Hunter Pence likely played his last game for the Giants yesterday. They said goodbye, gave him a parting gift — a scooter — and everything. If it’s up to him, however, he hasn’t played his last game as a big leaguer. From Alex Pavlovic’ story of Pence’s final game as a Giant at NBC Sports Bay Area, here’s Pence’s view of his baseball-playing future:
“I feel strong, I feel healthy, I feel fast. I’m going to work on flexibility and changing my swing completely . . . I want to still play. It’s uncertain — hopefully I can find an opportunity, and I’m going to look for it. I’m going to do everything I can to be the best I can because I want to come back and contribute to another playoff run.”
Pavlovic reports that Pence plans to play winter ball in either Mexico or the Dominican Republic with the hope of leveraging good play south of the border into an invite to a big league camp next spring.
Pence, 35, hit .226/.258/.332 with four homers and 24 driven in in 97 games in 2018. He has not been a useful player since 2016 and has averaged only 97 games played over the past four seasons due to myriad health problems.
If he shows he’s healthy this offseason it would not be shocking to see him get a minor league deal someplace, but we may very well have seen the last of Hunter Pence in the big leagues.
