The jaw-dropping numbers behind Cal Raleigh’s torrid start

Cal Raleigh is doing things nobody has seen before, and he’s on pace to break multiple records held by members of the Hall of Fame.

The Seattle Mariners’ switch-hitting catcher has taken his game to another level after signing a six-year contract extension with the club just before the start of the season, an investment that is looking better and better by the day.

Mariners’ Cal Raleigh – who else? – named co-AL Player of the Week

He leads the American League and is tied for the MLB lead with 23 home runs, and is sporting career-best clips with a .264 batting average, .379 on-base percentage and .637 slugging percentage. He has stiff competition in Yankees slugger Aaron Judge, but Raleigh has firmly put himself in consideration for AL MVP at this point of the year.

With Raleigh continuing to sizzle at the plate (so much so that the fire alarm went off at T-Mobile Park soon after a recent home run), here are some jaw-dropping stats behind the backstop’s incredible start to 2025.

Raleigh’s unreal stats

• Raleigh is currently on pace to hit 64 home runs this season, which would break the AL single-season record, the Mariners’ record, the MLB record for switch-hitters and the MLB record for catchers.

Aaron Judge set the AL record with 62 last season, breaking Roger Maris’ 64-year-old mark of 61. Ken Griffey Jr. holds the Mariners’ record of 56. Mickey Mantle holds the record for most home runs by a switch-hitter at 54. Mantle, considered one of the greatest players of all-time, is the only switch-hitter in MLB history with 50 home runs in a season. No other switch-hitter has hit more than 45 in a season. Salvador Perez holds the record for primary catchers at 48. Just six catchers have hit 40 home runs in a season.

• Raleigh’s 23 home runs in his team’s first 58 games are four more than any other catcher in MLB history, as pointed out by MLB.com’s Sarah Langs.

• Raleigh is on track to be the first MLB player ever to hit 20 home runs from both sides of the plate in a single season. He already set a switch-hitting record this season by become the first player with two home runs in a game left-handed, two in a game right-handed, and one from each side of the plate in a game during a single season.

• If Raleigh can hold on to the home run lead, he’d be the first Mariner to lead MLB in home runs for a single season.

• Just three catchers have posted a higher single-season OPS than the 1.016 mark Raleigh currently has. The three in front of him (Mike Piazza, Gabby Hartnett and Joe Mauer) are all Hall of Famers.

• Raleigh has produced 3.8 fWAR this season. That’s more than the top WAR-producing catcher from each team in the AL Central combined, as well as the NL East.

• Raleigh is on pace for 10.6 fWAR, which would break Buster Posey’s single-season record for catchers of 9.8 set during MVP season in 2012.

More on the Seattle Mariners

• Seattle Mariners MILB Moves: A trade, a signing and a release
• Randy Johnson reflects on Mariners retiring his No. 51 in 2026
• The Seattle Mariners’ next big prospect decision is more complicated
• With Astros vulnerable, can Seattle Mariners dethrone them in AL West?
• Three observations from Seattle Mariners’ series win over Twins

Related

Ex-Mariners OF Kelenic signs minor league deal with YankeesMariners fall to Blue Jays 4-3 in Kade Anderson’s 2nd startMariners Notebook: The latest on Hancock and DonovanWhat Bryce Miller said about move to Mariners’ bullpenKade Anderson on debut: ‘I had my D+ stuff’Cease, 3 homers lead Blue Jays to 8-1 win over Mariners