Huntr pence12/27/2023 “Man, he was such a light and he brought so much good energy and there was something extraordinarily special about him,” Pence said. On Tuesday, he willĪltuve, of course, has come a long way since then as a seven-time All-Star and five-time Silver Slugger who every week climbs higher in the Astros’ all-time record books. I'm glad that I got to play with him at least for the time he was here.”ĭusty Baker once wanted to manage in Seattle. He was just a great teammate, on and off the field, a great person. “He was a superstar and I was this guy coming from the minor leagues,” Altuve said. They were together on the Astros for only 11 days, but Altuve called Pence one of the best teammates he ever had. Pence was in his final season with the Astros when Altuve was called up to the majors for his debut in July of 2011. I'm like, I don't know how he's doing this.” He gets back in and he just starts crushing this machine again. And I was like, ‘Hey man, I'm not loose enough to do this right now, I just started hitting off the tee.’ So I get out and he's like, alright, yeah, no problem. I was like, what the heck is this? And the velocity was really hard. He goes, 'Hey, I need a break, mix in with me.'”Ĭastro continued, “So I got in there and I think I like swung and missed or foul tipped like the first like 10 pitches because it was just different stuff. So he was loud and just raking, crushing this machine. “He’s hitting one after another, and when he used to hit he would grunt, almost like a tennis player. “We had this machine in Kissimmee that they called it the Darth Vader machine because it was just this big black box that you would load balls in the top and there was a random function that you could hit and it would throw random pitches,” Castro said. He was hitting off the tee and Pence was in the cage next to him. hitting session from one of his first spring trainings with the Astros. Milo Hamilton suite definitely brought some chills because I remember being young and not knowing much and just Milo's magic - the Milo magic, I would call it - and how he just lit up the room.”Ĭatcher Jason Castro and second baseman Jose Altuve are the only current Astros players who were teammates of Pence’s in Houston, and both remember him fondly.Ĭastro recalled a 7 a.m. You know, I have a lot of roots here, so being born in Texas and getting to call a game at Minute Maid Park is a big deal. I've trained here every offseason and I got my place here and I got the coffee shop and the baseball academy. He was part of the Apple TV+ crew that broadcast the April 8 Astros-Angels game in Anaheim, but Friday was his first time in the booth at Minute Maid Park - named for legendary Astros announcer Milo Hamilton. Pence was drafted by the Astros in 2004, made his major-league debut for the club in 2007 and starred as an outfielder and designated hitter in Houston for most of the next five seasons, including All-Star seasons in 20.Īfter his retirement from baseball in 2020, Pence began a television career.
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