Rangers Sign Slugger Mark Canha to Spring Training on Minor League Deal

The Texas Rangers added another right-handed bat with slugging potential by inviting Mark Canha to spring training.

Kansas City Royals outfielder Mark Canha. | Patrick Gorski-Imagn Images

SURPRISE, Ariz. — The Texas Rangers announced on Sunday morning that they signed outfielder Mark Canha to a minor league contract and invited him to Major League spring training.

The move gives the Rangers 66 players at Major League spring training, including all 40 players on the 40-man roster and 26 non-roster invitees. All position players were expected to report to the Rangers spring training facility on Sunday, the mandatory reporting date.

He joins an outfield group that includes Evan Carter, Sam Haggerty, Michael Helman, Wyatt Langford, Brandon Nimmo, and Alejandro Osuna on the 40-man roster. He is the third non-roster invitee in the outfield, joining prospects Trevor Hauver and Aaron Zavala.

About Mark Canha

Kansas City Royals first baseman Mark Canha. | Daniel Kucin Jr.-Imagn Images

Canha is used to being in surprise, as he spent the 2025 season with the Kansas City Royals, who share the spring training facility with Texas. But last season wasn’t his best, as he batted .212 in 46 games as he spent two stints on the injured list and was released on Aug. 21.

It's also somewhat of a birthday present for him as he turned 37 years old on Sunday. He was a seventh-round pick of the Florida Marlins in the 2010 MLB draft out of the University of California and made his Major League debut in 2015 with the Oakland Athletics, where he spent the first seven years of his career.

With the Athletics, he slashed .244/.344/.431 with 89 home runs and 294 RBI. He landed with the Athletics in 2014 when he was selected in the Rule 5 Draft by the Colorado Rockies and was then traded to the Athletics.

From there, he joined the New York Mets as a free agent in 2022 and spent the next season-and-a-half with the franchise before he was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers at the deadline. From there, he joined the Detroit Tigers to start the 2024 season butt was traded to the San Francisco Giants at the deadline. He landed with the Royals last season. Should Canha make the roster, the Rangers will be his seventh Major League team.

For his career he has a slash of .248/.346/.409 with 121 home runs and 465 RBI. While he’s never been an All-Star, he has led Major League baseball twice in a curious category — hit by pitch. He led MLB in the category in 2021 with 27 and again in 2022 with 28. He’s been hit by a pitch 141 times in his career.