ANAHEIM, Calif. — As no better than a fourth outfielder in Double-A three years ago, Mitch Haniger believed he had nothing to lose by requesting a demotion.
“If I stay at Double-A (Mobile, Ala.) and don’t play, I get released,” Haniger said. “You can’t get to the big leagues by not playing in the minor leagues and just being a bench guy.
“In my mind, there was no risk. Either way, I was going to be out of baseball if I stayed there.”
The bold request in 2015 turned out to be the greatest move of Haniger’s once-stagnant career. Now in his second full season in the major leagues, the 27-year-old earned his first All-Star selection with the Mariners.
“If you believe in yourself, you’re not (rolling the dice),” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “He bet on himself.”
Haniger has helped make up for the loss of Robinson Cano to an 80-game suspension with 66 RBI to go with 18 home runs, a .272 batting average and an .847 OPS.
But he needed to take a step back in order to move forward, even after he was selected by the Brewers with the 38th pick in the 2012 draft.
Haniger realized his prospects were diminishing less than a year after he was dealt to the Diamondbacks as part of a 2014 trade for outfielder Gerardo Parra. Haniger believed he needed the playing time to work on a swing that he retooled for much of his minor-league career. As a 6-foot-2, 215-pound right-handed hitter, Haniger knew he had to produce more power and worked with several hitting gurus throughout California in the offseason.
“You see fourth and fifth outfielders in Double-A for a year or two and they get released,” said Haniger, who was batting .281 with only one home run and 19 RBI at Mobile before his demotion to Class-A Visalia (Calif).
“That’s what happens — they don’t get called up. It was either hit well and open some eyes or struggle, and I was in the same situation. For me, it just needed to be done.”
Haniger responded immediately with a .332 average, 12 home runs and 36 RBI in 49 games at Visalia. After successful stints back at Mobile and at Triple-A Reno (Nev.), Haniger was rewarded with his first major-league promotion in mid-August 2016. He hit a double and triple and drove in three runs in his first major-league game.
“It’s pretty curious, but it doesn’t surprise me now that I know him that he would ask to do things like that,” Servais said. “He’s got a definite deal of what he wants to get accomplished every day he comes to the ballpark and eventually accomplish in his career. He’s a pretty sharp guy.”
After learning of his first All-Star selection, one of the first calls Haniger made was to Bill Hutton, his coach at Archbishop Mitty High School in San Jose, Calif.
“When I got to college (at Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo), I felt ahead of the other guys based on the stuff he taught us at Mitty,” Haniger said. “I learned stuff in high school that we were learning in pro ball, and guys didn’t know how to bunt or do small stuff.”
That preparation has helped Haniger succeed in the estimation of Servais, a former director of player development with the Texas Rangers who recalled once demoting pitcher Edinson Volquez to Class-A to reboot his career.
“You’ve got to be willing to make adjustments,” Servais said. “You have to be humbled, and I think it takes a while for a lot of these guys to be humbled because even with what the numbers on the stat sheet say, they’ll say, ‘It’s always somebody else’s fault.’ But the numbers don’t lie.”
Haniger said being traded for the second time was much easier because he knew the Mariners believed in him when he was acquired from the Diamondbacks.
“I’m thankful to get traded here and become an everyday player,” Haniger said. “Arizona didn’t see me as an everyday guy. It’s been awesome being over here and having these guys believe in me.”
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