Winner Mitch Canham led Oregon State to back-to-back national titles

Published 11:18 pm Monday, March 10, 2008

One of the great Pacific Northwest sports stories in recent years has been the surprising rise to prominence by the Oregon State University baseball team.

Despite being located in wet, tiny, remote, Corvallis, Ore., far from the acknowledged baseball hotbeds of California, Arizona, Texas and Florida, Oregon State has nonetheless soared to the pinnacle of college baseball.

Under coach Pat Casey, Oregon State has gone to three straight College World Series and won the past two. And a big part of that success was Lake Stevens product Mitch Canham, the team’s starting catcher in those three seasons and the winner of The Herald’s 2007 Man of the Year in Sports award.

The 23-year-old Canham, a 2007 junior, was a Louisville Slugger third-team All-American, was named to the College World Series All-Star team, was an All-Pacific-10 Conference selection, was one of 10 semifinalists for the Johnny Bench Award as the nation’s top collegiate catcher, and was a College Sports Information Directors of America Academic All-American.

It was a stellar season for Canham, both at the plate and behind the plate. Offensively, the left-handed hitting Canham batted .326, tops among the Beavers, and tied for the team lead with 10 home runs. He was second in RBI with 59, second in slugging percentage at .524, and tied for third in runs scored with 52.

Canham was also first with 39 walks and even got on base a team-best 13 times after being hit by a pitch, which helped him lead the squad in on-base percentage for those players with 100 or more at-bats with a .447 mark.

He was also something of an iron man, playing in 65 of the team’s 67 games and starting 58.

The 6-foot-2, 212-pound Canham capped off his season and his career at Oregon State by becoming a first-round draft choice of the San Diego Padres in last June’s free-agent draft. He is currently in spring training with the Padres.

“There wasn’t a better experience I could have had in life then those four years at Oregon State,” Canham said. “(It was great) to be part of a team that won a national championship, let alone back-to-back championships. We didn’t have the most talented guys, but we had guys who wanted to work and guys who believed in the same goal.

“Having the drive to win and the family atmosphere that we had at Oregon State, it was more than amazing,” he said.

Canham, who graduated from Lake Stevens High School in 2003 after playing four years under longtime Vikings coach Roger Anderson, was granted a redshirt year at Oregon State after an injury-abbreviated 2004 season. He had one year of eligibility left, but chose to turn pro because “I had done pretty much everything” as a collegian, he said.

“And then being a first-round selection, that was a great thing for me,” he said. “I had been at the peak of my college career, and I just felt it was time for me to move on.”

On top of his many honors, Canham was also chosen as a 2007 Pac-10 medal winner, which is given in recognition of an individual’s achievements in athletics, academics and service. One male and one female at each Pac-10 school are honored every year.

Character, in fact, was a big part of Canham’s success at Oregon State, both on the field and in the classroom, where he was a business major (he expects to finish his degree next winter).

“Mitch is the best leader in the country,” Casey said in an earlier interview. “There’s nobody who has a leader better than Mitch Canham on and off the field. He’s the heart and soul of our club.”

In the draft, Canham was a supplemental first-round choice, No. 57 overall. He spent last summer beginning his pro career with the Eugene Emeralds of the Northwest League, where he batted .293 with two home runs, 18 RBI and 11 walks in 28 games. He was then promoted to Fort Wayne (Ind.) of the Midwest League at the end of the season, where he played in two games.

Getting drafted and then signing a first pro contract are just two of the initial steps in a long path to the major leagues. It’s no sure thing, given the large number of high school, college and foreign players who sign pro contracts every year, but Canham is determined to succeed.

“I got to where I am now by not being scared,” he said, “and by doing everything I can to improve myself. Each year I set my goals, and my goal right now is to be the best — defensive, offensive, leader, whatever — catcher that’s playing the game. I’m a long ways from that now, but I know I have tools and the drive to get there.”