ASU baseball: Gage Canning has been a superstar for ASU

ASU baseball starting center fielder Gage Canning has undoubtedly been the Sun Devil’s most valuable player so far this season.

With five freshman in the starting lineup, ASU junior center fielder Gage Canning is inherently a leader by example.

As the spark to ASU’s lineup, Canning has been a role model of consistency and production for this young Sun Devils team.

Heading into Saturday night’s game against Oregon, the veteran leadoff hitter boasted an astounding .473 batting average while owning a slugging percentage over .700 and an on-base percentage over .500.

“Am I surprised? Not really,” head coach Tracy Smith said on the production of Canning this season. “He is the model of what you would want (in a hitter).”

In addition to those numbers, Canning had a hit in every game up until ASU’s Tuesday night loss to Arizona when the junior center fielder went 0-for-4 with a walk in the 6-2 defeat.

Although he may own a quiet personality, ASU’s leadoff hitter has been the key to the Sun Devils success.

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In game one of the series on Friday night against the Ducks, Canning went 3-for-4 with three runs batted in and two runs scored for the Sun Devils in the 7-4 victory.

Then in game two of the series Saturday night, Canning followed up with a five-hit performance which included the center fielder’s eighth triple and first two home runs on the season, a three-run shot and an inside-the-ballpark home run, that combined put four runs on the board for ASU.

“You have those days when you’re feeling good,” Canning said after the five-hit performance.

In fact, Canning’s inside the ballpark home run was the first inside-the-ballpark home run for an ASU player since March 1, 2012.

“Crazy” and “Unbelievable” were the words teammates Spencer Torkelson and Boyd Vander Kooi used to describe Canning. “(I’ve) never seen anything like it before,” Vander Kooi said.

The ASU center fielder is from the small town of Ramona, California, near San Diego and attended the local high school in Ramona.

At the high school level, Canning hit .374 with 18 home runs in four seasons as the California native was a 2015 Louisville Slugger High School First-Team All-American in his senior year.

In his freshman season for ASU, Canning had a respectable .269 batting average to go along with only one error on the season.

Canning’s defensive consistency continued on to the next season as the starting center fielder did not have a single error all season as the rest of the Sun Devils finished second to last in the Pac-12 in errors as a team.

Although the rest of the Sun Devils struggled at the plate as well, Canning thrived in his sophomore campaign with a team high .332 batting average and a .366 on base percentage.

Even with the Sun Devils only winning eight games in conference play, Gage Canning continued to produce in the field and in the batter’s box for the Sun Devils.

Now 19 games into the year, Canning has continued his success in both the field and at the plate as the Sun Devils sit at 10-9 on the young season.

Next: ASU Baseball: Sun Devils annihilate Oregon behind dominant offensive performance

If Canning continues his success, the Sun Devils will be in a much better position to own a winning record in Pac-12 play and bounce back from a nightmarish 2017 campaign.

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