Cal Raleigh reaches another milestone in highlight-filled night

Apr 16, 2025, 7:21 PM | Updated: Apr 17, 2025, 2:53 pm

Seattle Sports

Seattle Mariners star catcher Cal Raleigh did it all on Wednesday night.

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He made a highlight-reel play on defense. He homered from the left side of the plate. He homered from the right side.

And along the way, he reached another career milestone.

With two home runs in the Mariners’ 5-3 win over the Cincinnati Reds, the 28-year-old Raleigh became the second-fastest player in Mariners franchise history to reach 100 career homers. Raleigh reached the mark in 482 games – just 12 games more than Alex Rodriguez, who holds the franchise record at 470.

Raleigh’s latest milestone came just five days after he broke the Mariners’ all-time record for most home runs by a catcher last Friday, when he reached 96 homers to surpass Mike Zunino. That kicked off a long-ball surge for Raleigh, who has five homers in his past five games since debuting his new torpedo bat.

Raleigh now has seven homers through 18 games this season, which ties him with New York Yankees superstar outfielder Aaron Judge for the second-most in the majors. Athletics first baseman Tyler Soderstrom has an MLB-leading eight homers.

The switch-hitting Raleigh also moved into rare territory on Wednesday by homering from both sides of the plate in the same game. It was the fourth time in his career that he’s achieved that feat. The only other catchers in MLB history to do so more often are longtime Yankees icon Jorge Posada (eight games) and Todd Hundley (five games). Yasmani Grandal is tied with Raleigh at four games.

Raleigh’s first home run of the night came in the fifth inning, when he pulled a first-pitch cutter from Reds starter Nick Martinez into the right-field seats for a 412-foot solo blast. Raleigh then went deep from the right side in the seventh, when he lofted a towering 350-foot solo homer off reliever Taylor Rogers that just cleared the left-field wall.

Yet while Raleigh’s bat will make the biggest headlines, his highlight-filled night actually began with his glove – or more accurately, his bare hand.

In the second inning, Reds cleanup hitter Austin Hays hit a slow dribbler down the first-base line that had all the making of an infield base hit.

The reigning American League Platinum Glove Award winner had other ideas.

Raleigh immediately leaped up from his crouch, tossed aside his mask and chased the ball down the line as it trickled just inside the chalk. Then, with all his momentum moving forward, Raleigh grabbed the ball with his bare hand and sent a backhanded flip to first baseman Rowdy Tellez while falling to the ground.

And for his part, Tellez made a nice snag while avoiding a potential collision with Hays to complete the highlight-reel putout.

Raleigh, a 2018 third-round draft pick out of Florida State, has established himself as one of the game’s best all-around catchers since making his MLB debut in July 2021.

Raleigh led all MLB catchers in home runs for each of the past three seasons, blasting 27 homers in 2022, 30 in 2023 and a career-high 34 in 2024. He is the first catcher to lead his position in homers for three straight seasons since Hall of Famer Mike Piazza did so from 1999 to 2002.

Raleigh has been just as good behind the plate. He won the AL Platinum Glove Award this past season as the best defensive player in the league, regardless of position. He also became the first catcher in Mariners history to earn an AL Gold Glove Award.

Raleigh threw out an MLB-high 26 runners on stolen-base attempts last year, leading the majors in that category for a second straight season. He also tied for the AL lead with 16 defensive runs saved, caught an MLB-high 1,122 innings, led all AL catchers with a 5.4 FanGraphs WAR and was the backstop for a starting rotation that posted an MLB-best 3.38 ERA.

And of course, Raleigh delivered one of the most iconic moments in Mariners history with his walk-off homer in 2022 that clinched the franchise’s first playoff berth in 21 years.

Raleigh recently signed a six-year, $105 million contract extension with the Mariners that runs through 2030.