Mariners notebook: Saturday morning dings and dents edition

PEORIA, Ariz. – Add Mitch Haniger to the “hands” squad. Mariners manager Scott Servais revealed Saturday morning that Haniger was dealing with hand soreness.

“It’s not a big deal but we want to be cautious on that one,” he said. “It’s nothing serious, nothing at all. With the (Ryon) Healy thing and everything else it is probably me as much as anybody, take it easy, take it slow.”

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For his part, Haniger did not seem worried at all about the soreness in his right hand.

“I changed my grip a little bit, tried to help my swing out, and I’m sure it had to do with that,” he said. “Just caused a little inflammation. We will find the middle ground and go from there.”

Haniger said he first felt the soreness a month ago and from then on it was on and off for about a week at a time. He doesn’t believe it was anything too out of the ordinary.

“Early in the offseason your hands and wrists always bug you a little bit,” he pointed out. “That’s why I start hitting early in November and I build up through it. It’s always very common to feel stuff in the offseason when you start swinging high velocity and you haven’t swung for two months. This one has kind of came and gone, but I am not really too worried about it. I don’t think it is going to be a big deal.”

Haniger expects to resume hitting in a couple of days.

Also added to the injury report Saturday morning was Daniel Vogelbach. Although we don’t have the details, he was seen leaving the complex on crutches with his foot in a boot. Vogelbach was hit by a pitch in Friday’s game against the Padres, but he stayed in the game and even tried to stretch a double into a triple. We should learn more about his injury later in the day.

He of course is not in the Lineup! vs. the White Sox.

Mariners (1-0) vs White Sox (0-1)

Dee Gordon, CF
Andrew Romine, SS
John Andreoli, LF
Mike Ford, DH
Matt Hague, 1B
Taylor Motter, 3B
Kirk Nieuwenhuis, RF
Gordon Beckham, 2B
Mike Marjama, C

Mike Leake, RHP

Today’s 12:10 p.m. game can be heard live on 710 ESPN Seattle.

Notes:

• Braden Bishop could get his first at-bats of the spring Saturday as he is listed as a sub against the White Sox. It will be Bishop’s first chance to put up some dollars in the #Hits2EndALZ challenge that he started in honor of his mother Suzy, who was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease 3 1/2 years ago. The movement started with a Tweet and has taken off across all levels of baseball.

During spring training I will personally be donating money to Alzheimer’s for every hit (can’t promise I’ll get any 🤭😎) in either major or minor league games.
Single=$10
Double=$20
Triple=$30
Home Run=$40 (don’t hit many of these 😬)#Knocks4MOM #Hits2EndALZ

— Braden Bishop (@bradenbishop7) February 7, 2018

“As of yesterday we had over 95 guys,” Bishop said Saturday morning. “Hopefully we raise a ton of money, but more so, obviously guys are pledging money but without even knowing it they are helping spread awareness and that was my No. 1 goal since the beginning.”

Go Braden, go.

• While he won’t be able to pick up a bat, Servais believes first baseman Ryon Healy (recovering from hand surgery) could be cleared late next week to resume fielding work. There are no new updates on pitcher Erasmo Ramirez (lat strain).

• Reliever Dan Altavilla appeared to have good early stuff in his inning against the Padres and also showed a bit of a different look, going upstairs with the hitters. “He’s got a lot of confidence in his slider right now and that just sets up the velocity,” said Servais. “I really like how he was able to elevate the ball yesterday by design. That’s something we have talked to him about and he executed.”

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