Mariners Insider: Adjustments pay off for surging Mitch Haniger

Don’t look now, but for the last two weeks Seattle Mariners outfielder Mitch Haniger has looked like the Mitch Haniger who has stepped to the plate in big situations so many times in his Mariners career and had the look of a guy who could do damage. Not the player who had been mired in a near season-long struggle at the plate.

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There had been hints lately that perhaps it was coming together, but after homering off lefties who had strangely been his Kryptonite this year two days in a row, it appears safe to dare to believe. Haniger for his part certainly does and told his skipper as much recently.

“He said it about 10 days ago, I’m about to get hot,” said Scott Servais following the Mariners’ 6-5 series clinching win over the Phillies on Saturday. “You can just see he’s seeing the ball better. His timing’s good. The quality at-bats, he’s hitting the ball harder and not always getting the ball to fall in, but he has here recently. And when he gets hot, he can hit any pitch, he can hit who’s ever on the mound, right or left, and we’re seeing that right now.”

Over the past two weeks Haniger, who posted a .570 OPS in May and .601 in June, has run an OPS of 1.005 with a wRC+ of 186. In his walk-off interview on the field following the win Saturday, Haniger pointed to changes he recently made as leading to what he is doing at the plate currently.

“Just working on my posture and I feel really good,” he said. “I’ve been feeling good for a while, just haven’t been getting my results.”

Haniger said changes he made coming into spring training that he initially had success with this year had ultimately failed him, and it took him awhile to throw them to the side and go back to what he had done previously.

 

“The frustrating part is the work is always good,” he explained in his postgame media session. “The BP felt good. Just the results in the game were not there. The missing pitches, just constantly kind of feeling like I’m always ready to break through and not happening. And then just always watching film and comparing the present to the past and seeing where I’m at and what I need to adjust, and kind of a light bulb went off and it’s like I wish it didn’t take me 2 1/2 months or three months to figure it out, but I’m glad I did.”

In his on-field interview, Haniger credited work put in with the training staff and hitting coaches in getting him to the point where things are clicking again. He also pointed to a new teammate as having a part in the process as well.

“For me, talking with (Justin) Turner, he’s a big help for me as a guy whose swing I studied for a while,” he said.  “So he’s a he’s a guy I’ve been leaning on and asking a lot of questions, and it’s really good to have in our clubhouse.”

While a hitting coach can make suggestions and encourage changes, teammates who have been there, done that and are currently doing that, bring reassurance. They often can be their own best resources, something former Mariner Mike Cameron understands and shared on social media in response to what Haniger said on the field.

“When you bring in a veteran that’s had success and a winning pedigree the one thing he’s always going to do is be a set of eyes and bring validation to even veterans! I like it,” Cameron wrote.

When you bring in a veteran that’s had success and a winning pedigree the one thing he’s always is going to do is …be a set of eyes and bring validation to even veterans! I like it💪🏿✊🏿

— MIKE CAMERON (@_mcameron44) August 4, 2024

Servais has stuck with Haniger through the struggles. His patience is now being rewarded with more than just good signs.

“You can’t get always caught up in the in the batting average,” Servais said. “There’s the luck factor. … Mitch has hit a lot of balls hard against left-handed pitching and has got nothing to show for it. When you pull back the hood and you look at all the internal metrics on that, the at-bats have been better against lefties, but the batting average, the OPS, it is what it is. He knows that and he made a few adjustments. He’s been right on the lefties of late. The swings have been on time. He’s getting ahead of the bat out, he’s driving the ball. He’s starting to feel it, and we need it.”

If Haniger is feeling it, those around him will as well. He is that kind of player. He’s got confidence in the path both he and the team are on.

“Things are just clicking. That’s how baseball works,” he said. “You just got to keep putting in the work in. Things will turn. We got a lot of really good players in our clubhouse. The first half hitting performance-wise wasn’t there, but it just means we’re going to be hot the second half and we’ll ride into the playoffs.”

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