Mariners Spring Training: Three Players to Watch

2. Mitch Haniger

In Dipoto’s view, the Arizona Diamondbacks tossing in top prospect Haniger was the linchpin of the trade that sent shortstop Ketel Marte and starting pitcher Taijuan Walker to the desert. The Mariners made off with shortstop Jean Segura, who had a 20/20 year with Arizona in 2016 and Haniger, who had his own breakout season in the Diamondbacks organization.

Haniger was named the Diamondbacks’ minor league player of the year in 2016 after posting a .999 OPS, 25 home runs, and 12 steals in 129 games between AA and AAA. Arizona largely protected him from major league pitching, limiting him to 34 games in The Show.

We won’t know what to expect from the rookie until we see him in action, and his performance in Peoria will be telling.

But Haniger’s defensive skills seem to translate well to Major League outfields. Dipoto thinks he’ll shine in Area 51, the same right field at the Safe that Ichiro once patrolled. “We like the player. We like the upside. We like his physicality,” Dipoto said about him this offseason.

The starting right field job is Haniger’s to lose, but he’ll have to show that physicality and upside he was brought in for starting in Spring Training to make his mark with the Mariners. Seattle’s coaching staff wants to give Haniger every opportunity to win the job, but he’ll have to prove he can handle the bat and the glove this Spring Training. We won’t know what to expect from the rookie until we see him in action, and his performance in Peoria will be telling.

With Haniger, Jarrod Dyson, and incumbent center fielder Leonys Martin, the Mariners have a formidable outfield defensively. We know what Martin and Dyson can do with the glove. Haniger is the only Major League unknown in the bunch.