Big(ger) Dumper? Star shining, Raleigh eyes even more reps in '25

PEORIA, Ariz. -- Cal Raleigh doesn’t take many off-days throughout the regular season, let alone Spring Training, but he had good reason to be excused from work on Thursday.

The Mariners’ star catcher flew back to the Pacific Northwest to take part in the Seattle Sports Commission Awards ceremony, where he was named the Sports Star of the Year for men’s athletics.

The other nominees were Seattle Seahawks defensive end Leonard Williams, University of Washington track and field athlete Joe Waskom, Seattle Sounders FC midfielder Albert Rusnák, Washington State University quarterback John Mateer and middle-distance runner Josh Kerr.

Founded in 1935 by legendary sports editor Royal Brougham and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Sports Star of the Year has celebrated the achievements of Washington sports for nine decades.

The honor was well-deserving given Raleigh’s performance for the Mariners last season, when he swatted 34 homers with 100 RBIs and was the American League’s best defensive player, winning the Platinum Glove Award. But the recognition also spoke to how much Raleigh’s pedigree has grown in the PNW region as he has firmly become one of the most prominent faces in Seattle sports.

"I still don't know if it's even set in fully,” Raleigh said. “So I think maybe it's that I look back one day when I'm older, and be like, 'Wow this is pretty cool.'"

The Mariners believe there are more big things to come for their workhorse at the sport’s most demanding position.

Raleigh appeared in a whopping 131 games last season behind the plate, more than any other catcher in the Majors, with 19 games as designated hitter. He believes he’s capable of another demanding workload in 2025 -- and beyond.

"It's not for the weak,” Raleigh said. “So it's just really important to take care of yourself, doing the right things. The biggest thing is like, yes you want to recover, but you've got to stay in shape. You've got to stay on top of it. You've got to continue to build on it, because if you don't use it, you lose it.

"I think that’s what I see with a lot of guys is that their bodies start breaking down. Obviously, that’s going to happen because Father Time is undefeated, but you also have to keep that strength. You’ve got to keep that mobility. That’s kind of the key to me.”

Raleigh said he was actually more sore in the weeks after the regular season than at the very end.

"Honestly, it was a bit more difficult that I wasn’t doing something every day and moving around,” Raleigh said. “So I was a lot more tight. It was weird, because I was used to moving every day and then you go from that to offseason mode where you really take your time to rest. But I felt good. I took care of myself. I did what I needed to do.”

As a former catcher and longtime mentor of Raleigh, Mariners manager Dan Wilson understands the rigors as much as anyone. Wilson played in the same amount of games as Raleigh did last year twice in his career, in 1996 and ‘97 each, but load management wasn’t nearly as much of a consideration by teams back then.

Wilson was asked at the outset of camp: For Raleigh, how much is too much?

"That's a question we're going to have to continue to look at,” Wilson said.

In follow-ups over the past weeks, Wilson’s tone has suggested that the Mariners are comfortable breaking camp with just Raleigh and Mitch Garver as their only catchers. It’s also expected that Garver will see DH reps, which could lead to games where both are in the same lineup.

"It's something that you have to continually look at and assess,” Wilson said. “We've talked about the idea of both catchers in the games and how that leaves you a little bit exposed. Should that continue to be an issue or a problem, then it's something you look at. But I think that's just kind of a wait-and-see how things develop over the course of the year and not something that we need to make a decision on right now.”

While Seattle’s starting rotation is the blueprint for their path to extended success and Julio Rodríguez is probably the roster’s most talented player, a case could be made that Raleigh is the team’s most valuable -- given how he navigates the pitching staff, what he does defensively and for his run-producing bat.

All signs this spring point to the Mariners leaning on Raleigh’s durability again in 2025.