Hunter Pence played just 52 games because of injuries, but his words remained valuable during a season that didn’t reach expectations because of a variety of reasons, including his own physical limitations. He was shelved with a broken forearm, wrist tendinitis and a strained oblique, the last ailment keeping him out since Aug. 17. Unlike some other injured players, Pence stayed with the club home and away and helped tutor and motivate his teammates, especially the ones called up from the minors to replace all the injured players.

Before Sunday’s 162nd game, Pence did his longest interview in several weeks. Here it is:

On what’s next in his rehab: “I’m going back to Houston. I’m pretty close. I still need probably another week, somewhere in that range. We need it to completely heal. It’s not completely gone. I’ve got to get that taken care of. Really, the treatment is icing, and I can do that at home.”

On summing up his season: “I don’t really sum up the season for myself. I’m just one person out there. I think there were a lot of bright spots for the Giants. We have some pretty remarkable talent. (Matt) Duffy, his season and what he’s been able to add to our group. (Josh) Osich, (Hunter) Strickland, (George) Kontos, Kelby Tomlinson, a lot of young guys who have shown potential. Obviously with my injuries, I think I’d be a lot more upset if I didn’t know the preparation I put into the season. So I feel real good about that. It’s one of those things that happens.”

On the disappointments of the injuries: “You can’t assume anything. Obviously it hurts. Some things you can’t control. If there was a lack of preparation or lack of due diligence to stay healthy, I’d have a different perspective. There’s really no explaining it. I think you look at bright spots . . . There were a lot of strong seasons, a lot of guys who do an incredible job. We have a real good look going into next year. But I think the key is what everyone will say, we have to stay healthy.”

On missing Jeremy Affeldt and Tim Hudson: “From a selfish and sentimental standpoint, it’s definitely sad to see them go, but I think it’s a celebration for what they’ve been able to accomplish. We’ve been lucky to get to play with them, to share time on the field and learn from their leadership. Both those guys really impact the team on a much bigger level than just their performance on the field. They’re two of the best leaders I ever played with.”

On looking forward to a normal offseason: “I don’t really ever have a normal day. Hopefully, I’ll be able to start (training) early. I’m still not ready to do a lot of things I’d like to do. I’ll probably be able to start on time.”

On recruiting free agents: “I’ll give them my best. I’m willing to do anything to improve the squad and get stronger. But it’s very rare you find impact players like Duffy, like Kelby because you don’t just find middle of the order, top of the order talent. It’s extremely rare. Usually you have to spend a ton of money. If you can get young players to fill their roles, you create a window of success, and they are a very bright spot to our future.”

On increased salaries of bench players: “Yeah, that’s an impact, but we’ll see. It’s important to have veteran guys in bench roles because there’s more to be able to just pinch hit. You can have young guys do that. It takes a very unique person.”

On the Giants’ plan to work with Tomlinson in the outfield: “If you watched him play at all, you realize he’s an incredible athlete. You saw the inside-the-park home run. He’s got the speed. He’s got the quickness, and it’s way easier to transition from the infield to the outfield. It’s not a very difficult move. He’ll just going to need to play a few games out there. To do it perfectly, we’ll see. But he’s definitely going to be adequate. I think his bat changes the game, and so does his baserunning. That gets overlooked a lot. When he’s on the basepaths, it’s dangerous.”

On what makes him proud of this year’s team: “I think honestly our unity. This group never turns its back on each other. We’re always working as a group. We’re having a lot of fun. There’s no quit in any of these guys. We kept believing until we were mathematically eliminated. We genuinely thought we were going to find a way to come back. There’s nothing that got us down. We had a lot of injuries. It took a lot of guys really grinding pretty hard to step up for the missing pieces. Yeah, just sticking together and not pointing fingers. We all look at how we could get better. It makes it a lot of fun to be here every day.”

John Shea is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: jshea@sfchronicle.com. Twitter @JohnSheaHey