'Grateful': Haniger on career-high 27 homers

HOUSTON -- Mitch Haniger is so insulated in his meticulous daily routine that he rarely has time for reflection. But Friday offered one.

Seattle’s 30-year-old right fielder crushed his 27th homer of this bounce-back season one day prior in Thursday’s dramatic victory over the Rangers, which marked a new career high. His previous benchmark was in 2018, when he earned his first and only All-Star bid. A case could’ve been made that he deserved a nod again this year, which underscored just how far he’s come from three surgeries that sidelined him for 666 days of regular-season action.

“I knew I would always get back to full strength, and I was hoping to come back even better. I just didn't know how long it was going to take,” Haniger said. “I just started be more grateful. When you experience big injuries, especially surgeries, you realize like how quickly your career could end. So now, just on a daily basis, I feel like I’m more grateful to be able to show up to the park every day and try to soak it in.”

At this time last year, Haniger was working out with rehab specialists three or four times per week across Lake Washington in Bellevue, Wash., then working out on his own at home. Basically, he was about as far removed from the Mariners and baseball as one could be. Due to health and safety protocols in the season that kept fans from the stands, Haniger also was not allowed to be with the team.

There was plenty of time for reflection back then.

“There wasn't a ton of communication, like with the coaching staff or whatever,” Haniger said. “Because when you’re hurt, you go about your business trying to get healthy. But I think for me, it was kind of good to get away from it for a little bit. Because going through surgeries and injuries can be tough. And being able to just focus on myself and my rehab was nice.”

Haniger has been back for quite some time now, making that clear very early in Spring Training and ranking at or near the top of the American League home-run leaderboards through June. He hasn’t been as consistent lately, hitting .242/.312/.379 with a .690 OPS in his last 17 games -- well below his season mark of .801 -- and just two homers.

Therein lies exactly where Haniger wants to improve to finish the season strong.

“I think I still can get better,” Haniger said. “And I think that I expect myself to hit for a better average. I think my power will always be there, but I think I'm [capable of a] better average than I [have] right now.”

Castillo sorting slider out
Diego Castillo’s hanging slider that did not slide was one of the many components in Thursday’s emotional win, but it also proved to be the costliest of a few such pitches that have become more of a concern of late.

Castillo’s slider is among the Majors’ most elite. Opposing hitters are batting .154 and slugging .282 against it and whiffing 39% of the time. But he’s now given up two homers on the pitch since joining the Mariners, the other one being Jonah Heim’s walk-off homer on the same mound three weeks ago, which also had virtually no movement.

“It’s something that we're working through, getting to know guys and where he's been at,” Servais said. “He has not been as sharp. His stuff hasn't been as crisp here the last couple times out, but again, it's getting to know players, them getting to know us, [our] training staff and whatnot. So, we'll continue to keep a close eye on it, [monitoring] as we go along.”

The Mariners won’t steer away from Castillo in such moments moving forward, especially on days that Paul Sewald is down, such as Friday. But fixing his best weapon is vital.