A 2nd round draft pick (64th overall) in 2004, Hunter Pence, 23, has torched his way through the minors. The 6-foot-4, 220-pound outfielder hit 28 home runs in 2006 after mashing 31 in 2005.
Playing in just his second full season, Pence spent the entire year at Double-A and put up a .283/.357/.533 vital line.
Pence slowed down a bit in the second half of 2006, as Double-A pitchers started keeping him off balance and he tired both physically and mentally.
After leaving the Arizona Fall League, Pence talked to Adam Foster about how Barry Bonds influenced his swing, the impact Whatabuger's right field wind had on his plate approach, and the amazing amount of weight he lost over the summer while playing in the Texas heat.
Adam Foster: You’ve played both right and center field lately. How comfortable do you feel at those two positions?
Hunter Pence: Basically, those are my best positions. I’ve played them all year, so I’m very comfortable with both – either one. But the one that I was comfortable with before, left field – I was a left and center fielder in the years before – but I haven’t played left field in so long that I don’t know if I’d feel completely comfortable there (laughs).
AF: Your unorthodox batting stance catches a lot of attention. Growing up, did you model your stance after any major leaguers in particular?
HP: Not really. I just kind of try to do what’s comfortable. I mean, I choked up because I liked Barry Bonds, other than that, nothing really.
AF: On the road, you put up substantially better numbers (.359/.343/.458) than at home (.305/.371/.603). Was Whataburger Field – home of the Corpus Christi Hooks (AA) – a pretty difficult place to hit?
HP: I think Whataburger field just kind of got in my head because the wind flew in so hard from right that I would try to do is pull everything ‘cause anytime I hit a ball well to right I didn’t get rewarded for it at all. So, it just created bad habits for me.
AF: From July 18th to the end of the minor league regular season, you only hit six home runs. Did you feel like the Double-AA pitchers you were facing started pitching you differently?
HP: I saw a lot of strikes…I kind of got a little tired at the end of the year. I swung at some bad pitches and stuff. But a lot of it I think was, yeah getting pitched differently and not getting to see too many good pitches to hit.
AF: What kind of adjustments do you plan on making in order to hit for more power throughout the whole season next year?
HP: I was actually working on a few things in the fall league that actually helped me out. The main one – which helps locating pitches and swinging at better pitches – was getting my foot down earlier. That gives me a big advantage because a lot of times I’d have trouble getting my foot down on time and I’d be swinging before my foot was down. And it makes it a lot simpler if I just set my foot down.
The other adjustment is just some offseason stuff and trying to make sure to get enough sleep during the season and those sorts of things. Because you be in great shape coming into Spring Training and if you don’t continue to lift throughout the whole season…everyone is going to get tired, but you just gotta eventually find a way to keep going to the gym. I lost 20 pounds over the course of the year. A lot of it has to do with the Texas League heat, but I’ve got to find a way to avoid that.
AF: A lot of people seem to believe your DUI midway through the AFL season was something that was pretty out of character for you. Would you like to say anything about that situation?
HP: I can’t comment on that yet.
AF: I understand. That fact that you’ve been open to sharing whatever knowledge you can with players at your alma-mater, University of Texas-Arlington has been documented. What’s the most valuable piece of information that you’ve been given by someone in professional baseball since you started your Astro career?
HP: I’ve been given so much valuable information. You just learn a lot from playing. And you hear so many different things and you learn so much every single game. The best thing I would say is just to always be comfortable and to play under control.
In college, I didn’t really play under control very well. It’s something you learn when you play every day…just basically keeping your body under control and being relaxed at the plate. A lot of times in college I was jumpy at the plate. I tried to hit the ball too hard. Baseball is just sort of a natural game. You just have to let it happen; slow the game down.
AF: How do you slow the game down when you’re up there at the plate?
HP: You just gotta relax. You gotta be calm. And you can’t be too excited and muscle up or anything like that. It’s just basically focusing and trusting that swinging as hard as you can or jumping at the ball or being too anxious isn’t going to make you hit the ball further or anything. The main part about hitting home runs is how you hit the ball, how you square it up. Not how hard you swing.
AF: Right, I read in that you’re trying to get more backspin on the ball when you hit it.
HP: Yeah, always. Backspin is key.
AF: What do you feel like you need to do before you become a major league baseball player?
HP: I just gotta get the at-bats, see more pitches – I need to be more selective at the plate – and just keep doing what I’m doing…keep proving it.
Adam Foster can be reached at adamwfoster@gmail.com.