The Round Rock Express Have A Hunter In The Fold As Hunter Pence Will Start 2007 With The Club

MLN Newswire - www.mlntherawfeed.com – ROUND ROCK – He’s never been to Round Rock, but already Hunter Pence is calling it home … for a little while, anyway.

The former Second Round draft pick out of the University of Texas at Arlington led the Houston Astros in several offensive categories during Spring Training, and will start the 2007 season with the Triple-A Round Rock Express when the team opens up its eighth season on April 5 at The Dell Diamond. The Astros confirmed the move Thursday.

Pence led all Major Leaguers with a .571 batting average (28 at-bats minimum) during his Spring Training stint, and also led Houston in slugging (1.071) and runs (10) while collecting 16 hits in 19 games. He will be in Round Rock when the Express welcomes Houston to The Dell Diamond at 7:05 p.m. on March 29.

"From the day we brought him to camp we told him that it was unlikely he was going to make [the Astros roster]," Astros general manager Tim Purpura told MLB.com on Wednesday. "We do have guys ahead of him and the way [Luke] Scott and [Jason] Lane have played that really prevented him from getting a chance to play here at this point.

“But we're extremely high on this young player, he's got great talent, I think he can be a very, very good player for us some day."

Pence was the driving offensive force behind the 2006 Double-A Corpus Christi Hooks, who won the Texas League Championship. Anchoring the outfield, Pence batted .283 with 28 home runs, 17 stolen bases and 95 RBI.

His natural speed and power carried over into Spring Training this year, where eight of his 16 hits went for extra bases, including a pair of triples.

“He’s a special player that we’re more than happy to have in Round Rock,” said Express founder and CEO Reid Ryan. “I had the opportunity to watch him at Spring Training and he’s a phenomenal player who will really help any team he is with.”

Pence started in just two Spring Training games and was limited to 28 at-bats, fewer than 13 other prospective Astros. Still, he managed to finish his stay tied for the team lead with 30 total bases.

"He made great contact, he hit a lot of balls hard and that's what he will do once he adjusts to Triple-A and the Major Leagues," Purpura told MLB.com. "I guess the other thing I would say is he came into this camp and he took the mentality that he was going to play like he normally plays, which is about 150 percent speed, but he's facing guys that are about 70-80 percent speed.

"Veteran players in Spring Training work up to being in game speed by the time the season starts. He comes in full of fire and the other guys are just kind of making their way and getting ready for the season, and I think he took advantage of that. And I think that's what happens with young players that have great first springs. If he didn't do that I would have been surprised, I would have been disappointed if he had been nonchalant about the opportunity. He was not nonchalant, he was aggressive about trying to win that spot on the roster [and] that reinforced to us what kind of player he is and what kind of player he could be."