'He's going to make us better': Tigers acquire outfielder Mark Canha in trade with Brewers

Detroit — If you are going to preach a certain approach to hitting throughout your organization, it would probably be quite useful to have a model of that approach playing nearly every day at the big-league level, right?

Veteran outfielder Mark Canha, whom the Tigers acquired in a trade from the Milwaukee Brewers on Saturday, certainly fits the description.

“I think he’s going to make us better on the field,” Tigers president Scott Harris said in a zoom conference Saturday. “Mark is an on-base machine. He comes up to the plate with a plan, he grinds out at-bats, he never gives in to pitchers and he makes a ton of contact.

“He’s been one of the biggest on-base threats in our game over the last four or five years. He immediately makes us better that way.”

Low strikeout rate, high walk rate, good power and consistent, that’s who Canha has been throughout his nine-year career. Splitting the season with the Mets and Brewers last year, he slashed .262/.355/.400 with a 15.6% strikeout rate and 9.7% walk rate. Also, for the sixth straight season, he posted an OPS-plus of over 100 (108).

That he’s a right-handed hitter also plays for the Tigers. He is presently just the second right-handed hitting outfielder on their 40-man roster and he will balance out a raft of lefty-swinging outfielders (Riley Greene, Parker Meadows, Kerry Carpenter and Akil Baddoo).

With nine big-league seasons under his belt, he will also help balance out the youth of that outfield group.

“We did a lot of work on Mark and we feel really good about what he’s going to add to our clubhouse,” Harris said. “It’s no secret that we’re going to have a very young team next year. Adding Mark, a high-character guy who brings grit and toughness to our team as a veteran who has seen a lot, will only help our young guys adapt to the big leagues faster.”

Canha is entering his age-35 season and Harris confirmed the Tigers will pick up his $11.5 million option for the 2024 season.

“Adding that type of bat, with that type of approach at the plate can only help the younger players,” Harris said. “I hope many of our guys can emulate that type of approach when they see it every day. I believe that approach can be contagious. You watch a veteran grind out at-bats every day, it’s inspiring.

“We’re not putting all that on Mark, at all. We just want Mark to be Mark. But having that example will make us better.”

Harris said he expects Canha to be used some at first base and at designated hitter, as well as in the outfield. His presence in the outfield will give manager AJ Hinch the ability to play right-handed hitting Matt Vierling more at third base. It will also create some intense competition in spring training among the four left-handed swinging outfielders, especially as right-handed prospect Justyn-Henry Malloy is knocking on the big-league door.

“I view my job as trying to make AJ’s life more difficult,” Harris said. “Trying to make his decisions more difficult. We made them more difficult today. I intend to keep doing that and letting AJ put all the pieces together. He’s pretty good at that.”

This trade is the first indication of Harris’ willingness to trade from the club’s deepening prospect pool. They sent 25-year-old right-hander Blake Holub to the Brewers. While not ranked by industry experts, Holub was rising quickly, pitching well in High-A West Michigan and then at Double-A Erie last season.  

“I didn’t want to trade Blake,” Harris said. “He’s a talented young reliever who has a chance to pitch in a major league bullpen in the future. But in this game, you have to give up something to get something.”

And Harris praised the efforts of director of player development Ryan Garko and his staff for creating a much deeper pool of pitching talent that he could confidently tap into.

“Seeing all our young arms take a step forward gave us just a little more confidence trading a young arm because we knew a lot of guys took a step forward and we have a lot of depth on that front,” Harris said. “It also gave me, personally, more confidence that this is a group that can find and develop these types of arms.

“We have a lot of work to do to keep doing that. We’re not to a point where we have excess arms. I don’t think that at all.”

The ultimate goal, Harris said, is to get to a point where he doesn’t have to make a lot of trades. Get to a point where holes can be filled organically by players who have been developed through the system and are ready to step in.

In the meantime, he will exhaust all means to improve the team.

“Trading Blake away makes us a little worse,” he said. “And acquiring Mark makes us a lot better, in my opinion.”

chris.mccosky@detroitnews.com

Twitter/X: @cmccosky