Hunter Pence

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Hunter Pence
Houston Astros — No. 9
Right fielder
Born: April 13, 1983 (1983-04-13) (age 25)
Bats: Right Throws: Right 
Major League Baseball debut
April 282007 for the Houston Astros
Selected MLB statistics
(through May 19, 2008)
Batting average     .313
Home runs     21
RBI     92
SLG     .514
Teams

Hunter Andrew Pence (born April 13, 1983, in Fort Worth, Texas) is a major league outfielder with the Houston Astros. Pence is 6' 4" tall, and weighs 210 pounds. He bats and throws right handed.

Contents

[edit] Minor leagues

Pence was drafted in the second round of the 2004 draft by the Astros out of the University of Texas at Arlington. In 2006 with the AA Corpus Christi Hooks, Pence batted .283 and hit 28 home runs, with 95 RBI. He had 17 stolen bases, while being caught stealing only 4 times.[1] Pence began the 2007 season as the AAA Round Rock Express' center fielder,[2] though he made a serious run to make the big league club out of spring training. Before the 2007 season started, he earned the nickname "The Natural". Pence has also been called "The Pickle" in reference the BLT (Berkman, Lee, Tejada) core hitters in the Astros lineup.

[edit] Major leagues

[edit] Houston Astros (2007)

Pence made his major league debut as the Astros center fielder on April 28, 2007, vs. the Milwaukee Brewers[3] 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 5th. 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 3rd in a 5-4 win. It was Mesa's only pitch of the game.

Throughout the first half of 2007 he was often referred to on ESPN's Baseball Tonight as "Rookie Phenom Hunter Pence" by analyst Steve Berthiaume.

On July 23rd, General Manager Tim Purpura announced that Pence would be out with a with a small chipped bone fracture in his right wrist. On August 21st, Pence was activated from the disabled list. At that point, despite having missed a month he was 4th among NL rookies in at bats.

Rookie Season. Pence led NL rookies in triples (9), was 2nd to Ryan Braun in batting average (.322), obp (.360), slugging percentage (.539), and OPS (.899), 4th behind Braun, Troy Tulowitzki, and Chris Young in extra base hits (56) and total bases (246), 4th in RBIs (69; behind Tulowitzki, Braun, and Kevin Kouzmanoff), and 4th in at bats (behind Tulowitzki, Young, and Kousmanoff), tied for 5th in runs (57; behind Tulowitzki, Braun, Young, and Mark Reynolds), tied for 6th in home runs (17), and 7th in stolen bases (11).

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.[4]

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.[5]

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

On November 7, 2007, the Astros acquired center fielder Michael Bourn in a trade with the Philadelphia Phillies. According to new Houston General Manager Ed Wade, Pence will move to right field and bat third in the order in 2008.

In February 2008, Pence and a female friend were in his hot tub on his spring training apartment's outdoor deck. Pence decided to go to the bathroom inside, before returning to the hot tub. Unbeknownst to Pence, his friend had closed the sliding glass door behind her and he crashed through it. "I just didn't see the door and jumped through it," Pence said. "I have small cuts everywhere." Once Pence found out he was bleeding, he immediately jumped in the shower. After he washed himself off, he called his parents and they advised him to call paramedics.[10] Pence spent the night in an emergency room after the accident. He arrived at camp with a gash on his right index finger, a brace on his left knee, and was told he would be sidelined for a week. Pence's teammates immediately started ribbing him. "Watch out," catcher Brad Ausmus said to Pence, "there's a glass door over there."[11]

[edit] Awards

  • 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.[12]
  • 2007 - National League Rookie of the Month- for the month of May.[13]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Awards
Preceded by
Josh Hamilton
National League Rookie of the Month
May 2007
Succeeded by
Ryan Braun
Preceded by
Melky Cabrera, Andre Ethier, and Nick Markakis
Topps Rookie All-Star Team; Outfielder
(with Chris Young and Delmon Young)

2007
Succeeded by
Incumbent
Languages