Hunter Pence is one of the most colorful characters in Major League Baseball, and his offseason antics have matched what many of us would expect from the star. The two-time World Series champ learned about coffee as an art form, magically proposed to his girlfriend at Disney World and watched the Golden State Warriors rule everything around them.

Most recently, on Thursday, Pence made a trip to Long Beach State University to shoot an Oberto beef jerky commercial with Stephen A. Smith. The San Francisco Giants outfielder spoke to For The Win on behalf of Oberto’s active lifestyle initiative.

On his ultra healthy paleo diet:

“Most of my eating is for baseball. I view eating as fuel. It helps if you can get stuff that tastes good. That’s a bonus, but most important to me is fueling my body to reach the optimum performance. ‘What you put in, you do get out.’ The (Oberto) slogan is true. It’s true to what I believe. It’s kind of funny I live through what they’re preaching.”

He added that he doesn’t eat all paleo all the time. He has cheat meals — his favorite of which is pizza — and he shoots for an 80/20 balance.

On his days “interning” at the Blacksmith coffee shop:

“No (I didn’t actually intern there), but I was there almost every day. I learned so much about coffee. I learned so much about all the things you can do with coffee in the barista competitions. I actually watched the regionals this year because I was rooting for Greenway Coffee’s David Buehrer … My whole coffee understanding and knowledge mind got blown this offseason just hanging out at Blacksmith’s and hanging out with David and the whole Greenway family. It’s been a wonderful, wonderful offseason for me to learn about that. I’m really wanting to get into coffee like learning to barista. That’s a goal for next offseason.”

My last day working as an intern at @bl4cksmith 👏 It’s been real, guys! pic.twitter.com/62hLDvasar — Hunter Pence (@hunterpence) February 9, 2016

On when his love for the golden black liquid began:

“Coffee is like a part of my family. My grandmother drinks coffee all day long and same with all my grandparents. I had my first coffee experience at 12 years old. My dad always took his cup when he would drive me to school and I just wanted to be like my dad. I remember having a sip of it and being like, ‘That’s gross.’ Then, the next day I’d try it again. ‘It’s gross.’ But then, all of a sudden, I started liking it, and I started having it a little bit every morning with him, so I’ve been a coffee drinker since I was young.”

What Hunter Pence orders when he walks into a coffee shop:

“I would say because once again, to me, it’s like fuel. What I drink most at Blacksmith, my order there was an Americano and a cold brew. And that hit the spot for me perfectly, or just the daily black. I do have a respect for really well made espressos and cappuccinos. That’s the fun of the art work as a barista. I got to sit in on David doing his barista competition. He served me his presentation, and he’s made an espresso that mimicked the flavors of fruity pebbles cereal milk.”

Pence said he’s in the process of ordering a Slayer coffee machine for his home. After learning that San Antonio Spurs’ Boris Diaw has a coffee machine in his locker, the outfielder said he may consider doing the same.

On his favorite part of his career so far:

“The whole ride has been exceptional, but it’s a constant state of living your passion and a constant challenge of the new season and stretching your mind for training, stretching your body and growth and learning. To me, I absolutely love the journey of a Major League season. Right now is my favorite part.”

On the inspiration behind his rousing motivational speeches:

“I think it’s a collection of stuff I read, stuff I watch, different people that inspire me that I don’t even know, kind of a combination of my passion and love for the game. A lot of times it’s hard to speak but you love something so much that it’s important to me to give my best. Honestly a lot of my speeches are not my ideas. I’m just the voice of our team, a lot of our team leaders coming together saying we got to say something. we got to come together and get everyone on the same board … Brian Wilson was the reason, in 2012, that we got everyone together to say something, and he was hurt at the time. It’s been a lot of the different leaders and I’m just the voice. It’s really just a big group of leaders who care, and I just become the voice.”

He noted that Deepak Chopra’s The Seven Spiritual Laws to Success is one of the books he loves.

On his sense of humor and ability to connect with the fans:

“I think that it’s a conscious effort through different readings. A lot of my sense of humor I’m going to have to give credit to my fiancee. She is really funny and really pushes me to be myself and to be OK with that. It was hard for me to let my personality go to the public and to be myself, and she’s given me the courage to do that. I have to give her credit for that, and she’s so funny all the time. To laugh and to laugh at yourself and to not be so serious is actually, obviously when you work hard and you put your efforts in but also enjoy it lightheartedly, I think that’s the balance that I look for.”

On his famous scooter rides to the stadium:

“It’s been awesome. It’s a lot of cheering. A lot of times they want to high-five, but I don’t want to take the risk of taking a hand off while scooting. I feel bad about that because I want to show them love and let them know. But I do a lot of waving, really nothing too crazy on the scooter. It’s one of my favorite parts of the day to ride to the field and see the fans and see the Embarcadero and the beautiful city and feel the cool the air and ride up that Embarcadero — to me, it’s my bliss.”



On going to Golden State Warriors games and watching them dominate:

“I think it’s one of the most inspiring stories in all of sports. To witness history and to witness the level that they’re performing on, that they’re playing on, it’s amazing. I’m enjoying the thrill of their incredible season and this incredible time. To see them ahead of pace of the Bulls, the ‘95-95 season, I think they’re 48-4 right now so I’m following this pretty closely and I just love the comparison to the Bulls of that era.”

As Pence said to the San Francisco Chronicle in December, he repeated that he’s all healed up from his past injuries and “ready to rock.” The Giants’ season begins on April 4 against the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park.