Cal Baseball: Mark Canha's Numbers Below the Surface Earned Him Big Mets' Payday

Referring to the 2021 season, when his .231 batting average with the Oakland A’s was his lowest in four years, former Cal star Mark Canha called it, “Not my best work.”

The flip side is Canha hit 17 home runs, had career bests of 93 runs scored, 61 RBI and 77 walks. He also shared the American League lead by being by a pitch 27 times.

His 4.23 pitches per at-bat ranked fifth among qualified players in the major leagues.

It added up to a season in which his on-base percentage was 127 points higher than his batting average. For his career, Canha’s OBP is 100 points above his raw batting average.

That total package is what convinced the Mets to sign the outfielder/first baseman to a two-year, $26.5 million free-agent contract on Nov. 30.

"I think I did what I do, and that’s get on base and put together good at-bats, and I think a lot of things I do at the plate don’t necessarily show up in the stat book, like work counts and make pitchers throw pitches,” Canha told the New York Post. “I think I have honed that part of the game, and if I just sharpen the other tools a little bit, I will be back where I want to be.”

Canha, 33 and beginning his eighth MLB season, said the Mets told him they were attracted by those aspects of his approach to hitting.

They “mentioned the at-bats thing and how they would hope that that would kind of rub off on the other guys,” Canha said this week. “They kind of want that to be the culture of our hitters and putting together great at-bats.”

That approach was not the trademark of the Mets a year ago when their pitches-per-at-bat number was 3.83 during an 85-loss season. By stretching the opposing pitcher, Canha believes hitters can gradually gain an edge.

“It really can wear on an opposing pitching staff not only in one game, but throughout the course of the series against them,” he said. “You get to that bullpen early and you really see a bunch of pitches, it really helps.”

In an informative and entertaining Q&A with the Post, Canha explained he tries to use his head at the plate.

“I’m a problem solver, I would say. I see every at-bat as a challenge and as a puzzle kind of, and I’m very kind of academic about the way I go about the game, and I try to learn as much as possible on the fly and as I go. And I just love the puzzle of trying to figure out each pitcher and giving myself that little edge.”

Canha seems to have made a good early impression on Mets manager Buck Showalter.

“He is a trustworthy guy,” Showalter said. “I told him, ‘I am so happy you are here.’ He’s a guy that is engaged. He doesn’t have a day (off) mentally or emotionally. He’s very disciplined and attuned with his body and the competition. He’s just a guy you know what you are going to get from every day as far as approach to games.”

One thing the Mets can probably count on is Canha’s ability to get on base by being plunked with pitches. He has 80 HBPs in his career, and admitted by the end of the season he’s “a little banged up.”

“Occasionally you get one where you feel it for a few days, but despite the amount of times — I think 27 times last year or something — there weren’t that many that I can remember that were that bad,” Canha said. “I never had to miss time, maybe one or two where there’s a deep bone bruise that you’ll feel for a couple of weeks. It’s part of the job.

“It’s kind of become a skill set, and it’s something that I worked into my game, and certainly doesn’t hurt my productivity or ability to score runs and help the team win.”

Canha said he’s read books on hitting by Ted Williams and Ichiro, and is driven to continue learning and improving himself at the plate. He called himself “an obsessive baseball player.”

“Particularly hitting and the craft of hitting is not just my job, and not something I want to do well, but I have a thirst for learning and knowledge,” he said. “It’s an absolute passion for me, and not just something I do at my job, it’s a life passion for me.”

Cover photo of Mark Canha by Sam Navarro, USA Today

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo