Changing History

Cal Raleigh’s Historic Catcher Season

Photo from Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0

As the 2025 MLB season is wrapping up, only a few players are in the discussion of winning the MLB’s Most Valuable Player award(MVP). One player this season has played unbelievably well and has a very high chance to win this award. That player is catcher Cal Raleigh of the Seattle Mariners.

Raleigh is currently in his fifth professional season and has played on the Mariners for his full MLB career. He was drafted out of Florida State in the third round of the 2018 MLB June amateur draft. After having a mediocre start to his career, this year has been his breakout season and he has taken the leap to becoming a superstar. In his four previous seasons with the Mariners, Raleigh has never hit more than 34 home runs. This season alone, Raleigh hit 34 home runs before the all star break. During the all star break, his power was shown even more as he became the 2025 T-Mobile Home Run Derby champion and started at catcher for the American League in the 2025 MLB all-star game.

Cal Raleigh has not slowed down at all since the all star break. He has mashed 18 home runs and tallied up 39 runs batted in since the middle of July until now. Along with that, Raleigh has a 134 wRC+ since the all star break, which is 34 above the league average and a very impressive stat. While hitting stats are extremely important when it comes to the MLB, his fielding stats are also unbelievable. Of all catchers in the MLB, Cal Raleigh is first in overall fielding percentage with a .996 of all qualified catchers. This means that Raleigh has only had four errors in over 1000 innings. Cal Raleigh’s impressive offensive and defensive performance this year currently puts him as an MVP favorite with +400 odds, just behind Aaron Judge to win AL MVP.

Cal Raleigh has had such a great statistical year that he has broken records for both the Mariners and the entire MLB. On Tuesday, Sept. 16, Cal Raleigh hit his 55th home run and passed MLB hall of famer Mickey Mantle for most home runs by a switch hitter in a single season. The record had been held by Mantle since 1961, where in that time, the average pitcher threw a max speed in the low 90’s, compared to now where the average pitchers max speed is around 100 mph. Raleigh made history again a few nights later on Saturday, Sept. 20, when he hit a home run to bring his season total to 57 home runs. This home run means he has passed Mariners legend Ken Griffey Jr. for most home runs in a season by a Mariner; this record has been held by Griffey since 1997. Earlier in the season on Aug. 24th, Raleigh had also broken Salvador Perez’s most home runs by a catcher, hitting two home runs to set the new record which had previously been held since 2021.

Raleigh's historic season has fans excited for what his future may bring and many hope to see Raleigh take home the AL MVP at the end of the season.