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SF Giants activate OF Mitch Haniger, place Darin Ruf on IL

The SF Giants activated outfielder Mitch Haniger from the injured list. He will make his team debut on Monday night in left field.

Marc Delucchi

SF Giants activate OF Mitch Haniger, place Darin Ruf on IL
SF Giants activate OF Mitch Haniger, place Darin Ruf on IL /
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The SF Giants have activated outfielder Mitch Haniger from the injured list on Monday. The team placed slugger Darin Ruf on the injured list with right wrist inflammation in a corresponding move. He will start in left field against St. Louis Cardinals lefty Jordan Montgomery. Haniger has been out since the second week of March with a Grade 1 oblique strain. While he missed a significant chunk of spring training, Haniger hit a pair of home runs in four games at Triple-A on a rehab assignment.

Haniger received more guaranteed money than any other Giants free-agent acquisition this offseason, signing a three-year, $43.5 million contract. Haniger has been an incredibly productive outfielder throughout his career, but injuries have limited his availability. From 2017-2022, Haniger has only appeared in at least 100 games twice.

When he's been on the field, though, Haniger has been a potent everyday player. A right-handed bat who has crushed left-handed pitching, Haniger has also held his own against righties. The Giants sorely needed to add everyday players this offseason, and they expect Haniger to be that caliber of player.

Over his career, Haniger has hit .261/.335/.476 line with 112 home runs in 564 games. However, he is coming off a down 2022 season, when he only appeared in 57 games and posted the worst triple-slash of his career since his rookie season (.246/.308/.429).

The Giants signed Ruf to a minor-league contract earlier this season. Of course, Ruf was a key contributor in San Francisco from 2020-2022 before he was traded to the New York Mets at last year's trade deadline for J.D. Davis, Thomas Szapucki, Carson Seymour, and Nick Zwack. Ruf struggled mightily during his tenure with the Mets and was released early this season. He has hit .261/.370/.348 in 27 plate appearances with two doubles since rejoining the SF Giants.

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Marc Delucchi
MARC DELUCCHI

Marc Delucchi (he/they/she) serves as the Managing Editor at Giants Baseball Insider, leading their SF Giants coverage. As a freelance journalist, he has previously covered the San Francisco Giants at Around the Foghorn and McCovey Chronicles. He also currently contributes to Niners Nation, Golden State of Mind, and Baseball Prospectus. He has previously been featured in several other publications, including SFGate, ProFootballRumors, Niners Wire, GrandStand Central, Call to the Pen, and Just Baseball. Over his journalistic career, Marc has conducted investigations into how one prep baseball player lost a college opportunity during the pandemic (Baseball Prospectus) and the rampant mistreatment of players at the University of Hawaii football program under former head coach Todd Graham (SFGate). He has also broken dozens of news stories around professional baseball, primarily around the SF Giants organization, including the draft signing of Kyle Harrison, injuries and promotions to top prospects like Heliot Ramos, and trade details in the Kris Bryant deal. Marc received a Bachelor's degree from Kenyon College with a major in economics and a minor in Spanish. During his time in college, he conducted a summer research project attempting to predict the future minor-league performance of NCAA hitters, worked as a data analyst for the school's Women's basketball team, and worked as a play-by-play announcer/color commentator for the basketball, baseball, softball, and soccer teams. He also worked as an amateur baseball scout with the Collegiate Baseball Scouting Network (later renamed Evolution Metrix), scouting high school and college players for three draft cycles. For tips and inquiries, feel free to reach out to Marc directly on Twitter or via email (delucchimarc@gmail.com).

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