Being immersed in the Major League Baseball season is so rewarding on many levels; we follow the peaks and troughs of our team’s performances while also witnessing the record breaking feats of players from other teams.
Cue Cal Raleigh, catcher with perennial underachievers, the Seattle Mariners.
I, like my fellow Batflips & Nerds friends and anyone with an interest in the game, have been watching the extraordinary hitting exploits of the regular catcher over in the Emerald City.
His power hitting achievements this season have been record breaking. After he hit home run number 29 last Friday (20th June) to break Johnny Bench’s 55 year pre-All Star record for home runs by a catcher, he then mashed dinger number 30 to break the record for most homers by a switch hitter before the Midsummer Classic.
As I write this piece Raleigh’s hitting stats over 73 games started, especially in terms of power, are exceptional:
WAR AB. H. HR. B.A. R. RBI OBP SLG. OPS OPS+
4.1. 276. 75. 30. .272. 52. 64. .377. .649. 1.025. 196
He has even stolen nine bases this season too!
Raleigh leads all MLB in home runs at this juncture of the season with 30, three ahead of Aaron Judge and five ahead of Shohei Ohtani. In fact, Raleigh, who declared his participation in the Home Run Derby yesterday, is comfortably on pace to surpass Mickey Mantle’s single season 54 home run record for a switch hitter set in 1961.
Just to provide further context, the next highest WAR this season for a catcher is the Dodger’s Will Smith, who is having his own breakout season with 3.2 wins above replacement. However, Will Smith has only hit nine home runs and his power numbers do not compare with the Big Dumper’s. In fact Raleigh is third this season in WAR, behind Judge at 5.6 and Carlos Peña at 4.4, both everyday positional players.
I have just completed my five initial votes for this year’s All Star Game and comparing Cal Raleigh’s stats across all other MLB offensive players just highlights what an incredible first three months of the season he has enjoyed. Only time will tell if he can keep up this level of production or if he can remain injury-free this season. If he does though, he may well smash all current catcher/switch hitter records and propel Seattle to a first Fall Classic.
Carl Taylor is a Boston Red Sox fan. You can read more of his work here.
Featured image – Orlando Ramirez/Getty Images
