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Mitch Haniger's Offensive Turnaround is at Least Partially Credit to Justin Turner, He Says

Haniger's offense looks nothing like it did in the first half of the season.

Josh Wilson

Mitch Haniger celebrates a walk-off walk
Mitch Haniger celebrates a walk-off walk / Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports
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Mitch Haniger has had a completely different second half. Daniel Kramer pulled the numbers, his OPS has gone from .618 in the first half to .965 in the second half.

But there's another signpost worth acknowleding: The addition of Justin Turner, who became Haniger's teammate by way of a trade on July 29. In the four games the two have been teammates, Haniger is 5-for-11 with three RBIs, two home runs, two walks, and a 1.571 OPS.

That's not all attributable to Turner, but Haniger would tell you at least some of it is thanks to the perspective he's brought to the team and him personally.

"[Turner is] a big help for me as a guy whose swing I studied for a while, so I've been leaning on and asking a lot of questions and it's really good," Haniger said Saturday night after he worked a bases-loaded walk to secure a comeback win for the Mariners over the Philadelphia Phillies.

It ended a scoreless drought for both teams that lasted three full innings, sending the game into an extra frame. Carlos Estevez intentionally walked Cal Raleigh, and Dylan Moore was hit by a pitch to load the bases as Haniger came up to bat. Haniger fouled off three pitches in the seven-pitch at-bat.

To his credit, being someone to add perspective is exactly what Turner said he would be.

"Just hopefully a calming voice, someone that guys are comfortable with or get comfortable with so they can come to you with any questions or any situations and just try to help them out as best I can,” Turner said when he was acquired.

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Josh Wilson
JOSH WILSON

Josh Wilson is the news director of the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. Before joining SI in 2024, he worked for FanSided in a variety of roles, most recently as senior managing editor of the brand’s flagship site. He has also served as a general manager of Sportscasting, the sports arm of a start-up sports media company, where he oversaw the site’s editorial and business strategy. Wilson has a bachelor’s degree in mass communications from SUNY Cortland and a master’s in accountancy from the Gies College of Business at the University of Illinois. He loves a good nonfiction book and enjoys learning and practicing Polish. Wilson lives in Chicago but was raised in upstate New York. He spent most of his life in the Northeast and briefly lived in Poland, where he ate an unhealthy amount of pastries for six months.

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