home runs and 10 RBIs during April 25â€"May 1, 2016. On May 14, Pence hit his 200th career home run in a game against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
On June 1, Pence suffered a torn hamstring tendon of the right leg while running to first base and was expected to miss at least eight weeks.
2017
On May 15, Pence was placed on the 10-day disabled list due to a troubling left hamstring.
Hunter Pence Signs
Opposing fans hold whimsical signs making reference to Pence. Apparently, this trend started in 2014 with a photo his girlfriend posted of Pence in a NY diner holding a sign "These pretzels are making me thirsty." Pence was in NY because the Giants had a series against the New York Mets. During that series, Mets fans held up signs saying things such as "Hunter Pence Puts Ketchup on His Hot Dog" and "Hunter Pence Eats Pizza With a Fork" (two typical NYC taboos). Since then, the "Hunter Pence Sign" phenomenon has taken off. Kansas City Royals fans held up signs saying "Hunter Pence Picks the Hamburger in the Hot Dog Race" (one of Pence's favorites), "Hunter Pence Thinks Kansas City's in Kansas" and "Hunter Pence wears socks with sandals." Other signs have included "Hunter Pence Likes Godfather 3," "Hunter Pence can't parallel park," "Hunter Pence brings 13 items to the express lane," "Hunter Pence hates bacon," "Hunter Pence lives in a van down by the river," and "Hunter Pence still has a Blockbuster card."
Personal life
During the 2013 season, Pence kept to a strict Paleolithic diet. There have been conflicting reports since about his retention of this diet.
Also in 2013 he was diagnosed with Scheuermann's disease, a spinal disorder that usually develops in adolescence. It was not discovered in Pence until his physical before signing a five-year $90 million contract with the San Francisco Giants in September.
On December 3, 2015, Pence announced his engagement to Alexis Cozombolidis, to whom he proposed at Walt Disney World. They married on November 26, 2016.
Pence appeared as himself in an episode of the television sitcom Fuller House in 2016. Pence appeared as a guest on an episode of Bill Nye Saves the World in 2017.
Pence is the San Francisco host for Big League Impact, an eight-city fantasy football network created and led by longtime St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright. In 2015, the organization raised more than $1 million total for various charitable organizations.
Awards
- 2003 â€" Summer League First-Team All-American DH
- 2003 â€" Southland Conference All-Star OF
- 2004 â€" Southland Conference Player of the Year
- 2004 â€" Southland Conference All-Star OF
- 2004 â€" Southland Conference Hitter of the Year
- 2005 â€" Low A All-Star OF
- 2005 â€" Houston Astros Minor League Player of the Year
- 2005 â€" South Atlantic League All-Star OF
- 2005 â€" South Atlantic League Most Outstanding Prospect
- 2006 â€" Future Games selection
- 2006 â€" Baseball America Minor League All-Star
- 2006 â€" Arizona Fall League All-Prospect Team
- 2007 â€" National League Player of the Week (May 14â€"20, 2007), along with José Valverde of the Arizona Diamondbacks
- 2007 â€" National League Rookie of the Month- for the month of May.
- 2009 â€" National League All-Star
- 2010 â€" National League Player of the Week (August 29â€"September 5, 2010)
- 2011 â€" National League All-Star
- 2012 â€" World Series Champion
- 2013 â€" National League Player of the Week (September 9â€"15, 2013)
- 2013 â€" National League Player of the Month (September)
- 2013 â€" Willie Mac Award
- 2014 â€" National League All-Star
- 2014 â€" World Series Champion
- 2016 â€" National League Player of the Week (April 25â€"May 1, 2016)
References
Further reading
- Vitez, Michael (August 29, 2011). "Baseball and socks appeal". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved September 2, 2011.
He cuffs his pants higher than almost any player, at the knee, the way it was done a century ago.
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External links
- Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)
- Hunter Pence on Twitter