2018 in Review: Mitch Haniger
After a 2017 campaign in which he was productive but slowed by two stints on the disabled list, Mitch Haniger was healthy in 2018 and quickly stood out as one of the top outfielders in the game. He finished the year among the most well-rounded players in the American League this season.
Haniger was 1 of 7 players in all of baseball to record at least 35 doubles, 25 home runs, 90 RBI and 70 walks in 2018. The others were Nolan Arenado, Alex Bregman, Rhys Hoskins, Francisco Lindor, Manny Machado and José Ramírez.
He earned his 1st career All-Star Game appearance in 2018 and finished the season with his name dotting the American League leaderboards in several categories.
He posted a bWAR of 6.1, 9th-best among AL position players. He reached base at a strong clip, ranking 11th in the AL in on-base percentage and tied for 13th in walks. He was a fixture in the Mariners outfield, where he played outstanding defense, tying for the Major League lead in outfield assists, while ranking 2nd in the Majors in outfield starts, 5th in the AL in innings played and T10th in the AL with 5 defensive runs saved (Fangraphs). He hit for power, his 68 extra-base hits were tied for 12th-most in the AL and his .859 OPS was 10th-best. And he was a run-producer, finishing 10th in the league with 93 RBI and tied for 14th with 90 runs scored.
Only 12 players in the Majors tallied both 90 runs scored and 90 RBI in 2018, and Haniger was one of them. He was joined by the likes of Arenado, Bregman, Lindor, Ramírez, Javier Baez, Khris Davis, Bryce Harper, J.D. Martinez, Giancarlo Stanton and Christian Yelich.
Mariners manager Scott Servais praised Haniger’s dedication and preparation as key to his breakout sophomore season.
“Knowing when you come to the ballpark what you’re going to get from guys, from a manager’s standpoint, that’s all you want,” Servais said. “What am I going to get from this guy today? Not how many hits are they going to get or how many strikeouts, but what kind of effort they’re going to bring. Are they going to be prepared? You can check all the boxes with Mitch Haniger. You never have to worry about it.”
After moving into the leadoff spot in the batting order on Aug. 9, Haniger went on to hit safely in 39 of 45 games, including 17 multi-hit games. As a leadoff hitter, he hit .330 with 19 doubles, 8 home runs, 21 RBI, a .388 on-base percentage and a .580 slugging percentage (.967 OPS). Among all leadoff batters this season, he finished 3rd in batting, 3rd in slugging, 3rd in OPS and 5th in on-base percentage. Only Mookie Betts posted both a higher batting average and a higher slugging percentage while batting leadoff this season than Haniger.
The 6-foot-2, 203-pound outfielder excelled in clutch situations. Haniger belted a pair of walk-off home runs: June 1 vs. Tampa Bay and June 13 vs. Los Angeles-AL. He was 1 of 4 AL players with multiple walk-off homers this season and the 15th player in club history to accomplish that feat in a season. His 15 game-winning RBI ranked 6th in the Majors. In the 7th inning and later, Haniger hit .291 with 13 doubles, 12 home runs, 27 RBI, 25 walks, a .379 on-base percentage and a .575 slugging percentage (.954 OPS). His 12 homers in the 7th and later were tied for 6th-most in all of baseball while his .954 OPS was 10th-best.
He posted two hitting streaks of at least 11 games, including a career-best 17-game hit streak from Aug. 18 — Sept. 5. During his 17-game hitting streak — which tied as the 5th-longest streak in the Majors this season — he hit .306 with 4 doubles, 5 home runs, 7 RBI, a .398 on-base percentage and a .597 slugging mark (.995 OPS).
