Mitch Haniger

Mitchell Evan Haniger (born December 23, 1990) is an American professional baseball outfielder for the San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Arizona Diamondbacks and Seattle Mariners.

A collegiate All-American for California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo in 2012, the Milwaukee Brewers selected Haniger in the supplemental section of the first round of the 2012 MLB draft. He was traded to the Diamondbacks in 2014 while still a minor league prospect. He made his MLB debut with the Diamondbacks in 2016 and was traded to the Mariners after the season. Haniger was an All-Star in 2018.

Haniger attended Archbishop Mitty High School in San Jose, California, part of the West Catholic Athletic League. Haniger was a star two-sport athlete for Archbishop Mitty, batting in the .370s and showing near the top among prep home run hitters on the diamond and racking up 75 catches for 789 yards and 5 touchdowns as a wide receiver on the school's football team.

Haniger was recruited as an athlete by California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly San Luis Obispo), Cal State Fullerton, University of California, Berkeley, the University of Oregon, UC Santa Barbara, and UC Davis, all of whom wanted Haniger to play on their college baseball team. The New York Mets selected Haniger in the 31st round of the 2009 Major League Baseball (MLB) Draft, but he did not sign with the team, choosing instead to enroll at Cal Poly, to play for the Cal Poly Mustangs.

While at Cal Poly, Haniger played right field as a freshman and sophomore, and center field as a junior. Haniger was named the 2010 Big West Conference Freshman of the Year following his debut season with the Mustangs, a year in which he batted an impressive .325.

Following his freshman season at Cal Poly, Haniger spent the summer of 2010 playing wood bat baseball as part of the Corvallis Knights of the West Coast League, hitting .299 over 134 at bats with the team, racking up 11 stolen bases in 38 games played. Haniger was named a member of the first-team All-WCL Team and was rated as the WCL's No. 5 pro prospect by Baseball America following the 2010 summer schedule.

His sophomore season proved less successful at the plate than his freshman year, but Haniger nevertheless managed to bat .275. He once again spent the summer playing wood bat collegiate ball, this time in the colors of the Green Bay Bullfrogs of the Northwoods League. His summer work paid dividends, paving the way for an offensive explosion in 2012, during which spent much of the year heading the Big West Conference in the power categories of home runs, runs batted in, and slugging percentage. Haniger finished the season with a .346 batting average, with league-leading totals of 13 home runs and 64 RBI. Haniger won the league's highest plaudit, being named the 2012 Big West Conference Player of the Year and gained national recognition as an All-American.

Milwaukee Brewers

The Milwaukee Brewers selected Haniger as a supplemental draft pick at the end of the first round of the 2012 MLB draft — the 38th overall selection. The pick with which Haniger was selected was awarded to the Brewers as partial compensation for the loss of slugger Prince Fielder to the Detroit Tigers in the 2011-12 offseason.

Haniger's signing bonus with the Brewers was $1.2 million — less than the $1.359 million bonus for his draft slot recommended by the MLB. After signing with the Brewers, Haniger was dispatched to the team's affiliate in Appleton, Wisconsin, where he appeared in 14 games for the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers of the Class A Midwest League.

In 2013, Haniger began the season with Wisconsin, before being promoted to the Brevard County Manatees of the Class A-Advanced Florida State League. Combined, Haniger had a .264 batting average, a .348 on-base percentage, 11 home runs, and 68 runs batted in. After the 2013 season, the Brewers assigned Haniger to play for the Surprise Saguaros of the Arizona Fall League. He was named co-player of the week, along with Kris Bryant, in the first week of the fall league season.

The Brewers invited Haniger to spring training in 2014. Failing to make the cut for the team's 25 man roster, Haniger was assigned to the Huntsville Stars of the Class AA Southern League to begin the season.

Arizona Diamondbacks

On July 31, 2014, the Brewers traded Haniger and Anthony Banda to the Arizona Diamondbacks for Gerardo Parra. The Diamondbacks assigned him to the Mobile BayBears of the Southern League. Haniger began the 2015 season with Mobile. Though he batted .281 for Mobile, the Diamondbacks demoted Haniger to the Visalia Rawhide of the Class A-Advanced California League in June so that he could play more frequently. He spent the 2015 season retooling his batting stance and swing to focus on generating more power.

Haniger began the 2016 season with Mobile, and was promoted to the Reno Aces of the Class AAA Pacific Coast League during the season. The Diamondbacks called up Haniger to the major leagues on August 16, 2016. Haniger played his first major league game against the New York Mets on August 16, becoming the first Diamondbacks player to have a triple as his first major league hit. Haniger also set a record as the first player in Diamondbacks history to tally three RBIs in his inaugural game.

Seattle Mariners

On November 23, 2016, the Diamondbacks traded Haniger, Jean Segura, and Zac Curtis to the Seattle Mariners for Taijuan Walker and Ketel Marte.

2017

Rated the fifth-best prospect in the Mariners' farm system by Baseball America heading into the 2017 season, Haniger began the year as the Mariners' Opening Day right fielder, batting second. On July 29, 2017, Haniger was hit in the face by a 95-mile-per-hour (153 km/h) fastball from Mets' starting pitcher Jacob DeGrom. On August 19, 2017, Haniger hit his first career grand slam off Rays' pitcher Jake Odorizzi at Tropicana Field in his return from the 10-day disabled list. Haniger finished 2017, his rookie season, batting .282/.352/.491 with 16 home runs and 47 RBI in 96 games.

2018

Coming off a productive, yet injury-shortened, rookie campaign, Haniger picked up right where he left off, batting .309 with 10 home runs and 27 RBI in the first month of the 2018 season. After finishing the first half of the season hitting .272/.358/.488 with 18 home runs and 67 RBI, Haniger was named to the 2018 MLB All-Star Game in Washington, D.C., his first ever All-Star Game selection.

Haniger's breakout season ended with a .285/.366/.493 slash line with 26 home runs and 93 RBI in 157 games, finishing 11th in AL MVP voting. He posted a bWAR of 6.1, which ranked 9th best among American League position players. He reached base at a high frequency, ranking 11th in on-base percentage and tied for 13th in walks in the American League. In addition, he displayed excellent defense in the outfield, tied for most outfield assists in all of baseball and tied for 10th in the AL with 5 defensive runs saved.

2019

Following the departure of his star teammates such as Robinson Cano, Nelson Cruz, James Paxton and Edwin Diaz over the offseason, Haniger found himself as the new leader of the rebuilding Mariners team.After a relatively slow start in which he hit .220/.314/.463 with 15 homers and 32 RBI in 63 games, Haniger was placed on the injured list with a ruptured testicle after fouling off a fastball directly in his groin area on June 6, 2019 and missed the remainder of the season.

2020

Haniger sat out the 2020 season due to numerous surgeries between the offseason and during the pandemic-shortened season.

2021

Haniger returned to baseball in 2021 and had a career year, setting career highs with 39 home runs, 100 runs batted in, and 110 runs scored.

San Francisco Giants

On December 6, 2022, Haniger signed a three-year, $43.5 million contract with the San Francisco Giants.

On October 29, 2018, Haniger was named to the MLB All-Stars team at the 2018 MLB Japan All-Star Series.

Haniger married his high school sweetheart, Amanda Gimenez, in 2016. Their first child, a daughter, was born in December 2020. The family resides full time in Seattle.