Hunter Pence

Hunter Pence
Hunter Pence at AT&T Park on 2012
San Francisco Giants – No. 8
Outfielder
Born: (1983-04-13) April 13, 1983 (age 41) Fort Worth, Texas[1]
Bats: Right Throws: Right
debut
April 28, 2007, for the Houston Astros
Career statistics (through 2012 season)
Batting average	.285
Home runs	138
Runs batted in	516
Hits	991
Stolen bases	67
Stats at Baseball Reference
Teams
Houston Astros (2007–2011) Philadelphia Phillies (2011–2012) San Francisco Giants (2012–present)
Career highlights and awards
2× All-Star (2009, 2011) World Series Champion (2012)

Hunter Andrew Pence (born April 13, 1983)^[1] is a Major League Baseball outfielder for the San Francisco Giants. He previously played for the Houston Astros and Philadelphia Phillies. Pence stands 6 feet 4 inches (193 cm) tall and weighs 210 pounds (95 kg). He bats and throws right-handed. He was a member of the 2012 World Series champions with the San Francisco Giants. His inspirational speeches have been credited for Giants’ turnaround during their 2012 postseason.

Pence attended Arlington High School in Arlington, Texas.^[1] After playing outfield his first three years,^[1] he moved to shortstop his senior year.^[1] He attended Texarkana College for a year and was a designated hitter on the baseball team.^[1] He transferred to the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) where he returned to the outfield.^[1] 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.^[1] Pence still holds the conference record for doubles in a single series, with 5.^[2]

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 Tri-City ValleyCats, a single A minor league team based out of Troy, New York. During that year, Pence, along with current major leaguers Ben Zobrist and Drew Sutton helped lead the 'Cats to a 50 win season, the 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 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.^[3] In 2006, he was one of three outfielders named to the Baseball America Minor League All-Star Team.^[4] Pence began the 2007 season as the AAA Round Rock Express' center fielder,^[5] though he made a serious run to make the big league club out of spring training.

Pence made his major league debut as the Houston Astros center fielder on April 28, 2007, versus the Milwaukee Brewers^[6] 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 5–4 win. It was Mesa's only pitch of the game.

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.^[7] 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.^[8][9] He also lost out to Braun in the competition for the 2007 Baseball America Rookie of the Year Award,^[10] in the vote for the 2007 Players Choice NL Most Outstanding Rookie by their fellow major league players,^[11] and in the Baseball Prospectus 2007 Internet Baseball NL Rookie of the Year Award, with 16 first place votes, versus 666 for Braun.^[12]

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, Pence was named an All-Star for the first time.

In his fourth season, Pence was durable once again. He batted .282 with 25 home runs, drove in 91 RBIS and played 156 games. After the 2010 season he was considered the cornerstone of the Astros.

Pence was named a 2011 All-Star as a reserve, marking the second time he has 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.

July 29, 2011, the 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.^[13]

On August 4, 2011, Hunter hit his first home run as a Phillie, against Madison Bumgarner.^[14]

In 2011, Pence was fourth in the NL in batting average (.314; behind Jose Reyes, Ryan Braun, and Matt Kemp) and eighth in RBI, with 97.^[15]

On July 31, 2012, the Phillies sent Pence in a deadline deal to the San Francisco Giants.^[16] In return, the Phillies received OF Nate Schierholtz, C Tommy Joseph, and RHP Seth Rosin. On August 12, 2012 Pence hit his first home run as a Giant off Rockies' relief pitcher Rafael Betancourt.^[17] On October 10, 2012 in Game 3 of the NLDS, the Giants were down 2-0 to the Cincinnati Reds facing elimination if they lose another game. Pence gave his teammates what witnesses called a passionate pregame speech in the visitor's dugout shortly before the first pitch.^[18] The Giants ended up beating the Cincinnati 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.^[19][20]

In 2010, Hunter Pence dated former Houston Texans cheerleader Lindsay Slott. In 2011, Pence dated May 2007 Playboy Playmate Shannon James; they met at a Cole Hamels charity event.

• 2003 – Summer League First-Team All-American DH
• 2003 – Southland Conference All-Star OF
• 2004 – Southland Conference Player of the Year
• 2004 – Southland Conference All-Star OF
• 2004 – Southland Conference Hitter of the Year
• 2005 – Low A All-Star OF
• 2005 – Houston Astros Minor League Player of the Year
• 2005 – South Atlantic League All-Star OF
• 2005 – South Atlantic League Most Outstanding Prospect
• 2006 – Future Games selection
• 2006 – Baseball America Minor League All-Star^[21]
• 2006 – Arizona Fall League All-Prospect Team
• 2007 – National League Player of the Week, along with José Valverde of the Arizona Diamondbacks^[22]
• 2007 – National League Rookie of the Month- for the month of May.^[23]
• 2009 – National League All-Star
• 2011 – National League All-Star

• 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.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hunter Pence.

• Career statistics from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball Reference, or Fangraphs, or Baseball Reference (Minors)

Template:Persondata