Two former Phillies, outfielder Hunter Pence and catcher Cameron Rupp, signed contracts with new teams on Friday with just days before spring training.
As teams around Major League Baseball begin to finalize their spring training rosters, two former members of the Philadelphia Phillies recently found new homes, and for one, a familiar one.
On Friday, outfielder Hunter Pence re-signed with the San Francisco Giants, while catcher Cameron Rupp signed a minor-league deal with the Cleveland Indians with an invitation to spring training.
Pence’s deal is a one-year, $3 million contract. After playing more than 830 games between the Houston Astros (2007-11) and Phillies (2011-12), the Fort Worth, Texas, native went on to play seven seasons with the San Francisco Giants in which he earned one All-Star nod, two top-16 National League MVP Award finishes, and, most importantly, two World Series championships.
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After slashing just .226/.258/.332 with the Giants in 2018, Pence’s career appeared to be nearing an end, however it resurged in 2019 with the Texas Rangers. In 83 games, Pence slashed .297/.358/.552 with 18 home runs and 59 RBI. The four-time All-Star will turn 37 on April 13, yet it appears he has at least one more season in store, his would-be eighth as a Giant.
With the Phillies, Pence slashed .289/.357/.486 with 28 home runs and 94 RBI in 155 games. He may have never became a Giant to begin with, had he not been dealt in July 2012, in exchange for Tommy Joseph, Seth Rosin and Nate Schierholtz.
Rupp, 31, has only played for the Phillies in his major-league career; in five seasons, from 2013 to 2017, he slashed .234/.298/.407 with 39 home runs and 124 RBI spanning 296 games and 1,127 plate appearances.
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Since being released by the Phillies following the 2018 spring training slate, Rupp has played in minor-league action for five different organizations: Rangers, Seattle Mariners, Minnesota Twins, Oakland Athletics and Detroit Tigers. Now, he joins his sixth in the Indians.
In 2017, Rupp committed the third-most errors among National League catchers (8) and the second-most passed balls (11). However, just two years prior, he turned the fourth-most double plays among National League catchers (7), and recorded the fifth-best caught stealing percentage (37.7).