After undergoing surgery to fix a ruptured testicle earlier this month, Mariners outfielder Mitch Haniger hasn’t received clearance for any running or baseball activities, manager Scott Servais told MLB.com’s Greg Johns and other reporters. While Haniger is doing some light weights work, the injury “was a little more serious than we’d originally anticipated,” Servais said. “So it may be he’s going to need to play a few games, obviously, before we just fire him out there….we’ll just have to wait and see.”
It now seems as if Haniger may not return until after the All-Star break, as Servais said he had hoped the outfielder could be back in the fold prior to July 7, the last game of the season’s unofficial first half. “But we just need to be patient,” Servais said, noting that the team will be cautious with Haniger’s recovery process.
Haniger had 15 homers and a .220/.314/.463 slash line over 283 plate appearances at the time of his injury. While these numbers still represent above-average production, all three slash line statistics were down from Haniger’s superior lines in 2017 and 2018. A .257 BABIP had something to do with the offensive decline, though Haniger’s strikeouts were way up (a 28.6% strikeout rate that soared above his 23.3% career mark).
While Haniger’s extra swing-and-miss tendencies were certainly a concern, he still would have attracted major attention on the trade front if the Mariners looked to move him at the deadline. Haniger drew some trade interest over the winter, though while Seattle has been aggressive in moving its higher-priced players, the M’s would have required a big return before dealing a long-term piece like Haniger. The outfielder is under team control through 2022 and will only reach arbitration eligibility for the first time this winter.
If Haniger won’t return until after the break, however, there might not be enough time before July 31 for him to show that he’s healthy and productive, so teams won’t be willing to give the Mariners the trade package they undoubtedly desire. Still, it was a longer shot that Haniger would actually be dealt this summer anyway, as the M’s are in no real rush to move him as a cost-controlled player. The club could easily wait until the winter to revisit Haniger’s market, if the Mariners end up dealing him at all.
F
cant even imagine what he’s had to go through in the past few weeks.
Does it say how this happened?
He hit a foul ball and it bounced on the ground right back up into his junk
I guess that cup was useless.
Wasn’t wearing one.
It actually didn’t bounce. Somehow he fouled it directly to… you know where.
More serious? Ruptured testicle to me is life threatening.
i was thinking the same and how do you fix a ruptured testicle
I don’t even want to know the stomach ache he had….
You remove it
When are these idiots going to stop lifting weights!!?? The only thing you need to strengthen are your wrists. Babe Ruth lifted 12 ounce weights, Hank Aaron and Willie May’s were 6 foot 180 pounds! You can’t pull fat said a long time successful pitcher whose name I’m too lazy to look up…..
How on earth would lifting less weights prevent a baseball from rupturing a damn testicle?
Babe, Hank, and Willy probably never saw a pitch faster than 96.
He’s a troll don’t pay attention to his comments
Forget a pitch, they barely had cars that could go faster than 96 back then lol
Babe ruth drank all day, he would be a quad a player at vest in todays game.
So was the count 3 balls and 1 strike?
Ouch.
That’s nuts.
Haniger doesn’t have the balls to play through this.
Really hoping his rehab stint is with the Modesto Nuts.
Hopefully he can still mash 2-0 hangers when he returns to form
What they do is gather up all of the ruptured parts, put it into a Silly Putty container and sew it back up!
Poor guy, that sounds awful!
I say they gather up all the ruptured parts and clone this guy 24 more times. We need 25 guys like him on the Mariners roster to get to the playoffs. It would take another 20 years for these other 24 guys to reach our roster, but we’ve already waited 18 years for a playoff presence….whats another 18-20?
I always assumed the opposite, but evidently many pro athletes don’t wear cups.
How a hockey player…or a baseball player…or a football player…or a basketball player…or a soccer player…anything besides golfers, really…would play without one is unthinkable to me…
Two words that should never, ever, be spoken together: Rupture and Testicle. My legs immediately cross when I hear those two words together.