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Seattle Mariners Insider: Adjustments pay off for surging Haniger

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Seattle Mariners Insider: Adjustments pay off for surging Haniger


Don’t look now, but for the last two weeks Seattle Mariners outfielder Mitch Haniger has looked like the Mitch Haniger who has stepped to the plate in big situations so many times in his Mariners career and had the look of a guy who could do damage. Not the player who had been mired in a near season-long struggle at the plate.

Gregory Santos to IL, plus other Seattle Mariners injury updates

There had been hints lately that perhaps it was coming together, but after homering off lefties who had strangely been his Kryptonite this year two days in a row, it appears safe to dare to believe. Haniger for his part certainly does and told his skipper as much recently.

“He said it about 10 days ago, I’m about to get hot,” said Scott Servais following the Mariners’ 6-5 series clinching win over the Phillies on Saturday. “You can just see he’s seeing the ball better. His timing’s good. The quality at-bats, he’s hitting the ball harder and not always getting the ball to fall in, but he has here recently. And when he gets hot, he can hit any pitch, he can hit who’s ever on the mound, right or left, and we’re seeing that right now.”

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Over the past two weeks Haniger, who posted a .570 OPS in May and .601 in June, has run an OPS of 1.005 with a wRC+ of 186. In his walk-off interview on the field following the win Saturday, Haniger pointed to changes he recently made as leading to what he is doing at the plate currently.

“Just working on my posture and I feel really good,” he said. “I’ve been feeling good for a while, just haven’t been getting my results.”

Haniger said changes he made coming into spring training that he initially had success with this year had ultimately failed him, and it took him awhile to throw them to the side and go back to what he had done previously.

 

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“The frustrating part is the work is always good,” he explained in his postgame media session. “The BP felt good. Just the results in the game were not there. The missing pitches, just constantly kind of feeling like I’m always ready to break through and not happening. And then just always watching film and comparing the present to the past and seeing where I’m at and what I need to adjust, and kind of a light bulb went off and it’s like I wish it didn’t take me 2 1/2 months or three months to figure it out, but I’m glad I did.”

In his on-field interview, Haniger credited work put in with the training staff and hitting coaches in getting him to the point where things are clicking again. He also pointed to a new teammate as having a part in the process as well.

“For me, talking with (Justin) Turner, he’s a big help for me as a guy whose swing I studied for a while,” he said.  “So he’s a he’s a guy I’ve been leaning on and asking a lot of questions, and it’s really good to have in our clubhouse.”

While a hitting coach can make suggestions and encourage changes, teammates who have been there, done that and are currently doing that, bring reassurance. They often can be their own best resources, something former Mariner Mike Cameron understands and shared on social media in response to what Haniger said on the field.

“When you bring in a veteran that’s had success and a winning pedigree the one thing he’s always going to do is be a set of eyes and bring validation to even veterans! I like it,” Cameron wrote.

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Servais has stuck with Haniger through the struggles. His patience is now being rewarded with more than just good signs.

“You can’t get always caught up in the in the batting average,” Servais said. “There’s the luck factor. … Mitch has hit a lot of balls hard against left-handed pitching and has got nothing to show for it. When you pull back the hood and you look at all the internal metrics on that, the at-bats have been better against lefties, but the batting average, the OPS, it is what it is. He knows that and he made a few adjustments. He’s been right on the lefties of late. The swings have been on time. He’s getting ahead of the bat out, he’s driving the ball. He’s starting to feel it, and we need it.”

If Haniger is feeling it, those around him will as well. He is that kind of player. He’s got confidence in the path both he and the team are on.

“Things are just clicking. That’s how baseball works,” he said. “You just got to keep putting in the work in. Things will turn. We got a lot of really good players in our clubhouse. The first half hitting performance-wise wasn’t there, but it just means we’re going to be hot the second half and we’ll ride into the playoffs.”

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More on Seattle Mariners

• Mariners claim reliever off waivers from AL West rival
• How experts are grading Seattle Mariners trade deadline moves
• How much did Mariners give up at trade deadline?
• Insider explains why Seattle Mariners were winners at trade deadline
• Watch: Two M’s launch upper-deck HRs, Turner hits grand slam





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Seattle, WA

Who are your all-time favorite late-round Seattle Seahawks draft picks?

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Who are your all-time favorite late-round Seattle Seahawks draft picks?


We’re continuing our theme of Seattle Seahawks NFL Draft discussion today with a trip down memory lane.

