Haniger is the 157th former Northwoods League player to debut in MLB
Rochester, Minn. – Former Green Bay Bullfrog, Mitch Haniger, made his Major League debut for the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday, August 16, 2016. Haniger is the 157th former Northwoods League player to reach the Major League level.
Haniger, who played collegiately at Cal Poly, played for the Green Bay Bullfrogs in 2011. He was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 1st round of the 2012 MLB Draft.
In 2011 with the Bullfrogs, Haniger hit .277 in 24 games with five home runs and 22 RBI. He also stole five bases and had seven doubles.
Haniger started his Minor League career in 2012 with the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers of the Lo-A Midwest League. Over 14 games he hit .286 and drove in eight runs. He also added four doubles and stole a base.
Haniger spent the 2013 season with two teams as he began the season with the Timber Rattlers and then was promoted, after 41 games, to the Brevard County Manatees in the Hi-A Florida State League. Between the two clubs he hit .264 with 11 home runs, 36 doubles and five triples. He also stole nine bases and walked 57 times.
The 2014 season saw Haniger with three teams. He began the year with the Huntsville Stars of the AA Southern League. After 67 games with Huntsville, Haniger was traded along with Anthony Banda to the Diamondbacks in exchange for Gerardo Parra. He then was sent to the Diamondback’s Rookie team in Arizona. After four games in Arizona Haniger was promoted to AA with the Mobile BayBears of the Southern League. For the season he hit a combined .259 with 11 home runs, 11 doubles and 43 RBI.
Haniger spent the beginning of the 2015 season in the Hi-A California League with the Visalia Rawhide before a promotion, after 49 games, back to Mobile. Between the two teams he hit .310 with 13 home runs, 26 doubles and four triples. He also drove in 55 runs and stole 12 bases.
Prior to being called up by the Diamondbacks, Haniger began the 2016 season with Mobile and then was promoted to the AAA Pacific Coast League with the Reno Aces. Over 119 games he hit .325 with 24 home runs, 32 doubles and four triples to go along with 10 stolen bases and 86 runs driven in.
In his Major League debut against the Mets, Haniger started in left field and went 2 for 4 with three RBI and a run scored. In his third at-bat he tripled for his first Major League hit off of Mets starter Noah Syndergaard. Haniger would then go on to double in his next at-bat off of Mets reliever Addison Reed.
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The Northwoods League is the proven leader in the development of elite college baseball players. The 22-year-old summer collegiate league is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 18 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires and front office staff, more than 150 former Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (CWS), Jordan Zimmermann (DET), Curtis Granderson (NYM), Lucas Duda (NYM) and Ben Zobrist (CHC). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League website. For more information, visit www.northwoodsleague.com or download the new Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store and on Google Play.