Hunter Pence

Hunter Pence
Pence with the Astros in 2009
Philadelphia Phillies – No. 3
Right fielder
Born: (1983-04-13) April 13, 1983 Fort Worth, Texas
Bats: Right	Throws: Right
MLB debut
April 28, 2007 for the Houston Astros
Career statistics (through May 24, 2012)
Batting average	.290
Home runs	124
Runs batted in	440
Teams
Houston Astros (2007–2011) Philadelphia Phillies (2011–present)
Career highlights and awards
2× All-Star (2009, 2011) MLB Rookie of the Month Award (May 2007) 2× NL Player of the Week Award

Hunter Andrew Pence (born April 13, 1983, in Fort Worth, Texas) is a Major League Baseball outfielder with the Philadelphia Phillies. Pence stands 6 feet 4 inches (193 cm) tall and weighs 210 pounds (95 kg). He bats and throws right-handed.

Early life

Pence attended Arlington High School in Arlington, Texas. After playing outfield his first three years, he moved to shortstop his senior year, and wore #8.He attended Texarkana College for a year and was DH 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.

Minor leagues

Pence was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers but didn't sign. But, then, in the first year player draft, Hunter was drafted in the second round (64th pick) of the 2004 draft by the Houston Astros out of the University of Texas–Arlington. 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.

Major leagues

Houston Astros

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 Jose 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 at bat in 2008

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.

2008–10

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.

2011

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 Jose 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

On 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.

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

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.

Awards

Pence batting for the Phillies

• 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
• 2006 – Arizona Fall League All-Prospect Team
• 2007 – National League Player of the Week, along with Jose Valverde of the Arizona Diamondbacks
• 2007 – National League Rookie of the Month- for the month of May.
• 2009 – National League All-Star
• 2011 – National League All-Star

Further reading

• Vitez, Michael (August 29, 2011). "Baseball and socks appeal". The Philadelphia Inquirer. http://articles.philly.com/2011-08-29/sports/29941646_1_pants-socks-cuffs. Retrieved September 2, 2011. "He cuffs his pants higher than almost any player, at the knee, the way it was done a century ago." 

External links

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)

Preceded by Josh Hamilton

National League Rookie of the Month May 2007

Succeeded by Ryan Braun