TODAY: The Giants announced that Haniger will undergo forearm surgery tomorrow, and a more specific timeline on his recovery will be provided on Friday. Davis will miss the next 3-10 days with a Grade 1 ankle sprain, so while an IL stint will be necessary, the infielder looks to have avoided a more serious issue.
JUNE 13: Giants outfielder Mitch Haniger fractured his right forearm during tonight’s game against the Cardinals, the club informed reporters (including Maria Guardado of MLB.com). Third baseman J.D. Davis was also diagnosed with a right ankle sprain.
Haniger was hit by a Jack Flaherty pitch on a check swing in the third inning. He immediately departed with Blake Sabol taking his spot in left field. Unfortunately, x-rays quickly revealed the fracture, which is sure to result in another lengthy stint on the injured list.
It’s horrible luck for the veteran outfielder. Haniger has had plenty of injury concerns over his career, including some fluke issues that have kept him out for extended runs. A 2019 testicular rupture sustained when he fouled a ball off himself ended up necessitating multiple core surgeries that cost him all of 2020. He returned for a full season in 2021 but missed a large chunk of last year with a high ankle sprain in his right leg.
The Giants rolled the dice on Haniger’s power upside despite his injury history. San Francisco inked him to a three-year, $43.5MM free agent guarantee with a post-2024 opt-out clause. The first season of the deal hasn’t gone as planned. Haniger opened the year on the IL after suffering a Spring Training oblique strain. He returned in late April but started slowly, hitting .230/.281/.372 over 160 trips to the plate with his new club.
Haniger is now headed back to the IL, leaving the Giants with a gap to plug in the outfield. While they could turn to Sabol or Austin Slater more frequently alongside Michael Conforto and Mike Yastrzemski, it seems they’re considering bringing up one of their top prospects instead. As Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle noted (on Twitter), Luis Matos was pulled from tonight’s game with Triple-A Sacramento. The 21-year-old outfielder, who’s already on the Giants’ 40-man roster, is hitting .348/.415/.548 between the top two minor league levels.
Haniger’s injury isn’t the only concern from tonight’s game for San Francisco. Davis sprained his ankle while sliding into third base. He attempted to walk the injury off but moved rather gingerly and was taken out of the game. Casey Schmitt came in to replace him at the hot corner.
Davis has been one of San Francisco’s best hitters. The righty-swinging infielder is sitting on a .286/.369/.476 line with nine homers and a robust 10.9% walk rate through 245 plate appearances. If the injury sends him to the IL, Schmitt figures to take over third base. The rookie cooled offensively after a blistering start and owns a .276/.286/.405 slash over his first 32 MLB games. He’s walked just once in 119 plate appearances. Schmitt is making contact and regarded as a plus defensive third baseman, though, so he’d be a high-upside fill-in.
Absolutely shocked to my core.
Oh stuff it. The guy got hit by a pitch.
No neuticles required
Yawn, I woke up and heard Haniger was hurt again or was it Trump was indicted again? Same old same old
We’ve been on repeat since the 90s
Can you believe the balls on this guy? What are you, nuts? Wait until the brass upstairs hears about this.
Ball*
Hey, you ruptured my joke!
Giants are winning tonight but apparently at a cost…
A pyrrhic victory.
What does gum disease have to do with it?
Luis Matos is gonna be called dup now!
Mitch Haniger can’t catch a break. One of the hardest working guys in baseball too. All he does is prepare. Maybe he over-does it.
Well unfortunatly he caught a “break” so going on th IL because of it
First, he is definitely one of the hardest working baseball players in the game. He takes better care of his body than 95% in the league. His injuries: strained oblique as a rookie (preventable), pitch to his face by deGrom, ruptured testicle from a fluke foul ball then all of the domino effects that come after that injury, high ankle sprain as he swung and his cleat got caught in the dirt, now a fractured forearm by a hit-by-pitch. He’s got serious bad luck. I wish the best for a really good guy.
Let’s hope Conforto stays healthy!
Jack Flaherty also showing some ‘passion’, benches clear during this ugly game.
Not over yet.
They should be embarrassed. Passion while losing without putting up much resistance.
