Mark Canha’s selective hitting approach has brought another dimension to the Mets lineup this season.
The 33-year-old Canha owns a .429 on-base percentage, a mark that makes him the antithesis of the all-or-nothing slugging outfielder. Canha’s walk percentage and chase rate place him around the upper third of MLB players in those categories, according to Baseball Savant. Canha spoke to Sports+ this week about his hitting approach. (His remarks have been lightly edited for clarity.)
Did you grow up as a selective hitter, or was it something you learned as a professional?
Mark Canha: I made a conscious decision [with Oakland] in 2018 right around the All-Star break to be more selective. I fully understood that was going to come [with] swinging the bat less in general, [but] I decided that would help my career, and it did. Sometimes that means taking fastballs right down the middle and being honest with yourself. … [W]e are human beings, and sometimes I say to myself, ‘You can’t let that fastball go right down the middle for a first pitch; you’ve got to be ready to hit it.’ But then sometimes, honestly, I’m walking to the plate and saying, ‘I’m not ready to hit right now. You don’t know what you’re doing.’… For me it was like I realized in 2018 that I was going up there a lot of times and throwing at-bats away because I was doing stuff that I wasn’t comfortable with.
