Mitch Haniger

The Mariners have re-started the baseball activities of injured outfielder Mitch Haniger, manager Scott Servais told reporters including MLB.com’s Greg Johns (Twitter link). Doctors gave him the go-ahead to start some light catch and hitting.

Haniger halted an earlier attempt at ramping up when he experienced pain. His is a particularly unpleasant injury, so it’s probably not altogether surprising that the discomfort has continued.

Servais certain did not indicate that Haniger is now on a fast track back. “He still has some issues and is feeling some pain on certain days,” says Servais, “so we have to be careful how fast we go with him.”

It’s obviously disappointing to see the 28-year-old sidelined in this manner, particularly with so little else for the Mariners to cheer for at the moment. But with the M’s well out of contention, Haniger is clearly the one suffering the most. Beyond the physical and mental toll, his ongoing absence has sapped his earning power heading into his first year of arbitration eligibility. He’ll not only command less as an arb-1 player, but will establish a much lower starting point to build off of in the two ensuing years.

It seems there’s still at least some hope that Haniger can make it back to the majors this season. He will surely need to build himself up a bit physically and get comfortable again at game speed. Still, as a position player, Haniger shouldn’t require an especially extensive rehab stint — if and when he’s able to get fully past the pain.

The Mariners have temporarily halted Mitch Haniger’s baseball activities, manager Scott Servais told reporters (including Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times, Jen Mueller of Root Sports, and MLB.com’s Greg Johns).  Haniger underwent surgery to fix a ruptured testicle almost a month ago, and hasn’t yet begun a full injury rehab, instead just sticking to more basic workouts.

Even this has been a challenge, however, as Haniger reported some soreness while trying to increase his baseball-related activity, and was informed by a doctor that he needed to take a step back in the recovery process.  “He’s just sore. We need to be really patient and give him time,” Servais said.

This isn’t the first setback for Haniger, as the initial hope was that he would already be back on the field by early July, though that timeline was recently pushed back until after the All-Star break.  This latest news would seem to indicate that Haniger will be out of action for even longer, since he would seemingly need to ramp up his preparations in pain-free fashion and then embark on some minor league rehab games.

After undergoing surgery to fix a ruptured testicle earlier this month, Mariners outfielder Mitch Haniger hasn’t received clearance for any running or baseball activities, manager Scott Servais told MLB.com’s Greg Johns and other reporters.  While Haniger is doing some light weights work, the injury “was a little more serious than we’d originally anticipated,” Servais said.  “So it may be he’s going to need to play a few games, obviously, before we just fire him out there….we’ll just have to wait and see.”

It now seems as if Haniger may not return until after the All-Star break, as Servais said he had hoped the outfielder could be back in the fold prior to July 7, the last game of the season’s unofficial first half.  “But we just need to be patient,” Servais said, noting that the team will be cautious with Haniger’s recovery process.

Haniger had 15 homers and a .220/.314/.463 slash line over 283 plate appearances at the time of his injury.  While these numbers still represent above-average production, all three slash line statistics were down from Haniger’s superior lines in 2017 and 2018.  A .257 BABIP had something to do with the offensive decline, though Haniger’s strikeouts were way up (a 28.6% strikeout rate that soared above his 23.3% career mark).

While Haniger’s extra swing-and-miss tendencies were certainly a concern, he still would have attracted major attention on the trade front if the Mariners looked to move him at the deadline.  Haniger drew some trade interest over the winter, though while Seattle has been aggressive in moving its higher-priced players, the M’s would have required a big return before dealing a long-term piece like Haniger.  The outfielder is under team control through 2022 and will only reach arbitration eligibility for the first time this winter.

If Haniger won’t return until after the break, however, there might not be enough time before July 31 for him to show that he’s healthy and productive, so teams won’t be willing to give the Mariners the trade package they undoubtedly desire.  Still, it was a longer shot that Haniger would actually be dealt this summer anyway, as the M’s are in no real rush to move him as a cost-controlled player.  The club could easily wait until the winter to revisit Haniger’s market, if the Mariners end up dealing him at all.