For a few years there, the Haniger clan had to hide their true allegiances. They watched their Mountain View-born son traverse pro ball, swapping out wind-battered Giants hats that once braved Candlestick for Brewers caps, D-backs gear and Mariners garb. Now, at last, they can just root for the Giants again.

“Now they’re not really conflicted having to root for the Mariners,” Mitch Haniger said, smiling, over Zoom Monday afternoon. The childhood Giants fan was being introduced as their newest — and, so far, most notable — offseason addition, after inking a $43.5 million contract last week. “Now, it’s pretty easy for them to only watch the Giants games and root for the Giants.”

#SFGiants fans, meet Mitch Haniger

"Growing up in the Bay Area, being a Giants fans, it was always a dream to play for the Giants"

As a kid, he watched Bonds, Kent, Aurilia. In college, Posey, Lincecum, Pence.

"Just hoping to bring another World Series championship back to SF" pic.twitter.com/5E6H57GYU7

— Evan Webeck (@EvanWebeck) December 12, 2022

The Giants expressed their interest early in Haniger, who fielded calls from multiple teams looking to sign the right-handed slugger with a career .811 OPS, only a year removed from a 39-homer, 100-RBI season.

It wasn’t difficult to sell him on the idea of signing up to play a short drive from both his current residence, in Aptos, and his childhood home, in Mountain View, where he grew up dreaming of one day wearing the same uniform as Barry Bonds, Jeff Kent and Rich Aurilia.

Haniger, who was an all-area outfielder and wide receiver at Archbishop Mitty (San Jose), said that, “obviously, growing up in the Bay Area and being a Giants fan, it was always a dream to play for the Giants.”

Haniger’s first game was at Candlestick Park. When he went off to play college ball at Cal Poly, Haniger followed closely as Buster Posey, Tim Lincecum and Hunter Pence helped bring three World Series trophies to San Francisco.

“I couldn’t be more excited to be a Giant,” Haniger said. “Just hoping to bring another World Series championship back to San Francisco.”

Before agreeing to sign, Haniger paid a visit to Oracle Park. He met with president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi and manager Gabe Kapler. While touring the clubhouse, he quizzed them on their plans for him, their outlook on the offseason and their blueprint to make it back to the postseason, after an 81-81 finish in 2022.

“Everything seemed to line up really well with what I envisioned,” Haniger said. “For me, I just wanted to go to a club that was here to win and a team that really wanted me and felt like I could come in and do great things for the team.”

Another important selling point for Haniger, who will turn 31 in February: the Giants’ training staff, led by Dave Groeschner. Zaidi said Haniger was particularly curious about this in their meeting. While Haniger has learned the value of staying on the field the hard way, losing parts of three of his five seasons in Seattle to tough-luck injuries, Haniger is also deep into sleep, diet and recovery.

“Basically, I’m kind of obsessed with all those things — and just health in general — because it does help my performance,” Haniger said. “When I was talking to a lot of other players who had recently played here, something that kept coming up was how great the support staff was on the coaching staff, as well as in the weight room and in the training room. … There were some players I talked to from other teams where that wasn’t the case.”

The Giants were in hot pursuit of Aaron Judge at the time, which allowed Haniger to show the Giants his unselfishness and his leadership qualities. First, he told Zaidi and Kapler in their meeting, “Put me in left field everyday if you sign him. Don’t worry about it.” Haniger also offered up his services as a recruiter, which he quickly made good on in an Instagram post hours after signing his contract, pleading with Judge to join him in San Francisco.

“Unfortunately,” Haniger said, “I don’t think he really cared what I wanted.”

Haniger joins Joc Pederson (Palo Alto), Scott Alexander (Santa Rosa) and Logan Webb (Rocklin) as Northern California natives on the Giants’ roster. The list could have grown by one with Judge, a native of Linden, but he opted to re-sign with the Yankees.

Depending on the remainder of the offseason, Haniger will either play right or left field and slot into the middle of the Giants’ lineup as a rare everyday presence. He represents a real upgrade offensively and comes with a reputation as a hard-worker and a strong presence in the clubhouse.

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Yet he is ultimately the consolation prize to the bigger-ticket free agent. The Giants are still looking to add another outfielder and could still sign Carlos Correa or Carlos Rodón. Late Sunday night, they agreed to terms with former A’s lefty Sean Manaea, who like Haniger has a chance to be a real contributor, but in the same way also feels like a second option to the top prize, who unlike Judge played for them just last season. (The Giants haven’t given up on re-signing Rodón, but by adding Manaea, it sure seemed to make a reunion much less likely.)

With teams back home from the winter meetings, many hosted press conferences at their stadiums to show off their shiny, new, hundred-million-dollar toys. Trea Turner hoisted his Phillies jersey; Jacob deGrom smiled as he sat next to Bruce Bochy.

The Giants introduced Haniger, who lives a short drive away, over Zoom.