Best San Francisco Giants of the 2010s: 6. Hunter Pence

A fan favorite and a spark plug both on and off the field, Hunter Pence was one of the most productive San Francisco Giants hitters of the past decade.

The San Francisco Giants acquired outfielder Hunter Pence from the Philadelphia Phillies in a blockbuster trade at the 2012 MLB trade deadline.

He was 29 years old at the time of the trade with an additional year of team control remaining before he reached free agency, so he didn’t come cheap.

The two-time All-Star had a 109 OPS+ with 17 home runs in 101 games when he was shipped from Philadelphia to San Francisco in exchange for MLB outfielder Nate Schierholtz and prospects Tommy Joseph (No. 2 SF prospect via Baseball America) and Seth Rosin.

The early returns were less than encouraging.

He hit just .219/.287/.384 with seven home runs in 248 plate appearances down the stretch and then went 13-for-62 (.210) with one home run in the playoffs.

The next season was a different story, as he batted .283/.339/.483 for a 133 OPS+ with 35 doubles, 27 home runs and 99 RBI to post 3.8 WAR and finish 16th in NL MVP voting.

Ahead of his first foray into free agency, he signed a five-year, $90 million extension on Sept. 29, 2013.

He had another productive season in 2014, posting a 121 OPS+ with 29 doubles, 10 triples and 20 home runs to earn an All-Star nod and finish 11th in NL MVP voting.

That was followed by a .333/.405/.470 line in 17 postseason games, including a .444/.500/.667 line in seven World Series games.

Injuries took a toll from there and he averaged 97 games over the final four years of the contract, tallying just 2.3 WAR along the way.

However, his stellar performance during his first three seasons with the team and his key contributions to the 2014 World Series winner were more than enough to earn him a spot just outside the top five in these rankings.

Check back here regularly as we count down the 50 best San Francisco Giants of the 2010s.