When Pence reported to camp
Asst GM Ricky Bennett:
“He’s a leader. There were times in [Double-A] Corpus [Christi] last year where they struggled for two or three games, and guys didn’t look like they were putting forth the effort. [Pence] said, ‘This isn’t how we play the game. We’ve got to kick it in gear.’ He started to learn how to be a leader and get the guys to play. That’s the type of guy he is.”
Pence on his DUI while in the AFL (Footer reports the trial for that is “still pending”):
“I’ve never really thought of myself as having an impact,” Pence said. “I have to watch what I do. I represent a lot — my family, the Astros … I don’t want to ever embarrass them again, myself included. As soon as it happened, I got phone calls from my school [University of Texas-Arlington], my friends, all my sponsors. It was an eye-opener.”
In the first intrasquad game of the spring
…ripped a leadoff home run off Ezequiel Astacio’s first pitch in the fourth inning.