SF Giants: Why Hunter Pence is my favorite Giant

First off, San Francisco Giants outfielder Hunter Pence turns 37 years old today. If you see him, wish him a big happy birthday from us.

Pence returned to the Giants on a one-year deal in early February and we couldn’t be happier. Pence played in San Francisco from 2012 to 2018 and deservingly became one of the most loved players in the organization.

Across the years he had a 109 OPS+ and was worth 10.5 wins on the field.

2014  may have been one of the most memorable thanks to what happened on the field. Pence played in all 162 games, hit .277 with 59 extra-base hits, and batted .444 in the World Series win over the Kansas City Royals.

But none of that is what makes Pence memorable. It’s just [waves hands] …  everything, really.

Where do we start?

Hunter Pence signs

If you search for “Hunter Pence signs” on Google, it’s probably not going to give you information about his most recent contract for the first result.

It’s going bring back a bunch of Hunter Pence facts from 2014. They’re kind of like Chuck Norris facts, but backward. The whole thing started after his girlfriend (now wife) Lexi took his picture with a coffee cup for what was basically a Seinfeld spoof. Later that day, Mets fans showed up to the ballpark with some facts.

From there, fans in other stadiums started doing the same.

MLB.com listed a few of its favorites.

• “Hunter Pence whispers sorry when he catches a fly ball”
• “Hunter Pence thinks Game of Thrones is just ‘OK'”
• “Hunter Pence eats pizza with a fork”

Pence himself found it funny, telling ESPN at the time, “I’m a little bit unorthodox or awkward or whatever you want to call it. I don’t take myself very seriously, so I loved it. I joined in. … I hope it didn’t make me self-centered. It was like the Chuck Norris thing — another entity, not really me.”

Hunter Pence faces

You can pretty much go straight to looking up that phrase, too. Pence makes the best faces.

This is indisputable.

I can’t really do anything better than the above, so I’m just going to leave it at that.

I’m an 8, except when I’m at 6.

Hunter Pence on social media

If the above post on Instagram wasn’t enough for you, there’s plenty more where that came from.  Here are a couple recent ones.

If he’s not a must follow, I don’t know who is.

Lexi Pence, Hunter’s better half

Which brings us to Lexi. The real, poorly kept secret is that Lexi Pence is every bit as fun and awesome as Hunter is.

Last week she built him a batting cage.

Four years ago she started a YouTube channel — Let’s Get Lexi. Last week she taught Hunter how to make eggs, too. We’re starting to see who gets things done in the family.

Hunter Pence plays MLB The Show

Pence participated in a small four-player tournament for MLB The Show at the end of March. Monday night he’ll be representing the Giants as players from all 30 teams square off in a 29-game round-robin tournament.

You can catch him at 6 p.m. PT on Twitch, and follow the entire season here.

Pence is scheduled to face Brett Phillips (Royals), Dwight Smith Jr (Orioles), Cole Tucker (Pirates), and Matt Carpenter (Cardinals).