SF Giants OF Mitch Haniger suffers fractured forearm, placed on IL

The SF Giants place outfielder Mitch Haniger on the injured list with a fractured forearm.

The SF Giants will place outfielder Mitch Haniger on the IL after he suffered a fracture in Tuesday night's win over the St. Louis Cardinals, 11-3. Haniger was facing Jack Flaherty in the third inning when he was hit with an 88 mph changeup on the arm.

The outfielder, who'd only returned to the active roster late April after suffering an oblique strain in spring training, was just coming back to form. He was the most expensive signing the Giants made this offseason, coming in at three years for $43.5M. 

In his 40 games this season, he was hitting a .230/.281/.653 triple slash, not quite matching the output he'd peaked at during other seasons. But in his last few games, he was starting to settle in more; in Monday night's win over the Cardinals, he provided two pivotal RBIs for the Giants.

Haniger's injury came moments after Giants third baseman J.D. Davis sprained his ankle sliding hard into third base. Both Davis and Haniger exited the game, though Davis' injury is not expected to be as detrimental as Haniger's.

Mitch Haniger has left the game after being hit on the arm by a pitch pic.twitter.com/gaWsuns2Ze

— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) June 14, 2023

Despite the bad luck for Haniger, Luis Matos, who is already on the 40-man roster has been tearing it up in a Triple-A uniform and is likely to get a promotion. This unfortunate situation makes what was sure to be difficult roster construction a bit easier for the Giants, who won't have to think about who to demote.