New York Mets fans chuckle as hit-by-pitch king Mark Canha plunked in intrasquad game: "Dude can’t catch a break even when he’s playing his own team"

New York Mets outfielder Mark Canha gets hit by pitches quite often. The ball just seems to like him, or loathe him.

Canha is the major-league leader in getting hit by a pitch for two years running. In 2021, he was the leader of a New York Mets team that broke the MLB single-season all-time record for most hits by pitches with a whopping 106.

After getting hit 27 times that season, he followed it up by getting hit 28 times in 2022. Through last season, he has been hit 108 times over an eight-year senior career, good for 78th on the MLB all-time list.

He has now begun 2023 in much the same manner, as he was plunked in a New York Mets intrasquad game on Friday.

Canha copped a blow on a pitch from Mets minor league hurler Dominic Hamel. As he loosened his ankle guard, catcher Tomas Nido, a likely teammate of Canha's this season, threw his arms around the MLB hit-by-pitch king before he trotted down to first base.

New York Mets fans, much like Canha himself, were asking, "Seriously?"

Many Mets fans invoked the image of visibly displeased manager Buck Showalter while describing their feelings about Hamel's gaffe.

Many want to know what Nido said to Canha during the hug. No doubt it will be a hot question at the Mets postgame press conference.

Mets fans were running rampant with their tongue-in-cheek remarks at Canha's continued misfortune.

New York Mets ready to break their own record?

Mark Canha #20 of the Oakland Athletics gets hit with a pitch

The New York Mets will certainly hope to get their share of hits this season, but the players will hope they come off the bat and not the body.

It wasn't always like this for Canha, either. He was only hit by a pitch just 15 times over his first three seasons with the Oakland Athletics. He was hit 10 times in 2018, but the HBP count started to ramp up in 2019 as he was tagged 18 times. The COVID-19 shortened 2020 season saw Canha get his 10 times again, but in just 59 games.

It was 2021 when it became glaringly noticeable. Balls started hitting Canha hard and heavy. Perhaps hoping to be hit less, he switched leagues, leaving Oakland for the Mets in free agency. The move backfired as he did more than his part in making MLB history.

He will hope that the worst is behind him, but Friday's plunking was an ominous sign.