The thought fills him with a nervous excitement. Did they miss him? Because he sure missed them. Are they excited he’s back? Because he’s feeling a rookie-level debut excitement about being back with the Mariners.
Mitch Haniger spent far too many days last season pondering what his life would’ve been like had he just stayed with Seattle. Sometimes it takes leaving to realize the importance of what you’ve left behind.
“It’s so weird how this unfolded,” he said. “I had to stop watching their games last year so I would stop thinking about how much I was missing playing in Seattle.”
Thursday night at T-Mobile Park, he will be announced as the starting right fielder for the Mariners — a distinction he’s held for most of his MLB career.
“It just feels right wearing this uniform,” he said.
When he steps to the plate, he should receive a loud and lengthy standing ovation from the fans in attendance. He got a standing ovation in his first plate appearance this spring back with the Mariners, before promptly hitting a home run on the second pitch he saw.
“I’m just excited to play in front of Mariners fans again,” he said.
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And after a spring training when he looked like a better version of his younger self, posting a .385/.442/.846 slash line with 15 hits in 16 games, including three doubles, five homers and seven RBI, Seattle fans should be excited about what Haniger can bring back to the organization after his one-year hiatus with the Giants.
Following a 2023 season when COVID and a nasty ankle sprain caused him to miss much of the season, Haniger had reached free agency. He wanted to remain with the Mariners, but he also wanted to see what was out there in free agency.
As a late-bloomer at the MLB level and not reaching free agency until he was 32, this was likely his one opportunity to get a multiyear deal. He made his feelings known to the Mariners’ front office. But the M’s offers couldn’t compare to the three-year, $43.5 million deal made by the Giants — his favorite team when growing up in the Bay Area.
But the homecoming didn’t feel quite right. An oblique strain sidelined him for much of spring training. He worked to return to the lineup, but struggled to regain his timing and comfort level. Just as he started to feel a little normal, , Haniger’s bad luck with fluke injuries intervened. On June 13, a fastball rode inside and struck him in his right forearm, fracturing his ulna. The break required a surgical procedure to insert a plate and screws into the forearm to help him recover.
Haniger returned to the Giants for the final 17 games of the season, but was largely ineffective having missed so much time.
It was during that time recovering from the surgery that he started to miss the Mariners even more. He’d kept in contact with Marco Gonzales, Cal Raleigh, J.P. Crawford, Ty France and others early in the season and would watch Mariners games if they were on.
“Last year was hard for me to go into a new place and trying to establish friends and learn the staff, learn the system, learn everything,” Haniger said. “And then my season started and stopped a couple times, and it was just a lot to deal with.”
It wasn’t that Haniger was unhappy with the Giants, but he felt a level of ownership with the Mariners and their success. Besides becoming a proven MLB player with the organization, he helped build a new culture in the clubhouse along with Gonzales and Kyle Seager as the team turned over the roster.
“We kind of established that culture here,” he said. “The thing that sucked about leaving was we built it here over the last three, four or five years. The culture here is real with how guys come in prepared, and it’s about working and getting better. And it’s not like that everywhere.”
There is a camaraderie built in the process of preparation. Pregame work isn’t always fun, but that lack of enjoyment is forgotten with in-game success and postgame victory music. Ask anyone with the Mariners and they will say that Haniger helped establish that mindset.
“It has to be precedent set by the players that have been here so when you’re new to the clubhouse, and you walk in, and this is what’s expected of you,” Haniger said. “And I loved that part of being a Seattle Mariner. I felt like we built that up the right way.”
The Giants started looking for ways to move Haniger and his contract this offseason and found an eager partner in the Mariners.
On Jan. 5, Haniger’s phone began to light up with text messages. He was being traded back to the Mariners along with pitcher Anthony DeSclafani in exchange for pitcher Robbie Ray.
“If I would have had a really good year last year, I probably would have never got traded,” Haniger said. “Just having another fluke injury and missing a bunch of time and having a terrible year kind of opened the doors for a trade. And to get traded back to this place where I’ve always loved playing I was just really thankful and grateful.”
His teammates were just as thankful for his return.
“Honestly, Mitch is one of the best teammates I’ve ever played (with),” Crawford said. “I’ve learned a lot from him. You can go to him for anything.”
When Haniger walked into the clubhouse for the first time in his return, it felt like he’d never left. He was home.
But manager Scott Servais noticed a difference in Haniger. He saw a veteran player at peace with himself and his career. There wasn’t free agency and his professional future looming to provide angst. There was just a comfortable fit for Haniger with a shared goal between the organization and his teammates.
During his morning meeting sessions, Servais likes to interview new players to help teammates get to know them personally. He decided to interview Haniger again as a new player, knowing it would be eye-opening for everyone in the room, even players who knew him.
“It was the best one ever,” Servais said. “It was fantastic. He’s really changed. He is a different guy now than he was a few years ago. If you guys haven’t seen it, you’re not really paying attention. He’s way different.”
Haniger had sat through years of interviews for new teammates. He wasn’t expecting to be up there answering questions again. But he thought about what he would say.
“Earlier in the spring, I was hoping to get interviewed,” Haniger said. “I was excited for some of those questions.”
How do you sum up all that has happened to him — the uneven path to the big leagues, the fluke injuries that derailed seasons, the setbacks and surgeries, leaving and coming home — in one session?
“You are just talking about believing in yourself to other guys and coming into work every day,” Haniger said. “Cal asked a question about what it means to be a professional? I gave my piece on that and how super thankful and grateful (I was) for those guys showing me the ropes when I was younger. I got to watch a lot of guys that had played for a long time and learn by watching them and picking up some things and how I’m looking forward to helping out younger players, or even guys that are older. I can learn from a younger guy as even as an older guy.”
Servais was excited by the answers.
“You have two little girls at home, it changes things,” Servais said. “You’ve been around a little bit now and you go somewhere else and come back and have a different perspective on things. The impact that has on the rest of your team when a player like that will get up and share some things that are important to him and how he’s gone through his journey. There’s nothing more impactful. Nothing.”
It’s a compliment Haniger doesn’t take lightly. He remembers what Paul Goldschmidt meant to him in his brief call-up to the Diamondbacks and the impact that Seager and Nelson Cruz had on him during his time with the Mariners.
He’s back where he belongs. And he’s ready to win.
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