SF Giants interested in free-agent Mariners outfielder Mitch Haniger

The SF Giants are pursuing former Seattle Mariners outfielder and Mountain View native Mitch Haniger, per a report by Ken Rosenthal.

The SF Giants locked up one outfielder from Santa Clara County when Joc Pederson accepted their $19.65 million qualifying offer. Now they’ve got their sights set on another one, according to a report by Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. Rosenthal reports that free-agent outfielder Mitch Haniger, a native of Mountain View, California, is “drawing attention from the Giants.”

The SF Giants are reportedly interested in longtime Mariners outfielder Mitch Haniger. (2022) / Stephen Brashear-USA TODAY Sports

Haniger was an All-Star in 2018 for the Seattle Mariners, when he hit 26 home runs and 93 RBIs and finished 11th in the MVP voting. He sat out the 2020 season after having multiple surgeries, then came back in 2021 to hit 39 homers, score 110 runs, and drive in 100 while slugging .485.

In 2022, Haniger severely sprained his ankle in late April and missed three months, and ended up playing just 57 games in the Mariners’ triumphant return to the playoffs. He hit 11 home runs and put up a slash line of .246/.308/.429. Seattle GM Jerry Dipoto declined to give Haniger a qualifying offer but expressed interest in bringing him back. However, a reunion seems far less likely after the Mariners acquired outfielder Teoscar Hernández in a trade with the Blue Jays, a different right-handed power-hitting right fielder.

Haniger and Pederson could make a devastating left field/designated hitter platoon, while representing the South Bay. Haniger, a graduate of Archbishop Mitty High School in San Jose, crushes left-handed pitching, hitting .277/.353/.500 for his career, while Pederson, from Palo Alto High School, hits righties with a .242/.343/.497 slash line.

Haniger is a decidedly better outfielder than Joc, with a good throwing arm, but is not an elite defender in right. Still, with better defenders like Mike Yastrzemski and Austin Slater in the outfield, Haniegr could easily slide to left field. The big knock on him is his strikeouts, as Haniger has struck out in nearly a quarter of his plate appearances for his career.

While Haniger has had some bad injuries, a few of them were simply terrible luck. In 2017, he took a 95 MPH fastball to the face from Jacob deGrom.

In 2019, his season ended after he fouled a Justin Verlander pitch off of a very sensitive area, and... ruptured a testicle.

Mariners release says Mitch Haniger’s injury occurred in the sixth inning but I think it happened here in the third inning. pic.twitter.com/FfO4n7CS0E

— Ryan Divish (@RyanDivish) June 7, 2019

Somehow, Haniger actually batted one more time in the game after that, proving he certainly can play through pain. Excruciating pain.

Rosenthal's report also mentioned that Bruce Bochy’s Rangers are also interested in Mitch Haniger. But the SF Giants can offer him the chance to avoid painful flashbacks and get out of Verlander’s division, plus the finest Silicon Valley technology to build him the strongest cup money can buy.