SF Giants: 5 players who could hit 20 home runs in full season

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Hunter Pence #8 of the San Francisco Giants follows through on a swing. (Photo by Norm Hall/Getty Images) /

SF Giants who could hit 20 home runs: Hunter Pence

Hunter Pence may not be the player that he was back in 2013 when he hit 27 homers for the Giants, but last year he regained a bit of his old self with the Rangers and may be able to bring that bit back to San Francisco with him.

Last season with the Rangers he hit 18 home runs in only 83 games! Whatever he did to retool his swing worked, and that is why the Giants felt like it would be more than just a nostalgia hit to bring him back to the Giants.

It should be noted that Hunter was a designated hitter for 46 of those games for the Rangers, so being able to focus on hitting alone for that many games almost certainly contributed to his improved numbers at the plate.

With the Giants, he will likely be used in a platoon in either right or left field and would appear against left-handed pitchers predominantly. He absolutely tore it up against lefties last season, hitting .327/.378/.636 against them with 8 home runs and 22 RBI. But his power was not limited to lefties, with his other 10 home runs coming off righties.

I don’t know if anyone would be willing to put money on Pence hitting 20 home runs, but he surprised a lot of people last season so maybe he could do it again.