When a door closes a window opens.
That sounds like a possessed house. Get out, fast!!!
Better than repossessed!
MATOS TIME!!!
Testicular rupture just make me cringe.
Forearm fractures apparently take minimum 3 months. He’ll probably be out for the year.
His production was not the best. And with Matos coming up, they probably will be getting a spark plug they need. Sucks for Haniger either way.
JD will be back at some point. Hopefully no more than a few weeks.
Keep winning. That’s the name of the game. Get that playoff spot. Win the wild card. Take the division. Get lucky in the NL championship. And maybe win the WS. Keep the focus going. One game at a time.
Jack Flaherty should immediately be suspended for the time…. sorry even I can’t finish this terrible take.
Shake it off….get back to work.
You know what they say: “Another day, another injury for Mitch Haniger”.
Seriously hope he recovers to full strength though. Injuries are almost entirely unavoidable, and I know I would be incredibly frustrated if I were in the shoes of an injury-prone player. Hope you heal well!
You had me at testicular rupture.
Matos is gonna tear this league up.
Excited to see him play, that coming from a Dodgers fan!
He’s only 21 and was injured all last year, it’s so cool he’s healthy and really putting it together. Go Luis go!
Hope he heals fast. Cards need sell fast before they lose any of their trade chips.
Mitch has got to be one of the most unlucky players in history, given the insane number of ways he’s gotten injured that were not really in his control.
Not to make light of it but I assume he wasn’t wearing a cup when he ruptured his man-parts so from one perspective it may be incorrect to call it a “fluke” since the implication was there was nothing he could have done to prevent it. Not being a jerk just saying for you players out there wear a dam cup.
Matos will take over and not look back. He is a Corbin Carroll/Moore Betts type, but 1 step behind those two. Top 30 OF is in his future
All I can say is:
Flaherty should be immediately be suspended by MLB for injuring a batter with a pitched ball. He should remain suspended until such time that Haniger is able to resume baseball activities at the MLB level at his normal level of capabilities.
It is time for justice for the teams that are victimized by the loss of players due to being hit by a pitched ball.
The Giants lose the services of a starting outfielder.
What loss to the Cardinals suffer??
Saying, “OOPS – S-O-R-R-Y, Well, it’s just part of the game”.
Just does not go far enough !!
Whether the pitch that injured the batter was or was not intentional does not matter.
A pitched ball struck a batter and resulted in that player being injured and unavailble to play for his team.
Meanwhile, the pitcher, a member of the select few who reach the MLB and as such has the credentials of being at the top of his profession, threw a pitch that resulted in a lost time injury to the batter and the batter’s team.
What penalty is imposed by MLB on the pitcher and he team he plays for?
N-O-T-H-I-N-G !!
Time for this inequity and lunacy to end and for MLB to take action !!
What penalty should Miggy Cabrera get for knocking out a pitcher?
MLB and the players association are negotiating a death by firing squad penalty for any pitcher that hits a batter in their next CBA
The Giants will wait until Friday to decide whether to put JD Davis on the IL. So an IL placement is not a sure thing.
Hi Wilmer, would you ever want to post on a small friendly Giants blog? We watch games together and talk news and trades, etc
Sounds very cool. Definitely interested!
Thanks Wilmer! I wish we could PM each other or I had a way to email you. There’s a long back story to the blog but it doesn’t matter a ton, although I’d love to give you more info. But basically we are all positive, kind, fun loving, long time Giants fans. It’s very low key. It’ll be quiet today on an off day. It’s a Disqus comment system so you need an account with them to comment. I have a diff name there. Here’s the main page, click on titles on right for current post where people are chatting, the dot is obviously a period:
https:// sfgiants dot blog/
Thanks Gooch! I’ll sign up!
What’s your handle on sfgiants? You can find my info at sportsartifactsdotcom
Thanks Wilmer, I think the blog comments just went down! I don’t know why. I don’t run the blog but I called the guy that does. He thinks the hosting service is having issues. Hopefully back up soon! I’ll try your email at your site above!
Of course the Giants get injured just before playing the moneybags Dodgers