Hunter Pence broke in with the Houston Astros in 2007, finishing third in National League Rookie of the Year voting displaying a nice balance of power and average that would be his calling card.

Settling in at Rightfield, Pence was an All-Star in 2009 and 2011, hitting 20 Home Runs six years in a row beginning in 2008 while batting over .300 twice.  Traded to the Phillies during the 2011 Season and subsequently to San Francisco the following year.  It was as a Giant that Pence achieved his greatest fame.

This happened not necessarily because Pence was a better player but rather that he joined a loaded Giants team that won the 2012 World Series and again in 2014.  Pence was still a solid contributor, even having his best season in '14, where he was an All-Star for the third time and was eleventh in MVP voting, his highest finish.  He slowed down after, though he added an All-Star as Texas' Designated Hitter in 2019, Pence's only year there.  He returned to the Bay Area for one final year but was released midseason.

Pence might not have been a superstar, but he had a career that is the envy of many.

Howie Kendrick played 15 years in the Majors, the first nine of which with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, where the Second Baseman was an All-Star in 2011.  Kendrick had several good offensive years for the Halos, batting 2.92 overall for Los Angeles, with 1,204 of his 1,747 Hits collected there.

While he declined in 2015, he still was productive, playing for the Dodgers and Phillies, and lastly, the Washington Nationals, where he helped them win the 2019 World Series, winning his last major award, the NLCS MVP. 

Despite being a First Round Pick, Gio Gonzalez was traded three times before he made his Major League debut, which was with Oakland in 2008.  Gonzalez's first two years were nothing special, but he broke out in 2010, going 15-9 with a 3.23 ERA, and he was better in 2011, going to the All-Star Game and finishing the year at 16-12 with a 3.12 ERA.  As typical with the A's, Gonzalez was traded away, as Oakland knew they could not afford him in the future.  The Washington Nationals would become their long-term home for Gonzalez.

In Gonzalez's first year in the National League, he had the best year of his career, leading the league in Wins (21), adding a second All-Star Game, while also finishing first in FIP (2.82) and SO/9 (9.3) and fanning 203 batters.  Gonzalez was third in Cy Young voting, but this would be his highwater mark, not a building block.  Over the next five years, Gonzalez mainly was a middle-of-the-road starter, though he was sixth in Cy Young voting in 2017 when he was 15-9 and had a 2.96 ERA.  

Gonzalez was traded to Milwaukee during the 2018 Season, but he declined the following year and battled with injuries.  After a year with the White Sox and an attempted comeback with Miami in 2021, his career ended with a decent record of 131-101 and 1,860 Strikeouts.

The Texas Rangers drafted Edwin Encarnacion in 2000, but a year later he was traded to the Cincinnati Reds, where he would eventually make his Major League debut for in 2005.  With the Reds, the Dominican showed promise, but his hitting never reached its potential, and he was not good in the field.  A mid-season trade in 2009 to Toronto changed everything for Encarnacion, though that was not instant.

Toronto was not high on Encarnacion and was forced to take him in the trade.  A Free Agent in 2011, Encarnacion did not receive any offers, and Toronto took another chance on him, signing him, but now using Encarnacion mainly as a Designated Hitter.  The focus on hitting benefited Encarnacion, who would break out in 2012 with a 42-Home Run/110 RBI year.  Encarnacion had another good year in 2013 (36 HR and 104 RBI), proving he was no fluke.

Encarnacion went to his second All-Star Game in 2014, but the year after, where he was not an All-Star selection, he was part of the meat of a contending Blue Jays team.  The DH blasted 39 Home Runs and 111 RBIs and had his fourth straight .900 OPS year.  He stayed with Toronto one more year, where he went to his third All-Star, matched his highest Home Run total (42), and won his first RBI Title with 127.  

Encarnacion signed with Cleveland in 2017 and gave them three 30 HR/100 years, though the last one saw him traded during the year to Seattle.  He wound down his career with the Mariners and White Sox for one year in 2020.

Encarnacion has 424 Home Runs and 1,261 RBIs, which for a power hitter is very good and better than many slugging Hall of Famers, but he was not a multi-faceted player, and this will keep him out of Cooperstown.