Mitch Haniger

*"THE 'M' IN M-SABR NOW STANDS FOR 'MITCH HANIGER'"*

--@michigansabr on Twitter

**Mitchell Evan "Mitch" Haniger** is an outfielder for the Seattle Mariners who has earned a cult following among certain members of the Gallardo Club. Over the peaks and valleys of his career, he has inspired several Slackbot commands and responses, and even been the namesake for a Dynasty Baseball team.

## The Goat Era

After a solid rookie season cut short by injury, M-SABR's resident Mariners fan Gregory Severin had high hopes for Haniger. He predicted that the outfielder would enjoy a breakout 2018 campaign, speculated that he was a better player than another AL West slugger that enjoyed much hype on the Slack, and on March 31, 2018 created a Slackbot command that simply replied to any mention of Haniger's name with the :goat: (🐐) emoji. Sahil, who owned Haniger in the Dynasty Baseball league, also got in on the hype, watching his every at-bat and sharing Greg's excitement every time he did something good at the plate--which was often. Sahil even renamed his team to Church of Hanigod in June 2018, and Gallardo Club members would skirt the Juan Soto "Real Goat" Slackbot by referring to Soto as the False Idol.

For the 2018 season, at least, the Haniger hype train was legit. Haniger was a key offensive cog during the Mariners' surprisingly solid start to the year. Notable moments included an iconic M-SABR moment on April 13, 2018 where, while attendants at the first-ever M-SABR Gallardo Party looked on, Haniger hit a clutch two-out, three-run home run in the seventh inning to give the Mariners a 5-3 lead that would prove to be the difference in an eventual 7-4 Seattle victory. The Gallardo Club would also celebrate with Greg for Haniger's two walk-off home runs that year.

## The Ambulance Era

Unfortunately, a rough start to 2019 and multiple surgeries caused the Gallardo Club's enthusiasm about Haniger to wane. Sahil eventually fully bought into the Christian Yelich hype, renaming his dynasty team in the process, while Haniger's injuries continued to pile up. After suffering a ruptured testicle in June 2019, several more injuries and setbacks would cause Haniger to miss the remainder of that season and the entirety of 2020. This series of injuries eventually led Greg to change the Haniger Slackbot on January 23, 2020 from the goat emoji to the ambulance emoji.

## The Kyle Lewis Era

    While Haniger was rehabbing his injured... well, everything, another young Mariners outfielder was charming his way into Greg's heart. In late 2019, September call-up Kyle Lewis became the first player in AL history to homer in each of his first three career games. Lewis would follow up this first stint in Seattle by winning the AL Rookie of the Year award in 2020. Though Erik would frequently react to Lewis news with the :bigballer: emoji, Greg eventually decided to reinstate Slackbot's :goat: command to trigger whenever Lewis was mentioned. Unfortunately, injuries kept piling up for Lewis as well, and his name was removed from the Slackbot command in September 2021. Lewis has since returned to the Mariners, but his name does not currently trigger any Slackbot commands.

## Return of the King

While Kyle Lewis was still with the team in early 2021, however, Haniger was enjoying a career resurgence. Fully healthy for the first time in two years, Haniger was one of the most valuable players on a 90-win Mariners ballclub, setting career highs in home runs (39) and runs batted in (100). Though his other stats weren't as impressive as his 2018 numbers, and he didn't make the All-Star team, Haniger's performance was good enough for Greg to make his name a trigger for the Goat Slackbot once again on April 13, 2021.