Player review: Mark Canha

We will remember his walk-off sac fly forever.

2024 stats (w/Giants): 32 G, 85 PA, .288/ .376/ .329/ .705 OPS, .041 ISO

Mark Canha was the big acquisition at the trade deadline which says about all you need to know about the 2024 San Francisco Giants in early August. Positionally on the cusp with only a handful of games out of the third Wild Card spot, and a compelling starting rotation finally at somewhat full strength, but the shuffling of cards with dumping contracts like Jorge Soler, holding on to Blake Snell — all sleight of a hand. Look busy while standing pat. A buyer, a contender, in name only.

On paper, the Canha trade was a lateral move for the Giants. Wilmer Flores had gone on the injured list on July 25th, Austin Slater had been traded to the Reds on July 7th, and Canha’s right-handed bat fit to fill those platoon holes at first, in the outfield corners or bat off the bench. In the final two months of the season, he made 19 appearances at first, 9 brief stints in left or right, a cameo at third, 3 games as DH and came off the bench 14 times.

Keeping with the established pattern in recent player reviews, Canha’s arrival felt momentous on a personal level for the San Jose native, but rather inconsequential at the club level. His .288 average and .376 OBP experienced a significant bump from his numbers in Detroit, but were somewhat counterbalanced with a slump in his slugging. Already the .350 SLG was at its lowest since 2017 when he only appeared in 16 games for the Athletics, and it dropped to .329 by season’s end. His barrel rate had fallen to a career low, his hard-hit rate hung around 35% as it had for the past couple of seasons, and he ranked towards the bottom of the league in xBA and xSLG.

The front office knew all of this of course, but probably figured that a return to the Bay, a reunion with Matt Chapman, Matt Williams, and Bob Melvin, might help wake some of the dormant power in his bat. Expectations were never high, but it felt reasonable to expect that he’d run into one every now and then…

Alas, of the 21 hits Canha collected only three doubles fell for extra-base hits. His .041 ISO was a third of what it was with the Tigers and nearly a fourth of his career average. Zero homers? Just four runs batted in? The bat had gone acoustic — a development you don’t necessarily want from a trade deadline bat, just as no one is really clamoring for their favorite band to release a “live and unplugged” album.

But Canha’s above-average plate discipline and contact skills still served some purpose (at least for a couple games) on an increasingly whiff-y Giant line-up.

Joining the team in Cincinnati, Canha went 7-for-15 in his first four games on the road. His best showing came in a rain soaked game against the Nationals in which Canha’s 4-hit day peaked with a 2-strike, 2-out, 2-RBI double down the first baseline in the 9th inning to break up a 2-2 tie … a 3-run lead that, through no fault of his own, did not last.

The next day, in his first game at Oracle, Canha delivered a walk-off sacrifice fly — a major achievement given the team’s struggles with runners in scoring position and vexing inability to record productive outs.

After those wild couple of days, Mark Canha’s presence receded into the background, coinciding with a larger team recession. He was the beginning of the end in 2024, for the team, for Farhan Zaidi. A last minute shrug of a move done by a scuffling front office that received an indifferent shrug in return and resulted in another two months of shrugs (with two exceptions). Now, as of November 1st, Canha is a 35 year old free agent, his short-lived career with the Giants most certainly over.