Hunter Pence arrives at the main stage to a standing ovation #SFGFest pic.twitter.com/Qrq4TK8Cwh
— KNBR (@KNBR) February 8, 2020
Hunter Pence returns a different player. And by all accounts, the same person.
“I can’t believe it. It’s like a dream come true every day,” Pence said on “Tolbert, Krueger and Brooks” on KNBR at Saturday’s FanFest. “It definitely feels like a glitch. Now I blink twice and I’m back, click my heels a few times.”
The unthinkable is now reality. After Pence’s emotional goodbye in 2018, he sought swing help, rejuvenated a dying career, was an All-Star for Texas last season but an oft-injured one, and is now returning to Oracle Park, where he is beloved.
Pence, 37 in April, got a text and a phone call from Gabe Kapler as the Giants began to show interest recently. Soon Farhan Zaidi was talking with his agent, and a $3 million-plus-incentives one-year major league deal was struck.
“I’m glad they wanted me back,” said Pence, a Giant from 2012-18. “I feel excited and enthused because I’ve learned so much, I have a lot to give and I also have a lot to learn. Just talking with the staff, I’m absolutely fired up for what they have to bring to the table, to learn from them and also to teach all of my good friends I’ve been playing with for so long some of the new stuff that’s happening.”
An offseason ago, Pence was a steeply declining outfielder without much of a market. He sought a swing coach, he said he was in the cage seven days a week, and he left for winter league ball to work out the kinks that were coming with a new rotation of the bat at such a late stage.
He then returned to Rangers spring training and “everything clicked.”
“I’m going to put everything I have into trying to learn this new thing because I have to reinvent myself if I want to continue doing what I love to do,” was Pence’s attitude.
It’s the same attitude that Buster Posey, Brandon Crawford and Brandon Belt expressed a day prior. Posey steps into not just a platoon-outfield position, but a leadership role, too, perhaps going from Posey’s teammate to mentor, as Posey mentioned he wanted to hear how Pence found his new swing.
“As far as my role, whatever they need,” said Pence, who would be a more perfect fit if he were younger.
Still, the rebuilding Giants want productivity and veterans the younger players will look toward. They also want can-do attitudes that mirror the new coaching staff’s.
Kapler said he feels the two are “wired similarly.” They’re just getting started.
“We’re excited because he’s brought so much energy in such a short period of time,” Kapler said.