Ex-Cal Star Mark Canha Off to a Hot Start With the Giants

Canha collects four hits in Thursday's victory and is hitting .467 with San Francisco

Mark Canha hit a two-run double Thursday / Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

Getting back to the Bay Area has been a godsend for former Cal standout Mark Canha. So far at least.

The Detroit Tigers traded Canha to the San Francisco Giants on July 30 in a deal that sent right-handed pitcher Eric Silva to Detroit.  Canha was hitting a modest .231 at the time.

However, in his four games with the Giants he has been a sparkplug that has helped San Francisco renew hopes of earning a wild-card berth in the postseason.

Canha has seven hits in 15 at-bats with the Giants, giving him a .467 batting average in the National League this season to go along with a 1.067 OPS.

He had his best game on Thursday, when he went 4-for-6, including a two-run double in the ninth inning that helped put the Giants ahead of the Nationals.  Ultimately, the Giants had to go 10 innings to win the game, 9-5. It was Canha's first four-hit game since 2022 when he was with the Mets.

More important is that the Giants are 3-1 with Canha in the lineup, and with a 59-58 record they are over .500 for the first time since May 29, when San Francisco was 29-28.

Entering Friday’s action, the Giants are three games out of the third and final wild-card spot in the National League.

Obviously this is a small sample size and it remains to be seen whether Canha can continue to be productive.   But the man who went to high school in San Jose and attended college in Berkeley seems to be thriving back in the Bay Area.

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