No, even better than that.
The first week of the Seattle Mariners season was frustrating. They scuffled to a split and a series loss to two feisty clubs in the Sacramento Athletics and Detroit Tigers, a septet of games they were favored by FanGraphs to win all but one of. The laundry list of shortcomings was lengthy, but one standout was simple: Cal Raleigh, the recently extended star with the Platinum Glove, was not hitting. It took until the first game of the Detroit series for Raleigh, who nearly missed Opening Day with lingering illness, to record his first hit, though it was a big fly. And yet, whether spurred by health, torpedo physics, or simply the ebbs and flows of baseball, he is currently Seattle’s most valuable player by fWAR, and second in MLB in home runs.
To place Raleigh in context in his current pace is fun, if not inherently liable to continue. Since the end of World War II, the list of catchers to lead the bigs in homers is the same as the list who led their respective leagues: Salvador Perez, whose 48 homers tied Vladito for the title in 2021, and Johnny Bench, who cracked a league-leading 45 in 1970 and 40 in 1972. That number by Perez is the single-season record for big flies by a primary backstop, a total unlikely to be reached but currently well below Raleigh’s current pace if he musters 600 plate appearances this year.
It’s a staggering start for Raleigh, whose .216/.310/.581 line is shaped like the man himself. The only time a Mariner has led the league in home runs since the opening of T-Mobile Park née Safeco Field was its inaugural season, when Ken Griffey Jr. cracked 29 of his eventual 48 homers prior to the All-Star Break when the club left the Kingdome for good. Could Cascadia’s Ass take the conductor’s seat for the first time in a full season without having to at least temporarily place Tyler Soderstrom and Aaron Judge under house arrest? It’s absolutely possible.
Historically, Raleigh is hitting milestones universal and more narrowly recognized at pace. Already the best catcher in baseball, his 99th, 100th, and 101st career homers in Cincinnati have cleared several thresholds. Only A-Rod reached triple-digit homers more quickly in Mariners history. Just Gary Sánchez, Mike Piazza, and Rudy York needed fewer games among full-time catchers to reach the mark, and while York authored an excellent career, he never caught another game after age 25, becoming a slugging 1B instead. That Raleigh continues to ably helm the M’s pitching staff while putting up these numbers is part of what’s placed him in such rarified air.
Among primary catchers with at least 1500 plate appearances in their careers, Raleigh ranks 4th all-time in isolated power (ISO – slugging percentage minus batting average) with a .232 ISO behind just Sánchez and Piazza at .237, and Piazza’s Hall of Fame compatriot Josh Gibson’s .346. With that 101st homer Raleigh is 99th in MLB history among full-time catchers in big flies, with every player ahead of him boasting at least 100 more games played, and most with double or triple his total. Even if he just matches his 2024 total, which health-willing seems easily in reach, he’ll be in the top-70, while keeping pace or even splitting the difference between his present pace and last year’s numbers would vault him into the Top 50-60. All the caveats of the difficulties of catching daily considered, there is a real chance that the 28 year old could eventually be in line with the greatest catchers in the sport.
Already, with this week’s outburst, he has officially claimed supremacy over his manager Dan Wilson, surpassing Dan the Man’s 14.6 career fWAR over 1251 games and 4500 plate appearances in just over a third as many games. With 10 stolen bases under his belt, perhaps Cal is setting aim at Wilson’s club record 23 career bags swiped as well, as just Miguel Olivo’s 12 stand between the two.
This is an article mostly about looking at spreadsheets, and I recognize that’s not everyone’s bag. But those spreadsheets are filled up by play after play by the best catcher to ever don a Mariners uniform, the best catcher in the sport right now and over the past 3+ seasons. A lock for the Mariners Hall of Fame already and possibly, if, if, if, among the best to ever play, at least for this stretch of time and perhaps for all time. So yes, to Cal’s mother Stephanie, who thanked Seattle during Thursday’s broadcast for loving her kid, we do love him, and thank you.