John Blanchette: I’ll take Mitch Haniger for right field, Alex

SEATTLE – It could almost be a “Jeopardy” category – all the little historical failings and shortcomings of Seattle baseball. Not including the main one, of course.

In the standings.

Start with, say, Home-Grown Position Players for $200, Alex. Then go down the row: Left Fielders, General Managers, Free-Agent First Basemen, Ones That Got Away. All the semi-busts and lemons and palm-to-forehead topics you’ve come to know and love. Call the category “Faceplant Mariner-a.” Throw in an Audio Daily Double of an Erik Bedard interview.

There are plenty of choices.

Including this one: Opening Day Rookies Who Lasted.

This is the one Mitch Haniger would like to debunk, not that he’s thinking beyond his next at-bat. But he does seem pretty resolute about establishing and reaffirming his baseball worth, and by doing so he’d enhance a rather thin Mariners resume in this particular subject.

He was jazzed about being Seattle’s starting right fielder on Opening Day in Houston, and even more thrilled to go through the redo for the home team at Safeco Field on Monday.

“I was telling guys in the tunnel, ‘This is like Super Bowl Sunday,’ ” he said. “I loved it. And I’m looking forward to hopefully being part of many more of those.”

Well, maybe just get through the year, first. Given the M’s track record, it’s no, uh, given.

The 26-year-old has been what passes for a revelation with the Mariners during their hiccupy start to the 2017 season. On Tuesday night, he doubled in a run and came around to tie a club rookie record for scroing a run in eight straight games – Danny Tartabull did it last 31 years ago. The run was Haniger’s 10th of the season, best in the majors.

But he also failed to hang on to a slicing, sinking drive off the bat of Evan Gattis that went for a three-run double in the M’s 7-5 loss to Houston on Tuesday night – a deflating turn compounded when manager Scott Servais made a couple of second-guessable pitching decisions the same inning.

But that’s baseball, as Servais reminds us again and again. And if his teammates can bring their collective performance up to what Haniger’s shown thus far, perhaps the tugboat that is the SS Mariner can make a pivot in this puddle of a season.

When the M’s acquired him on Thanksgiving eve, Haniger seemed like a minor part of the trade with Arizona that brought shortstop Jean Segura and cost Seattle pitcher Taijuan Walker. But general manager Jerry Dipoto and Servais announced nearly from the beginning that even with just 109 major league at-bats behind him, Haniger was their starter in right.

“Yeah, but I let it go in one ear and out the other,” Haniger said. “I can’t take anything for granted. I needed to prove to myself and everybody that I deserved to be the starter.”

Maybe especially in Seattle.

Rookies who started on Opening Night here in the last 15 years? The best is probably catcher Kenji Johjima, who’d already been a star in Japan before coming to the Mariners in 2006 – and was back home by 2010. Jesus Montero and Jeremy Reed each had one so-so season, followed by several yo-yo seasons between Seattle and Tacoma. Longshots like Abraham Almonte and Wilson Valdez wound up being traded before August.

Is Haniger different? Well, he was the Diamondbacks’ minor league player of the year in 2016, hitting .321 with 25 home runs between Class AA and AAA.

And you can’t doubt his nerve.

In 2015, the year Arizona acquired the former first-round pick from Milwaukee, Haniger began retooling his swing – and essentially volunteered for a demotion from AA to high-A ball for the chance to play every day.

“I wasn’t happy with how I was playing,” he said. “I saw a lot better for myself than what I was doing. In my mind, I had no option. I wanted to change my swing and get better and be really good and not just average at this game.”

His changes included a higher leg kick and adjusting his swing to “buy myself more time.” His hope was to hit the ball with power to all fields and not just pulling it to left. It didn’t just show in the minor leagues; in a late callup to Arizona last year, he had five homers in 34 games. He’s had three more – and three doubles – in nine games this season.

“It’s OK, but I can get a lot better,” Haniger insisted. “I’m hitting in front of some great hitters and I need to get on base for those guys. They’re proven veterans who can drive guys in. If I just do my job and let them do theirs, we’ll get this rolling.”

And avoid being a Jeopardy question – or answer.