ESPN’s Passan believes Cal Raleigh ‘will fix himself’

If there’s one thing that the Seattle Mariners had the benefit of in 2025 that has not carried on in 2026, it’s the otherworldly production of star catcher Cal Raleigh.

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The Mariners’ run to their first AL West title and ALCS appearance in 24 years was due in no small part to Raleigh having arguably the greatest offensive season ever by a major league catcher. He hit 60 home runs in the regular season and added a few more for good measure in the playoffs.

Unfortunately, the bottom has dropped out for the switch-hitting slugger this year. Not only did he miss a good chunk of the first half with an oblique injury, but he’s hitting well under .200 and entered the second half of play with a negative WAR.

Will the 29-year-old Raleigh get out of his funk this year? ESPN MLB insider Jeff Passan remains confident in “Big Dumper,” as he explained to Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk this week.

“Whatever I or anyone else suggests could fix Cal Raleigh, I can absolutely guarantee you he has thought of already and he has considered and he has tried to implement,” Passan said. “… Cal Raleigh will fix himself. I absolutely, firmly believe that because I believe in the person. And just as last year we talked about this is probably the 99th percentile of what Cal Raleigh is going to be, I think this year, or this first half in particular, is the first percentile of what he can be.”

What does Passan see as the eventual path out of the slump for Raleigh?

“When you guys have things going on in your life and it feels like everything is swirling and going wrong and you just can’t figure it out, quite often the solution is to say, OK, what’s the simplest thing I can do? What’s the easiest way to make things very basic? And I think that’s probably what he’s doing at this point, just getting back to the basics of what made him good. And that’s going to be, in his case, let’s get the ball in play a little bit more and let’s get into ‘advantage Cal.'”

That aligns with what Passan said has been a key issue for Raleigh, who has been chasing pitches at a higher rate this year compared to last year.

“A lot of this is swinging at pitches he shouldn’t be swinging at,” Passan said, “and once you put yourself in a disadvantaged position, of course at that point you’re not going to have those types of successes that you did last year because you’re compromised. And that’s the most frustrating part of it all, it is self-inflicted compromise. And it’s a bad feeling that burrows itself into your head, and man, when you’re in a slump, there is no worse place to be in the world because you feel like you are drowning and you’re reaching up and looking for that life preserver, and somebody’s standing there holding it above you just out of the reach of your fingertips.”

Hear the full Brock and Salk conversation with ESPN MLB insider Jeff Passan in the podcast at this link or in the player below. Catch Brock and Salk from 6-10 a.m. weekdays on Seattle Sports.

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