Is Hunter Pence the games most underrated player?

[stevenash]

He's a complete player.
Total package, by that I mean....

He plays a solid outfield, with a good arm and doesn't make mistakes in the field.

He's pretty much going to be around .280 - .310
He's going to give you around 20 homers, and steal you double digit bases.
He draws walks, scores runs, and is heady on the base paths.

Yet his name is rarely mentioned, just does his job, and does it well.
Good guy in life from what I hear too.

[easyliving]

underrated without a doubt, solid numbers in Houston and you knew he was gonna be a star. Luckily for him he didn't stick around for too long in Philly and the Giants have been a perfect fit for him.

[stevenash]

Ever see Pence with a hit and run on?
He can shoot it between first and second with the runner in motion with the best of them.
He just does everything correctly.

[easyliving]

surprised to find out his only 31 as well thought he was much older

[stevenash]

Bump from six weeks ago.

Was text book again all weekend against NY.

Dude is the best player by far that nobody talks about.

[MoneyIsWater]

I always thought he was a great player.

Never understood why he bounced around in the league.

Top 15 OF for sure.

[stevenash]

^
Traded twice

• June 4, 2002: Drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 40th round of the 2002 amateur draft, but did not sign.
• June 7, 2004: Drafted by the Houston Astros in the 2nd round of the 2004 amateur draft. Player signed July 14, 2004.
• July 29, 2011: Traded by the Houston Astros with cash to the Philadelphia Phillies for a player to be named later, Jarred Cosart, Jon Singleton and Josh Zeid. ThePhiladelphia Phillies sent Domingo Santana (August 15, 2011) to the Houston Astros to complete the trade.
• July 31, 2012: Traded by the Philadelphia Phillies to the San Francisco Giants for Tommy Joseph (minors), Seth Rosin and Nate Schierholtz.

[MoneyIsWater]

I know.

Plus the Giants were considering trade him this year.

[Ralphie1412]

plays the game the right way for sure. And on all accounts an awesome teammate. I loved him on his brief Philly stint and thought they were crazy to give him up.

[MoMoneyMoVaughn]

Read a great article earlier this year on Pence. His technique is abysmal. But he crushes the ball.

He is a great guy to cheer for. Its too bad he plays for the Giants, who I cannot bring myself to cheer for.

[Killer_Demo]

Pence is the best hitter on Giants lineup.

[stevenash]

Read a great article earlier this year on Pence. His technique is abysmal. But he crushes the ball.

He is a great guy to cheer for. Its too bad he plays for the Giants, who I cannot bring myself to cheer for.

Orthodox is not always the right way.
Who says you have to swing the bat a certain way.Charlie Lau's approach worked for many, but it wasn't for everybody.
Wade Boggs calls home runs mistakes, he said he could hit 40 mistakes a year if he wanted to.

Philly tried to overhaul his approach, didn't work.
First thing SF said to him was when he got there "do what Hunter Pence does"
SF is letting him do what he wants, it works.

[teaserpleaser]

Pence is the best hitter on Giants lineup.

Not laughing at pence i'm laughing because you actually admitted that.

[Killer_Demo]

Not laughing at pence i'm laughing because you actually admitted that.

Sounds like someone bet Mets today get used to it bammer-boy

[laclippers504]

He's a solid player.

[stevenash]

Sounds like someone bet Mets today get used to it bammer-boy

Had SF on run line, got fukked by a ground rule double, or else two score on that Panda hit

[teaserpleaser]

Sounds like someone bet Mets today get used to it bammer-boy

nope

[BigDeem5]

Who is - Michael Brantley

[stevenash]

Who is - Michael Brantley

Ummm, son of Mickey Brantley
Who is 4 for 6 with two doubles off of Alfredo Simon.

[Pauulzcappin]

Who is - Michael Brantley

***** hitting .322 .900 OPS with 16 bombs and 69 batted in

almost 5 WAR

[FlipsideRM]

Pence has never seen a pitch he doesn't like. Crazy batting stance and antics before the pitch comes, but can't help but root for the guy

[MickeyMan]

Definitely underrated, I think pagan gets that offense going tho. Supposed to be back right away.

[Chi_archie]

Matt Adams

[pavyracer]

If he was good he wouldn't have been traded like a tranny in Soho.

[No coincidences]

I said this a while back and got ripped for it.

[stevenash]

If he was good he wouldn't have been traded like a tranny in Soho.

Philly traded him because they tried to change him, and the changes were changing him.

[OptimistPrime]

Before this year I would say it is Lucroy, but he is finally starting to get some attention from the national media. He still doesn't get the respect he deserves not only from his offense but defensive and framing pitches. ESPN Magazine did a great article about this a couple months back, and assigned a 1.0 WAR to his pitch framing abilities (because of runs saved) throughout the first two months.

[dlunc3]

Philly traded him because they tried to change him, and the changes were changing him.

He failed and couldn't handle the pressure as a cleanup hitter in philly while chase and howard were out.. Retarded Amaro bailed on him way to fast rather them waiting until his big bats were back to allow pence to be a complimentary peice which he is great at... Instead he traded him for a ham sandwich and a bag of marbles

[stevenash]

@Opt

That's a lillte extreme.
I caught some in school, getting a call (strike) by framing is important, but it does not translate into a run a game.
I would assign 0.2 extra, but 1.0 is way too much

[OptimistPrime]

@Opt

That's a lillte extreme.
I caught some in school, getting a call (strike) by framing is important, but it does not translate into a run a game.
I would assign 0.2 extra, but 1.0 is way too much

Sure, don't even take the time to read the article just pull stats out of your ass.

[stevenash]

He failed and couldn't handle the pressure as a cleanup hitter in philly while chase and howard were out.. Retarded Amaro bailed on him way to fast rather them waiting until his big bats were back to allow pence to be a complimentary peice which he is great at... Instead he traded him for a ham sandwich and a bag of marbles

And when Philly traded him (at the midway point of the season, I think right at the trading deadline) he still had 17 bombs/59 RBI and a respectful .271 from a postion he wasn't comfortable hitting in.

He would have hit 32 or so bombs for Philly in 2012

[smitch124]

@Opt

That's a lillte extreme.
I caught some in school, getting a call (strike) by framing is important, but it does not translate into a run a game.
I would assign 0.2 extra, but 1.0 is way too much

Doesn't 1.0 WAR mean 1 extra win a season from his framing? Definitely wouldn't be 1 run a game.

[dlunc3]

And when Philly traded him (at the midway point of the season, I think right at the trading deadline) he still had 17 bombs/59 RBI and a respectful .271 from a postion he wasn't comfortable hitting in.

He would have hit 32 or so bombs for Philly in 2012

He was the perfect right handed 5 hole hitter for that team if they could have stayed healthy just as Werth was.. Coulda shoulda woulda.. Now philly is stuck in hell for the next decade.. No team in worse shape in all of baseball

[stevenash]

Sure, don't even take the time to read the article just pull stats out of your ass.

Link it to me, I still say the ability to frame pitches doesn't save a run a game over the common catcher.
Think about it, you frame maybe 5 or 6 pitches a game, not even 1 an inning, how many times a game do you see a pitched framed?
OK, even if it's 10 pitches a game, and say you get 4 border line calls for strikes your way, does that really save a run a game?

ESPN can pull a 1.0 out of their ass.
I can pull at 0.2 out of mine.

I question ESPN's credibility often anyway, a lot of things they say is suspect