Seattle Mariners slugging catcher Cal Raleigh made a bit of history with his two-homer game against the Chicago Cubs on Friday.
Raleigh’s pair of blasts did the heavy lifting in Seattle’s 9-4 win at Wrigley Field. Raleigh’s first home run of the day was a first-inning shot off former Mariners battery-mate Matthew Boyd. Raleigh turned around Boyd’s well-located 95-mph fastball and sent it 381 feet to left-center for his 28th home run of the season:
That homer tied Johnny Bench’s 1970 mark for most home runs by a catcher before the All-Star break. The Hall of Famer bench needed 87 games to get there back in ’70, while Raleigh this season needed just 73 games to get there.
Raleigh, though, wasn’t done. In the seventh, Cubs lefty reliever Caleb Thielbar confronted Raleigh with a 1-1 fastball that caught way too much of the plate. Raleigh swiftly punished it 419 feet to left, or to Waveland Avenue to be more precise:
And with that Raleigh now holds the MLB single-season record for most first-half home runs by a catcher. You’ll note it was also a clutch homer, as Raleigh’s second of the day turned 4-4- tie into a 6-4 Mariners lead in the late innings. That lead grew. Raleigh also added a single and a walk and drove in three.
Raleigh’s now slashing .273/.379/.646 with an MLB-leading 29 home runs on the season. That’s elite production for any player, let alone a skilled defensive catcher. Consider him to be very much in the AL MVP race.
As well, Raleigh may not be done making history. With 29 home runs through 74 team games, he’s now on pace for 64 home runs in 2025. That would not only shatter the single-season record for home runs by a catcher (48 by Salvador Perez of the Royals in 2021), it would also break Aaron Judge’s American League record for homers in a season. The Yankees’ superstar hit 62 in 2022 to break Roger Maris’ long-time AL mark.
As we noted last month, Raleigh’s elite quality-of-contact measures suggest he’s going to continue punishing the ball. A whole load of history might follow.
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