Paul Articulates – Can do!

With 22 games left in the regular season, the Mets have a slim lead over the Atlanta Braves in the NL East Division in what promises to be a fight to the wire.  Can the Mets hold on?  Both teams have a great deal of talent, but to earn the title it will take a special attitude: Can Do!

The Mets have a special mix of players this year.  They have their stars and they have their role players, but from the start they have embraced the philosophy that everyone contributes.  The resurgence of Eduardo Escobar and the stronger at-bats by the duo behind the plate while the middle of the lineup struggles exemplifies that point.  Today I would like to highlight a player that has played a significant role in the team success but doesn’t show up much in the headlines.

Mark Canha has played solid baseball for the Mets all year.  Until Saturday’s grand slam, his most famous moment of the 2022 season was when he explained the Portuguese pronunciation of his last name while mic’d up for ESPN on a Sunday night game.  Although he is not a flashy player, Mets fans should feel very fortunate that Billy Eppler signed him as a free agent during the offseason after a seven season career with the Oakland Athletics.  During his tenure with the A’s he established himself as a strong fielder and a batter with a high on-base percentage (OBP).

Canha has demonstrated several valuable traits as a Met which have melded perfectly with the Met’s team approach:

A great eye: Canha is one of the Mets hitters that works the pitch count in almost every at-bat.  He has a great knowledge of the strike zone and is seldom fooled by pitches.  He looks calmer with two strikes than any other player I’ve seen.  He can frustrate the opposing pitcher by going down 0-2 and then watching close bait pitches sail by outside the strike zone to bring the count back into his favor.  This year his 4.18 pitches per plate appearance ranks 11th in the league.  He also will not yield to being crowded which has resulted in the second-highest hit-by-pitch ranking in the NL.

An OBP master: Canha finds a way to get on base.  His .371 OBP ties teammate Jeff McNeil for 14th in baseball (4th in the NL).  His eye has contributed to 44 walks in 120 games, his 18 plunks is second in the NL for hit-by-pitch count, and his 107 hits are sixth on the Mets even though he has sacrificed playing time to others on the team.  

A versatile glove: Canha has been a staple in left field for the Mets, but has also played right field, center field, first base, and third base this year.  His fielding percentage in each of those five positions is 1.000.  That’s right – he has not committed an error this season.  All the sabermetrics out there will put him in an average category with his -2 outs above average but I’ll take a perfect fielder who hits the cutoff every time over a flashy risk-taker.

A team guy: Canha was playing steady outfield and getting on base consistently from the second half of the batting order.   He played most of the time, but yielded to McNeil in left when Guillorme was in the game and gave innings to JD Davis and Dom Smith to keep them going.   Then came the trade deadline deals, and Buck Showalter needed to get a good luck at Tyler Naquin so Canha rested more than he wanted to without complaining.  

Once back in the lineup, he responded with a statement on August 21st – two home runs, including a late game 2-run shot in a come-back win a game against the Phillies that was accompanied with a celebratory bat flip.  In a post-game interview, he alluded to “a lot of pent-up emotion” that was released with that celebration.  This gave a very small glimpse into what may be his disappointment in giving up playing time that he suppressed in the interests of what is best for the team.

A self-improver: I was outspoken in the pre-season about the value of Brandon Nimmo because he has demonstrated the ability to self-improve year over year to become the player he is today.  Mark Canha joins this club as we found out recently in an interview he had with Steve Gelbs after the Atlanta series.  He has been making some adjustments to improve his power, and it has shown up in the numbers.  His August slugging percentage was .583.  He has 5 HR and 12 doubles in 105 at-bats in the last 35 games which is far above his season average.  Those big home runs in recent series were a direct result of that extra work.

So Mets fans, when it comes down to the wire, it is going to come down to a team that believes in themselves, one that embraces contributions from everyone on the roster to make this a special season.  I’m looking forward to see what happens.   Let’s Go Mets!