Knuckle Curve » hunter pence

Pence on Preparing for a Game

Geoff Young — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 17:32:23 +0000

Houston Astros outfielder and b5media colleague Hunter Pence is answering reader questions over at Inside the Ballpark. In the first installment, he details his game day routine:

After I’m happy with my swing, I will watch the last start of the pitcher we are facing until batting practice begins. After batting practice, I eat a banana, one grilled chicken breast and down a lot of water to get hydrated. By 6:00 pm (one hour before game time) I’ll go through one more short hitting routine that generally ends at 6:15. Then I just try to relax for fifteen minutes and mentally prepare for the game before I head to the field to stretch at 6:30 pm.

Hunter also talks about the importance of maintaining a consistent routine. Oh, and speaking of Hunter, I just drafted him in a fantasy league.

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Questions for Mr. Pence?

Geoff Young — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 19:23:02 +0000

Houston Astros outfielder and fellow b5 blogger Hunter Pence wants to answer your question. You do have a question, don’t you? Get over there and ask.

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Thursday Quick Hits

Geoff Young — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 19:32:09 +0000

Just a few items of note for you this afternoon:

Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard won his arbitration case and has been awarded $10 million for 2008. This is the largest amount ever received by a victorious player.
You may be aware that my colleague, Hunter Pence, was injured in a freak accident earlier this week. He’s got the details up at his blog. Here’s wishing Hunter a speedy recovery.
Another colleague, Albert Bianchi at Dejuiced, informs us that New York Mets shortstop Jose Reyes will be giving up a celebratory handshake thing he used to do. I can’t speak to that because I don’t follow the Mets closely, but I will say that the photo Albert chose to accompany his story is priceless. Seriously, if the Mets ever get tired of playing baseball, they might try their hand at putting on a musical.

Ugh. Play some games already. I’m getting bored…

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Good Young Players

Geoff Young — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 02:20:56 +0000

Rich Lederer at Baseball Analysts is running a three-part series on the best young players in baseball today. The first installment discusses 24- and 25-year-olds, while the second covers 22- and 23-year-olds. No huge surprises here, but I have to give a special shout-out to fellow b5 blogger Hunter Pence for showing up at #12 among 25-year-olds, right between Jered Weaver and Casey Kotchman.

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Pence Talks More Hitting

Geoff Young — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 21:08:22 +0000

Hunter Pence’s latest entry is up at Inside the Ballpark. In it, he talks about his off-season hitting regimen, including an insane eye-training drill that I’d heard about in the past:

The other thing I’m doing this year is working off a machine that shoots tennis balls up to 120mph with numbers on them. The numbers are either red or black. The point of the drill is to read the color first and as you get better, start seeing the numbers. It’s amazing how much better you get from day to day.

That is just nuts…

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