Mariners Injury Updates: Kyle Lewis and Mitch Haniger progressing

The Mariners are set to deal with a handful of key players missing time in the next week or so. Ty France landed on the injured list with an elbow sprain suffered last Thursday, and Jesse Winker, J.P. Crawford and Julio Rodríguez are all appealing suspensions from Sunday’s dustup in Anaheim. Luckily there’s good news on the injury front with two of the team’s biggest bats.

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The Mariners have been without star outfielders Mitch Haniger and Kyle Lewis for most of this season, but each are trending in the right direction, as the M’s manager detailed Tuesday during the weekly Scott Servais Show on Seattle Sports.

Kyle Lewis

Lewis, the 2020 American League Rookie of the Year, missed the start of the season as he recovered from surgery to repair a torn meniscus that ended his 2021 campaign last May after just 36 games.

After playing in just four contests this May, Lewis was hit in the head by a pitch that ricocheted off his shoulder, suffering a concussion as his helmet flew off between the ball making contact with his shoulder and head. He hasn’t played since sustaining that concussion, which occurred on May 28.

Lewis took batting practice on the field Monday, though, and Servais said that Lewis is ramping up his workload.

“Kyle is progressing. His symptoms have kind of subsided. He’s feeling much better,” he said. “He’s getting his heart rate up. He’s doing baseball activities.”

In the four games this season, Lewis has slashed .273/.313/.667 with two home runs and three RBIs.

Mitch Haniger

Haniger returned to the Mariners in 2021 after missing about half of the 2019 season as well as all of 2020, all stemming from an initial injury that led to multiple surgeries and and complications with rehabilitation. He wound up playing in 157 games last year, though, slashing .253/.318/.485 with 39 home runs and 100 RBIs to earn a 20th place finish in the AL MVP voting.

Injury trouble has impacted Haniger again this year, having played in only nine games. He had a bout with COVID-19 in mid-April that knocked him out of action for two weeks, and in his first plate appearance back he suffered a high-ankle sprain.

At the time of Haniger’s sprain, July was reported as his likely return date. That appears to be on-schedule.

“I talked to Mitch Haniger here just a little while ago, and he’s probably going to try to get out there early today and take a few swings on the field,” Servais said. “He’s feeling much better. (He’s) picked up his baseball activity and light jogging and things like that.”

Not having Haniger or Lewis in the lineup has been noticeable, Servais said.

“Those two guys are so critical to our offense,” he said. “They can do so much damage and they really give presence throughout the lineup. So we desperately need them back and hopefully they can get back on the field sooner rather than later.”

The Scott Servais Show airs at 2 p.m. every Tuesday to lead off The Dugout, a weekly show dedicated to Mariners interviews and analysis that takes place during the final hour of Seattle Sports’ Bump and Stacy. Mariners insider Shannon Drayer joins Michael Bumpus and Stacy Rost for the show. Listen to this week’s edition at the link here or in the podcast below.

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