The Mariners have avoided going to an arbitration hearing with outfielder Mitch Haniger, per Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times. Mark Feinsand of MLB.com relays that Haniger will earn a salary of $7.75MM this year, after he had filed at $8MM with the team filing at $6.71MM. (Twitter links)
This will be a significant raise for Haniger, effectively doubling his career earnings. After making around the league minimum for his first few seasons, like most players, he reached arbitration for the first time in 2020 and earned a salary of $3.01MM. Unfortunately, he missed all of that campaign due to the ruptured testicle he suffered in July of 2019.
Due to missing that whole season, he re-upped with the Mariners for the same salary in 2021 and had a tremendous bounceback season. In 157 games, he hit 39 home runs and posted an overall line of .253/.318/.485, good enough for a wRC+ of 120. Based on that excellent campaign, he will now bump his salary up to $7.75MM in his final arbitration year before reaching free agency this coming winter.
The Mariners seem well positioned to deal with an absence of Haniger next year, given the number of young outfield options on the roster. Jarred Kelenic debuted last year and seems ticketed for a lengthy showing this year. Jesse Winker was just acquired from the Reds and will still be around for 2023. 2020 Rookie of the Year Kyle Lewis is still recovering from a torn meniscus but doesn’t seem too far away now. Then there’s Julio Rodriguez, widely considered one of the best prospects in baseball. He’s currently making a push to land a spot on the team’s Opening Day roster. Even if he isn’t with the club on day one, there seems to be little doubt that he’ll join the club at some point this year.
If Haniger does hit the open market after this season, he should be in high demand based on his excellent numbers at the plate. However, as something of a late bloomer, he’s scheduled to reach free agency at a relatively older age, as he’ll be turning 32 in December of this year. That could limit the length of the deals he is offered, though that could also increase the number of interested teams, as many clubs prefer to eschew long-term commitments these days.
Ruptured testicle? I almost got sick to my stomach just reading it.
And that’s just the tip of the iceburg. During his recovery from the riptured testicle, he tore his groin and also had to have a partial discectomy in his lower back.
Dude is so lucky to still be playing with the bad luck he has had when it comes to injuries.
“…tip of the iceburg”?
Funniest response of the year (because I doubt you did it on purpose).
Your prize is a firm handshake. Which sadly is difficult to collect from an Internet site. Life isn’t fair.
That would’ve been so much better if he had truly meant what he said “tongue in cheek”. Lol, but in all honesty, I had a ruptured testicle back in my softball league days. Was pitching and didn’t quite get my glove to my “area” before the softball exploded it! Gentlemen, that is pain you DO NOT want to even imagine! Think of letting Pele put on a steel toed boot and getting a free kick to the nuts! That’s just about half as painful as a ruptured testicle! I hope he gets every penny not nailed down just for going through that pain!
Lettuce congratulate him for his comeback.
Emmm dont forget he also took a Jacob DeGrom FB to the MOUTH!!! If it wasnt for bad luck Mitch would have none at all
Mitch Hanniger is one of the few guys I consider a real, old-timey baseball player.
How many players have the cojones to go out and play without a protective cup? Adrian Beltre comes to mind, but no one else that I can think of.
Most of these guys, I could care less about them. But Hanniger has got some balls.
Well, probably not plural anymore…
This is a very strange standard for what makes someone “an old-timey baseball player.”
Well, JakeSox, it refers to a time back when players had not started wearing the protective cup in their crotch or groin area.
There was only the jock strap back in those times, a term which few people probably remember now..
In those days jockeys, baseball players, football players, and such were all male.
Such sports participants were called sportsmen back then.
Women had not asserted their demands as yet, and until the latter part of the twentieth century there had been only 1 woman participating in men’s sports activities and there had been only 1 sex change operation in the world.
When a young man registered for Selective Service (the draft) he was asked whether he was homosexual. That question, naturally, is not allowed these days.
Not wearing a cup is just reckless when the exit velos get up to 118 MPH in the modern game. It may make you old timey, but it also makes you stupid.
Did you ever try wearing a cup?
I can tell you from experience that for some guys they are very uncomfortable and that has a bad effect on your game.
So maybe it is reckless, I don’t know, but it is what it is.
Back then of course I never heard a scary term like “exit velocity.” We just went out in our jockey straps and played baseball.
I played up through American Legion ball. I mostly played outfield without a cup but when I pitched, I wore one. Haniger being an outfielder might feel the same way. Better pay close attention on the base paths though! I remember being quite shocked to find out Beltre didn’t wear one. Man, the hot corner in the bigs, that was either gutsy or goofy. He was a great fielder though. Maybe he felt comfortable using that big piece of leather to protect his junk.
Hey Bpax, did you see that? dshires4 over there just called you stupid.
I don’t know if I’d take that . . .
Haniger fouled a ball down directly off his…ball…at the plate. I stand by my statement. Stupid not to wear one. I played shortstop so it’s different for me than a right fielder, but an unnecessary risk.
Yeah, dshires4, I agree and I have done some things that might have been fun at the time but would have been stupid to an adult mind.
Anyway the cups my high school had for us were kind of primitive compared to what is available today.
And you are right, remembering the details of Hanniger’s injury. I guess I forgot but I do remember now. Freak accident.
I was just trying to instigate an argument between you and BPax. Forgive me.
Future Padre baby, LFG!
I like Julio Rodriguez, for the Padres .Pitcher and catcher trade for outfielder ?
Lol not even gore and campusano land Rodriguez
Yeah when a prospect is that good and that close you can’t just package multiple other “top” prospects for them. Mariners have to see it through with him
I like JRod to never leave seattle
Thank you for posting article! Because I was so worried about it.
Trade Haniger later this summer for pitching prospects. I appreciate his work ethic and his clubhouse presence but time to move on