CINCINNATI -- Cal Raleigh made more home run history on Wednesday night for the Mariners, furthering his status as a player who¡¯s become synonymous with monumental milestones with the long ball.
Raleigh went yard twice in Seattle¡¯s 5-3 win over the Reds at Great American Ball Park, blasting a pair of solo shots that gave the Mariners a comfortable lead early.
But it was the catcher¡¯s second of the night that created a lot to unpack:
? It marked Raleigh¡¯s 100th career homer, a feat he reached in just 482 career games -- making him the second-fastest in franchise history to the century mark, behind only Alex Rodriguez, who got there in 470 games.
? It was his 11th multi-homer game, as he took Cincinnati right-handed starter Nick Martinez deep for a 412-foot shot in the fifth inning before his 350-foot long ball off lefty reliever Taylor Rogers in the seventh. Both were to the pull side with each swing.
? It was the fourth time that the slugger homered from both sides of the plate, pulling him into a tie with Yasmani Grandal for fourth-most all-time among switch-hitting catchers. Raleigh now trails only Todd Hundley (five games) and Jorge Posada (eight) in that category.
Moreover, Raleigh has homered five times in his past five games. Perhaps not coincidentally, all four from the left side have come with his new ¡°torpedo¡± bat, which he first used on Friday when the Mariners received their initial order on the new model that took MLB by storm on Opening Weekend. But he¡¯s remained using a ¡°more in-loaded¡± bat from the right side -- at least for now.
"They're making other ones where they shift [weight] at the end [of the barrel], so they're going to be sending some here shortly," Raleigh said. "It's just been crazy because pretty much everybody in the world has been wanting one.¡±
Raleigh is ff to a huge start to 2025, a season in which he signed a six-year, $105 million contract extension one day before Opening Day.
¡°I told him he maybe should have waited for the extension until after he found the torpedo bat,¡± said Bryce Miller, who twirled five scoreless innings of three-hit ball. ¡°But I'm sure the Mariners, financially, are happy they locked him up before he got the torpedo.¡±
The Mariners are only 18 games (11.1%) through their schedule, but with seven homers -- tied with Aaron Judge for second-most in MLB and trailing only Tyler Soderstrom¡¯s eight -- Raleigh is on pace for a whopping 63 this year.
Will he reach that mark, which would surpass the American League record 62 that Judge set in 2022? Probably not. But could the all-time record for a catcher -- 48 from Kansas City¡¯s Salvador Perez in ¡®21 -- be in play? Possibly.
When he hit a career-high 34 last year, 13 were from the right side. Maintaining that skill has been a result of ¡°a lot of hard work,¡± including extensive pregame work during this series.
¡°It's tough to do that, but it's important to realize what you need to do to get ready for it,¡± Raleigh said. ¡°Whether it's standing in on bullpens, or seeing velo off the machines, things like that, just to stay crisp -- because you never know when you're going to get that righty at-bat.¡±
Raleigh was also involved in three key defensive plays, to complement the day at the plate:
? In the second inning, he shovel-passed a 2-3 putout to Rowdy Tellez while belly flopping onto the infield grass halfway down the first-base line.
? He corralled a one-hopping seed from right fielder Luke Raley to nail Jose Trevino at the plate for the third out of the third inning.
? And he was at the center of a critical interference call on an attempted stolen base by speedster Elly De La Cruz in the eighth, which in effect, yielded a strike-'em-out, throw-'em-out double play that turned into two outs with no runners on instead of one out and a runner on second base.
"That was a big play, no doubt, and that's a play that doesn't get called very often," said Mariners manager Dan Wilson, who caught for both these teams in the 1990s. "I feel like it should get called more, but it really looked like it doesn't need to have contact. It just needs to impede the throw, and it clearly did. A big turnaround for us.¡±