Mark Canha has a guaranteed spot on the Oakland Athletic’s 25 man roster after being acquired through the Rule 5 Draft process this morning. The rule 5 draft allows teams to pick players from another team’s minor league system, provided that player is not on a 40 man roster and has exceeded the exemption period, and add them to their own but, as a caveat, that player must remain on the acquiring team’s 25 man roster for the duration of the season.
The Athletics didn’t actually select Mark Canha in the draft. In fact, they didn’t pick anyone in the draft having not made the appropriate moves on their roster to qualify for participation. To get Mark Canha, the A’s traded the Rockies Austin House and cash considerations.
Further, to make room on the roster for Mark Canha, the Athletics have designated Shane Peterson for assignment. Even through a trade, all of the requirements for a rule 5 draft apply so the A’s will either keep Canha on the roster or waive him completely in the 2015 season but enough about the logistics, let’s learn about the newest addition to the Athletics family.
Mark Canha has spent has been in the minors since 2010, reaching AAA in the 2014 season. In his sole season at triple A he had a .303 batting average and .384 on base percentage while hitting 20 home runs and 82 RBI’s. These numbers should look pretty good to A’s fans who think the team has mortgaged the team’s power in this off season.
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Canha is a San Jose native who attended Bellarmine High School and is a graduate of Cal which will make Bob Melvin very happy. It is pretty clear that this acquisition was a direct response to the Brandon Moss trade from earlier this week in that they are obtaining a young power bat who is capable of playing first base and left field but the difference here is that if starts hitting 25+ home runs a year, the A’s can afford to keep him around for much longer.
Taking to Twitter, Mark Canha had this to say about his move today:
Thanks for all the love A's nation. I'm so pumped for this opportunity and glad to be coming home
— Mark Canha (@outtadapakmark) December 11, 2014
We’re looking forward to having you this year and can’t wait to see what you’ve got in store for the team. Welcome home!