Mariners’ Cal Raleigh details 2 standout pitches he’s catching

Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh and Logan Gilbert have a close relationship dating back to their time coming up together in the Seattle Mariners organization.

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Raleigh and Gilbert were both 2018 draft picks by the M’s. They played on the same minor league affiliates in 2019 and 2021. Both made their MLB debuts during the 2021 season, and they’ve been the starting battery together 84 times in a Mariners uniform. The pair were even roommates.

But not even Raleigh could foresee just how much Gilbert has relied on his splitter this season.

Gilbert has used his splitter 25.5% of the time this season, according to Baseball Savant. That’s up 12.1% from its usage last season. It’s for good reason, as the pitch has been unhittable thus far. Batters don’t have a hit in 20 at-bats that have ended on the pitch, and they’ve struck out on it 14 times already.

During the second edition of The Cal Raleigh Show on Seattle Sports, Raleigh spoke with Mariners insider Shannon Drayer about Gilbert’s dominant pitch.

“It’s just kind of what’s been called for so far, and it’s been really good, especially in two-strike counts,” Raleigh said. “Kind of been leaning into it.”

Gilbert’s splitter usage is the 16th-highest in baseball, and he’s tied with Cubs left-hander Shota Imanaga with an MLB-best plus-3 run value on the pitch. Gilbert’s splitter produces some of the greatest vertical drop of any in the game, ranking third at 42.2 inches per Statcast.

With his over the top pitching motion, it pairs well with Gilbert’s four-seam fastball. The 12.8 mph average difference on those pitches makes it hard for batters to stay back long enough to even make contact on the splitter, which has generated an impressive 57.8% whiff rate (fourth best in baseball).

But Raleigh realizes as the season goes on, things may have to adjust.

“It’s been going well, but there’s going to be a time when it’s not working, and it’s just being prepared for that and knowing that it’s not always going to be there just like any other pitch,” Raleigh said.

Muñoz’s kick-change debut

It’s become an annual tradition among M’s starters to come into spring training with at least one new pitch. Gilbert is one of the best examples of that. But this year closer Andrés Muñoz has one of the more interesting new weapons on the pitching staff.

The hard-throwing right-hander has added a kick-changeup to his repertoire, which also features a four-seam fastball, sinker and slider. The pitch drew rave reviews when he first broke it out in spring camp, but we didn’t see it in a regular season game until his fifth appearance of the season Monday against the Astros.

Muñoz was able to land the pitch at 90.8 mph Monday night for a called strike two against Houston catcher Yainer Diaz on his way to his fourth save of the season.

“At the moment in the game with who’s at the plate, the situation, I thought it was a good time to break it out,” Raleigh said. “I knew kind of going into it when was a good opportunity to do it, when wasn’t a good opportunity to do it – and the stars kind of aligned and just kind of went for it, really.

“We had some other options as well, but what better time than now?”

Raleigh admitted that it wasn’t the best version of the pitch. It landed middle-middle and had just 25.2 inches of vertical drop, which would rank towards the bottom of the league.

“But it worked,” Raleigh said. “(He can) put it in the back pocket and keep working on it, and find another opportunity and strategize and talk about when we might try to get it across again.”

Hear the full conversation with Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh at this link or in the audio player near the top of this story. Listen to The Cal Raleigh Show on Thursdays at 5 p.m. during the baseball season.

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