Hunter Andrew Pence (born April 13, 1983), nicknamed "the Reverend," is an American former professional baseball right fielder and designated hitter. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Houston Astros, Philadelphia Phillies, San Francisco Giants, and Texas Rangers. In the 2004 Major League Baseball draft he was drafted in the second round by the Astros. Pence made his major league debut in 2007. He is a four time All-Star and was a member of the 2012 and 2014 World Series championship teams with the Giants.
Hunter Andrew Pence was born on April 13, 1983, in Fort Worth, Texas. Pence attended Arlington High School in Arlington, Texas, where he excelled in baseball. After playing outfield his first three years, he moved to shortstop his senior year.
He attended Texarkana College in Texarkana, Texas 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 for the UT Arlington Mavericks. 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 in 2004 due to an injury at mid-season, he was 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 five.
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 from the University of Texas at Arlington. He played the 2004 season with the single A Tri-City ValleyCats in Troy, New York. Also in the same year, Pence, along with future major leaguer Ben Zobrist helped lead the 'Cats to a 50-win season in the New York–Penn League, the second-most in ValleyCats history. In 2004, 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/.357/.533 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.
Pence made his major league debut as the Houston Astros center fielder on April 28, 2007, versus the Milwuakee 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 5–4 win. It was Mesa's only pitch of the game. Pence was named National League co-Player of the Week for May 14–20, 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.
After Michael Bourn was traded to the Astros from the Phillies, 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), he batted .282 with 25 home runs, drove in 91 RBIS and played 156 games. For the week of August 30 – 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 an All-Star as a reserve in 2011, 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)
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 at AT&T Park, in a 3–0 win over the San Francisco Giants, Pence hit his first career home run as a Phillie on the road, against future Giants teammate 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 (2012–2018)
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.