Coaches

Mitch Canham, Head Coach

 

 

Two-time National Champion Mitch Canham was named the 21st head coach in Oregon State baseball’s history on June 13, 2019.

Canham was revered by Beaver Nation in four years as a student-athlete, and is one of the most popular players in school history. He was a 2007 All-American and guided the Beavers to three trips to Omaha, culminating in National Championships in 2006 and 2007.
 
Canham, a native of Richland, Wash., came back to the collegiate ranks after spending three-and-a-half seasons as a manager in the Seattle Mariners’ organization.
• He led the Double-A Arkansas Travelers to a North Division First-Half Title in the Texas League after defeating Tulsa on June 9, just four days before becoming Oregon State’s head coach. In nearly half a season at the Double-A level, Canham amassed a 42-22 record.
• Canham posted a .545 winning percentage at the professional level, going 260-220. He tallied winning seasons in three of the nearly four seasons, including 86 wins at Single-A Clinton in 2016.
• Canham followed his first managerial season by moving to high Single-A Modesto of the California League in 2017. In his first of two seasons with the Nuts, he led the club to a 74-68 record and California League Championship. He was also named the California League Manager of the Year.
• Three players from the 2017 Modesto Nuts club have already reached the Major Leagues (as of June 2019), including outfielder Braden Bishop and pitchers Pablo Lopez and Matt Festa.
• Canham served as Bishop and Lopez’s manager at Clinton as well. There, he also helped advance the careers of Major Leaguers Alex Jackson, Zack Littell, Luiz Gohara and Osmer Morales.
 
Canham came to Oregon State from Lake Stevens, Wash., in 2004. He lettered three seasons for the Beavers - 2005-07 - and played in 183 games.

The Beavers won 46, 50 and 49 games, respectively, during his three on-the-field seasons, including 27 victories in the postseason. The 50 wins in 2006, at the time, marked an Oregon State single-season record.
 
• Canham batted .314 during his career, tallying 31 doubles, eight triples, 25 home runs and 152 runs batted in.
• The 152 RBI head into the 2020 season as the seventh-most in a career at Oregon State. The 25 home runs, meanwhile, rank ninth.
• He had an All-American season for the Beavers in 2007. He batted .326 as a redshirt junior, collecting 10 home runs and 59 RBI. He was also named an All-Pacific-10 Conference First-Team selection, a year after being named honorable mention.
• Canham was named the Most Outstanding Player of the 2005 Corvallis Regional and was selected to the All-College World Series Team in 2007.
• He opened his postseason career by batting .353 with three doubles and nine RBI in 2005, helping Oregon State to a 5-3 record and the program’s first trip to Omaha since 1952.
• He followed that with a .289 batting average in 2006 and led the Beavers to their first of now three National Championships. Canham posted four doubles and 11 RBI in 13 games.
• Canham completed his career with a home run and six RBI in 2007 as the Beavers won their second title. Oregon State rolled to an 11-1 record en route to the championship.
 
As a business administration graduate, he excelled off the field while at OSU earning 2007 Academic All-America accolades and three-time membership on the Pac-10 Academic team. The five-time OSU Dean’s List member was also a leader on Oregon State’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and was presented the Beavers’ Glenn Klein Award for his community service contributions.

Following his senior season, the Pac-10 honored Canham as OSU’s male recipient of the 2007 Tom Hansen Award, presented annually to the outstanding senior student-athlete based on exhibition of the greatest combination of performance, and achievement in scholarship, athletics and leadership.

Canham’s contributions to local communities have continued during his professional career and include founding and serving as the CEO of BASE By Pros LLC, an organization that provides personalized baseball instruction and mentorship to kids across the country.
 
Following his stellar career at Oregon State, Canham was selected in the first round, 57th overall, by the San Diego Padres in the 2007 MLB First-Year Player Draft. He was the sixth first-round selection in Oregon State history.

He spent four seasons with the Padres’ organization, reaching as high as Triple-A Portland. He also spent time with the Oakland Athletics, St. Louis Cardinals, Kansas City Royals and Washington Nationals’ organizations before ending his professional playing career with the independent Lincoln Saltdogs in 2015.
 
Canham’s business administration degree from Oregon State came in 2011. He and his wife, Marlis, have two children, Mack and Mya.
 
College Education
Alma Mater: Oregon State, 2011
Degree: Business Administration
 
Playing Career
Collegiate: Oregon State (2004-07)
MLB Draft: 1st round of 2007 Draft (San Diego Padres)
Professional: 
San Diego Padres system (2007-10)
Oakland Athletics system (2011)
St. Louis Cardinals system (2012)
Kansas City Royals system (2013)
Washington Nationals system (2014)
 
Eugene Emeralds, Northwest League (2007)
Lake Elsinore Storm, California League (2007-08)
San Antonio Missions, Texas League (2009-10)
Portland Beavers, Pacific Coast League (2010)
Midland RockHounds, Texas League (2011)
Sacramento River Cats, Pacific Coast League (2011)
Long Island Ducks, Atlantic League (2012)
Memphis Redbirds, Pacific Coast League (2012)
Northwest Arkansas Naturals, Texas League (2013)
Omaha Storm Chasers, Pacific Coast League (2013)
Harrisburg Senators, Eastern League (2014)
Lincoln Saltdogs, American Association (2015)

 

 

 

Ryan Gipson, Assistant Coach

 

Former infielder and 2006 national champion Ryan Gipson will be in his second as an assistant coach with Oregon State in 2020 after joining the program in October 2018.

Gipson came back to Oregon State after four seasons as the head coach at Linn-Benton Community College, where, in 2018, he led the Roadrunners to a 42-4 overall record and 29-1 mark in conference play. 

LBCC was 119-58 (.672) in his four seasons as head coach, including a 72-16 (.818) mark the past two years.

Gipson lettered for the Beavers in 2005 and 2006, helping guide Oregon State to back-to-back trips to Omaha, including a national championship. 

He played in 79 career games, starting 66, and batted .270 with 10 doubles, a home run and 36 runs batted in. 

In 2005, he led the then-Pac-10 with a .500 on-base percentage and was named All-Pacific-10 Conference Honorable Mention. He batted .330 that season, collecting six doubles, a triple and 22 RBI while stealing nine bases. The Beavers made their first of three consecutive trips to Omaha that season.

A Central Point, Ore., native, he played for Shasta Community College prior to his career at Oregon State. He hit .358 as a sophomore and .344 as a sophomore.

Gipson served as an undergraduate coach for Oregon State in 2011 and 2012, then spent two seasons as an assistant coach at Dixie State in Utah. He graduated from Oregon State in 2006 with a bachelors of science in sociology.

Gipson is married to the former Ali Martin and the couple has two children, a daughter named Elliot, and a son, Parker.