Mitch Haniger suffers setback and will require surgery, out roughly 6-8 weeks

Mitch Haniger was one of the more fun stories of the 2018 season which saw him post a 6.1 rWAR season while slashing .285/.366/.493 with 26 home runs. Many thought that he was poised to have a special run and, as a result, was at the top of the wishlists for fans of numerous teams who thought that Mariners GM Jerry DiPoto was going to trade anyone and anything that wasn’t nailed down (that was kinda true, but not really).

Flash forward to 2019 and the season was not as kind. While Haniger kept his power numbers up, he did see a drop-off just about everywhere else. To make matters worse, Haniger ended up having to go on the injured list with a ruptured testicle (thats a big yikes) after fouling a ball off of himself. Haniger ended up only playing in 63 games last season and was hoping to rebound in 2020.

Sadly, things are not off to a great start.

Haniger suffered some sort of abdominal injury (it is unknown as of now if it was a hernia or something else) while working out. While we don’t know as of now what exactly the injury was, we do know that he is going to require surgery and will miss at least 6-8 weeks as he recovers. Given that that means that he will miss the bulk of spring training as a result of this, when he will make his debut in 2020 and how long of a rehab stint he will require is very much an open question.