Giants’ Gabe Kapler turns to Hunter Pence for 2020 Opening Day speech

After nine months of waiting, Gabe Kapler woke up Thursday morning ready to finally manage his first game with the Giants. His first big move was a smart one.

Kapler said he gave a speech to the 30 players who made the Opening Day roster and gathered at Dodger Stadium, but he kept it short. Then he turned it over to Hunter Pence, because that's kind of what you do around here when you want to fire a group up.

"He's always good at inspiring people. Hunter has some of the most consistent positive energy of anybody and he never wavers," Kapler said before Thursday's game. "We just thought it was good for them to hear from one of their teammates, a guy who has been around Major League Baseball for a long time. He has seen it from a number of angles, he's coming off a great season, and is somebody the younger players on the team really look up to."

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Pence, who is in Thursday's lineup as the DH, re-signed with the organization in early February after a strong year with the Rangers, quickly returning to a leadership position in San Francisco. He has been a resource for young Giants in both camps, and members of the inexperienced coaching staff also have talked about how much they lean on Pence, who is entering his 14th big league season.

This is Pence's eighth season with the Giants, and during his first stint "The Reverend" became famous for his speeches that helped push the Giants through a 2012 title run that was full of comebacks. Kapler, not surprisingly, had done his homework. He said Pence did a good job.

"We were in a clubhouse space, close quarters, with masks up as appropriate," Kapler said. "He didn't pull the mask down. He's got a voice that projects very well."