Cal Raleigh agrees to contract extension with Mariners, per report
Mar 25, 2025, 11:33 AM | Updated: 2:16 pm
Cal Raleigh isn’t going anywhere any time soon.
The Seattle Mariners and their Platinum Glove-winning catcher are finalizing a contract extension worth $105 million over six years, ESPN MLB insider Jeff Passan reported Tuesday morning.
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MLB insider Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported that the deal will come with a full no-trade clause for Raleigh.
Per Passan, the deal comes with a $10 million signing bonus and a seventh year vesting player option with a $2 million buyout.
Details on Cal Raleigh's extension with the Seattle Mariners, per sources:
$10 million signing bonus
2025: $1 million salary
2026: $11 million
2027: $12 million
2028: $23 million
2029: $23 million
2030: $23 million
2031: $20 million vesting player option (with $2 million buyout)— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) March 25, 2025
A third-round MLB Draft pick out of Florida State in 2018 by Seattle, Raleigh has three years left on his initial MLB contract with the Mariners. He was set to make $5.6 million in 2025, his first season of arbitration eligibility. The deal buys out three years of free agency.
Raleigh, who notably switched his representation from baseball super agent Scott Boras to Excel Sports Management late last year, addressed a potential extension with the Mariners when he joined Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk last month at spring training in Arizona, saying he was “completely open” to the idea.
2/26/25 — Cal Raleigh was asked by @BrockHuard & @TheMikeSalk about the possibility of signing an extension in Seattle before reaching free agency.
"I am completely open to signing something before then."
3/25/25 — Cal Raleigh signs 6-year, $105m extension w/ the #Mariners. pic.twitter.com/aBUi0Ob8pF
— Seattle Sports (@SeattleSports) March 25, 2025
Once pen hits paper, Raleigh will join All-Star center fielder Julio Rodríguez as homegrown Mariners franchise cornerstones with long-term deals.
Slugger in Seattle
In 2024, the switch-hitting Raleigh slashed .220/.312/.436 for a .748 OPS with a team-leading 34 home runs and 100 RBIs, both of which were career highs. He hit the most home runs by a catcher in his first four MLB seasons with 93, beating a record previously held by Hall of Famer Mike Piazza. The feat is made all the more impressive by the fact that Raleigh had just two homers in his rookie season.
With three more home runs, Raleigh (93 career homers) can pass Mike Zunino (95 with Seattle) for most career home runs by a primary catcher in Mariners history.
One way Mariners’ Cal Raleigh sets himself apart as a hitter
In four MLB seasons, Raleigh has a .218/.296/.444 slash line for a .740 OPS. A North Carolina native and the son of a former college baseball coach, Raleigh has made strides at the plate in some way in each of his years in the big leagues. In 2024, that included balancing his power from each side of the plate, as he hit a career-high 13 homers as a right-handed hitter against left-handed pitching in addition to 21 as a lefty hitter.
Raleigh’s 91 home runs since 2022 leads all catchers and is tied for 15th most in MLB over that period. Raleigh has the least plate appearances (1,612) of any hitter ranking 23rd or higher on the list, with the next lowest being Houston’s Yordan Alvarez, who is tied for seventh with 103 homers in 1,692 plate appearances.
The 28-year-old Raleigh provided Mariners fans with one of the most memorable moments in team history in 2022 when he hit a walk-off home run to clinch Seattle’s first trip to playoffs since 2001.
“Big Dumper” is more than a big bat
Raleigh won his first American League Gold Glove at catcher in 2024, and that was shortly followed by the AL Platinum Glove, which recognizes the best defensive player in the league regardless of position.
Raleigh led MLB with 26 runners caught stealing and 1,122 innings caught last year, had an AL-best 13 framing runs, and tied for most in the AL with 16 runs saved. He had just six errors and a .995 fielding percentage in 153 games, a career high.
Per Statcast, Raleigh had a plus-14 fielding run value in 2024 that was in the 98th percentile of MLB players.
In addition to Raleigh’s numbers at and behind the plate, he’s been a huge part of the Mariners’ pitching success by managing the staff on the field.
Raleigh and the Mariners will open the 2025 MLB season at 7:10 p.m. Thursday at T-Mobile Park against the Athletics. Radio coverage will be carried on Seattle Sports, the flagship station of the Mariners Radio Network, beginning at 6 p.m. with the pregame show.
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