A Mountain View native, Archbishop Mitty graduate and Cal Poly standout will be roaming the Oracle Park outfield this year.
By inking Mitch Haniger to a three-year, $43.5 million contract, the Giants moved the roster in the right direction.
Mitch Haniger is not Aaron Judge. Nobody is pretending he is. The Giants are still looking to add another outfielder. President of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi said as much to reporters at the winter meetings, and Haniger’s $5 million salary for 2023 suggests it.
But Haniger’s presence alone confirms several things: the outfield — one where Joc Pederson can leave his glove at home — is taking shape, the Giants are committed to improving their defense, and the days of platoon overload are slowly getting phased out.
Haniger hit 39 home runs in 2021 and was an All-Star in 2018. He’s registered an above average OPS+ every year since his rookie season. Fangraphs projects him to play 134 games, hit 24 bombs and be worth 2.0 WAR in 2023. He’s not a grab-bag flier acquisition.
Injuries depreciated Haniger’s value, but his medical bill suggests more horrific injury luck than proneness.
A ruptured testicle ended his 2019 season in June. A back injury that required surgery, perhaps complicated by his groin procedures, knocked him out for 2020. He played 157 games in 2021 but an ankle sprain sidelined him for two months last season.
Most players have some injury risk when they’re about to turn 32 years old. Haniger’s history appears more freakish than predictive.
Assuming good health, Haniger instantly helps the Giants’ outfield defense — one of their main trouble areas last year. San Francisco finished tied for last in outfield outs above average with -25. There were far too many innings with Pederson, Darin Ruf, or Yermín Mercedes out there.
Haniger, who has played almost exclusively right field, has recorded above average defensive runs saved in four of his past five seasons. He’s not going to win a Gold Glove, but he’s athletic and ranks in the 79th percentile in arm strength, per Baseball Savant.
He, along with Mike Yastrzemski and Austin Slater, are solid fielders. It wouldn’t be terribly difficult to fit all three of them on the grass at once, though Slater and Yastrzemski are probably optimized as a platoon pair.
The Giants love Yastrzmeski in right field, where he’s familiar with Oracle Park’s dimensions. But Yastrzemski can also handle center, and Austin Slater is similarly malleable. Luis González and LaMonte Wade Jr. are also serviceable in a corner.
Even before adding another outfielder, that’s enough depth to keep Pederson away from left field. And if Pederson is a full-time designated hitter, that means the Giants are planning for a reality without Tommy La Stella, who is due $11.5 million but hasn’t proved capable of playing the field since injuring both Achilles tendons.
“I think we would like to see Joc take down a lot of DH at-bats,” manager Gabe Kapler told NBC Sports Bay Area at the winter meetings. “As a left-handed hitter against right-handed pitching — in that sort of role, he’s elite at that job.”
Crucially, the Giants can have Haniger’s glove in the outfield on a daily basis. Unless he gives them reason to, they’re not going to bench him against right-handed starters.
There’s a pet theory du jour on Elon’s Global Town Square that star free agents don’t want to come to San Francisco because they’ll get pinch-hit by Kapler and the Giants. It’s nonsensical.
The Giants platoon because they haven’t been able to add everyday players — not the other way around. Every team wants hitters who can hit both left-handed and right-handed pitching.
Haniger, a right-handed batter, is one of those players. His career OPS splits are .853 with a matchup advantage and .795 without one. That’s about as even as Xander Bogaerts (.870, .796) and Brandon Nimmo (.846, .780) for example.
The Giants can pencil Haniger into the lineup every day without thinking twice — even if he doesn’t reach base at an elite clip. They still need more of such players, but SF has a start. If the offseason ended today, the Giants have at least four platoon-neutral players:
Wilmer Flores — .711, .707 in 2022
J.D. Davis — .757, .759 in 2022
Austin Slater — .824, .710 in 2022
Mitch Haniger — .853, .795 (career)
Note that the average OPS across MLB last year was .706. And although it might be occasionally tough to find a spot on the diamond for Davis, that’s a decent core to build a lineup around. There’s some pop, some speed, and a lot of professional at-bats in the group.
Add Pederson to it against right-handed pitchers and a dangerous order starts to take shape. Add one of the remaining free agent shortstops and the pot’s boiling. Fill in the rest with dangerous platoons already on the roster.
Haniger gets the Giants closer to where they need to be on both sides of the ball. His contract allows SF to stay aggressive this winter and shouldn’t hamper them in the future, either.
Coming off an 81-81 season, San Francisco has many questions. Mitch Haniger is an answer.