Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh is on the brink of making Major League Baseball history with his hot start to the 2025 season, hitting 26 home runs in his first 63 starts.
This season, Raleigh has a 3.9 WAR with a .272 average in 274 plate appearances, pounding 63 hits, 11 doubles, 53 RBI, seven stolen bases, 38 walks, 75 strikeouts, and a 1.035 OPS.
Advanced baseball researcher Sarah Langs reported on June 8 that Raleigh’s 26 home runs are four more than any other primary-position catcher in his team’s first 63 games of a season.
Cal Raleigh’s 26 home runs are 4 more than by any other primary-position catcher in his team’s first 63 games of a season
— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) June 8, 2025
Langs also reported that Raleigh has the most home runs by a primary catcher 63 games into a season before the All-Star break. He now ranks among the greats, joining Johnny Bench, who hit 28 home runs in 87 games before the break in 1970, and Iván Rodríguez, who hit 26 in 80 games in 2000.
Most homers by primary catcher before All-Star break:
1970 Johnny Bench: 28 (87 games played)
2025 Cal Raleigh: 26 (63)
2000 Ivan Rodriguez: 26 (80) https://t.co/rdl5XECqJy— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) June 8, 2025
This season defensively, Raleigh has caught 50 games and made 49 starts over 441.2 innings, recording 421 total chances with 405 putouts, 15 assists, one error, and two double plays. He has a .998 fielding percentage with no passed balls, has allowed 39 stolen bases, and thrown out 10 runners for a 20 percent caught stealing rate.
The 28-year-old switch hitter from Cullowhee, N.C. was selected in the third round of the 2018 MLB June Amateur Draft by Seattle after his junior season at Florida State University and received an $854,000 signing bonus, prior to making his big league debut on July 11, 2021, at home against the Los Angeles Angels.
Raleigh last season won his first Gold Glove Award and Platinum Glove Award, while catching in 135 games and 125 starts, with 1,122 innings, 1,195 chances, 1,138 putouts, 51 assists, six errors, eight double plays, a .995 fielding percentage, five passed balls, and allowed 81 stolen bases while throwing out 32 runners, resulting in a 28 percent caught stealing percentage.
He played in 153 games in the 2024 season, and batted .220 with 628 plate appearances, collecting 120 hits, 16 doubles, 34 home runs, 100 RBI, six stolen bases, 70 walks, 176 strikeouts, and a .748 OPS.
In Raleigh’s five seasons with the Mariners since 2021, he has played in 527 games with a lifetime average of .225 across 2,034 plate appearances, recording 405 hits, 82 doubles, two triples, 119 home runs, 304 RBI, 14 stolen bases, 207 walks, 583 strikeouts, and a .778 OPS.
The 33-31 Mariners will begin a three-game road series against the 31-34 Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday, June 9, at 9:40 p.m. EDT.
Seattle Mariners’ Cal Raleigh, right, hits a two-run home run as Los Angeles Angels catcher Logan O’Hoppe watches during the first inning of a baseball game Saturday, June 7, 2025, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
