Houston Astros #1 prospect Hunter Pence

Position: OF
Full Name: Hunter A. Pence
Born: April 13, 1983 Fort Worth,Texas
Height: 6-4
Weight: 210
Bats: R Throws: R
College: University of Texas-Arlington

Hunter Pence was selected by Houston Astros in 2nd Round (64th overall)in 2004. He is known for being the 6'4 210 pound man that chokes up on the bat.

Here's a look at the awards he has won:

2003- Summer League First-Team All-American DH, Southland Conference All-Star OF
2004- Southland Conference Player of the Year, Southland Conference All-Star OF, Southland Conference Hitter of the Year
2005- Low A All-Star OF, Houston Astros Minor League Player of the Year, South Atlantic League All-Star OF, South Atlantic League Most Outstanding Prospect

Throughout his minor league career, Pence has shown the kind of power that scouts rave about. Here's a look at the monster numbers he has put up the last two years:

2005 A:.338 25 homeruns 60 rbi's 302 at bats
2005 A+:.305 6 homeruns 30 rbi's 151 at bats
2006 AA: .283 28 homeruns 95 rbi's 31 doubles in 523 at bats

Scouting Report:

Hitting: He is a pure power hitter. He can hit homeruns to all fields and still put up a solid average. Though he needs to work on pitch selection. He even recently said,
"I need to work on pitch selection." "The more walks that I take will mean I will be swinging at better pitches, and I've got to prove I can lay off the bad stuff before I start seeing good pitches."
Pence has a unorthodox swing in which he drops his hands before swinging, to go along with the choking up on the bat.

Defense: Pence has good range and a solid arm. His main problem is getting the right jumps on the ball, and playing Center Field in Houston with Tal's Hill, he will need to get the best jump on the ball everytime. Some scouts say that Pence will not be a good enough CF, and will have to move to a corner OF spot.

Speed: For a big man Pence has good speed. He could be a solid 15-20 steal guy.

The Future: Since the Astros are extremly slow with bringing their minor league players up, Pence will most likley start the year in AAA. Although if he is putting up big numbers again it's going to be hard for the Astros, who usually have a bad offense, not to bring him up.

We project Pence to be a .285 30 homerun type of guy, who will steal 15-20 bases.