The Seahawks have a deep history of finding some gems in the later rounds of the draft. Three Legion of Boom members were taken in the fourth, fifth, fifth, and sixth rounds, while Seattle’s first Super Bowl MVP was seventh-round linebacker Malcolm Smith. The only offensive touchdown scored in Seattle’s second Super Bowl win was by fourth-round tight end A.J. Barner, who might be on the cusp of stardom beyond the Seattle sports bubble.

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We want to know your favorite Seahawks late-round draft picks of all time, but there is a clear restriction to eliminate some obvious candidates. A “late-round draft pick” is defined as no earlier than Round 4, which means Russell Wilson and Tyler Lockett are ineligible as third-rounders. Once upon a time, the NFL Draft was longer than seven rounds—the Seahawks’ inaugural season had a 17-round draft—so if you want to really choose players from before the change-over in 1994 then go right ahead! Undrafted players like Doug Baldwin do not count because, well, they were literally not drafted.

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You don’t have to reason that they were legendary, all-time great Seahawks. Chris Carson is not one of the top three running backs in Seahawks history but I’ll be damned if it wasn’t a joy to watch a seventh-round pick become a quality starter whose career was cruelly cut short due to injury.

And yes, Michael Dickson (fifth-round pick) counts because punters are indeed people.

Refer to Pro Football Reference for the Seahawks’ draft history in case your memory needs jogging.

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Seattle area Iranian-Americans, activists react to ceasefire deal

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Seattle area Iranian-Americans, activists react to ceasefire deal


People from Seattle to Redmond are speaking out about the ceasefire deal between the U.S. and Iran after President Trump’s threat of massive attacks.

President Trump on Tuesday announced he would suspend the bombing and attack of Iran for two weeks as part of a temporary ceasefire brokered by the Pakistani government.

The suspension of attacks is contingent on Iran agreeing to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

ALSO SEE | Oil prices drop and stock futures jump as US and Iran agree to a 2-week ceasefire

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Iran responded by claiming victory, saying ships will be allowed to pass through the strait, but only under the management of the Iranian military.

Shayan Arya is an Iranian-American with cousins and friends in Iran, who have detailed by phone their experiences being near recent warfare.

“In the middle of our conversations, the bombing started,” Arya explained. “And so she said, ‘Can you hear the bombs dropping?’”

He said he was concerned about power plants being bombed in Iran, and is grateful they won’t be targeted, for now.

Meanwhile, on the steps of Seattle City Hall, a group rallied against the Trump Administration’s foreign policy and actions.

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On the steps of Seattle City Hall, a group rallied against the Trump Administration’s foreign policy and actions. (KOMO){ }

“Perhaps we should stop bombing the cradle of civilization and calling it freedom. We should be investing in people, the communities,” one woman chanted through a megaphone.

Counter-protesters showed up, leading to heated confrontations for a short time.

Arya said he feels relief, for now, amid the ceasefire, but that there’s ongoing concern about Iran’s future under its current regime.

“It’s just a matter of time [until the regime collapses], and at what price?” he asked.

CNN reports the White House is preparing for in-person negotiations with Iran to help broker a long-term peace deal.

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The developments come just hours after the president posted a message online, threatening, “A whole civilization could die tonight… Never to be brought back again.”



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1-inch RapidRide G Line error costs Seattle $650,000 to fix – MyNorthwest.com

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1-inch RapidRide G Line error costs Seattle 0,000 to fix – MyNorthwest.com


The City of Seattle is paying $650,000 to fix a bus line error along the RapidRide G Line.

Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) crews removed three orange steel plates that had lifted buses by approximately one inch and repaved the short sections of the roadway along Madison Street where the plates were initially placed.

Those orange plates were a stopgap solution to properly serve riders who use wheelchairs and walkers, as the original construction for the three center-road bus stops along King County Metro’s RapidRide G Line were roughly an inch too high when it first opened in 2024.

The $650,000 construction fix is expected to come from a $144.3 million construction project, which paid for nine new buses, built 8 miles of sidewalks, repaved the road, and replaced or upgraded more than 40 traffic signals, according to The Seattle Times.

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The affected stops were Stops 104, 105, and 124. Stop 104 is on Madison Street between Terry and Boren Avenues, while Stop 105 is on Madison Street between Summit and Boylston Avenues, and Stop 124 is on Madison Street at E. Union Street and 12th Avenue E.

An SDOT spokesperson told The Seattle Times the specific bus platforms were “slightly too high for bus ramps to extend properly.” If the platform height is even slightly off, riders using wheelchairs, walkers, or experiencing other mobility issues can’t get on or off the bus.

The RapidRide G Line, which opened in 2024, connects Madison Valley, Capitol Hill, First Hill, and Downtown Seattle.

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