The Catcher Who’s Got It All! ESPN Insider Heaps Praise on Seattle Mariners Star Backstop
The Seattle Mariners will be under a significant amount of scrutiny in 2025. The Mariners missed the playoffs for the 22nd time in 23 years and were one game out of the playoffs for the second season in a row in 2024.
Seattle had a quiet offseason and added veteran infielders Donovan Solano and Jorge Polanco to fill two of the team’s three infield needs. The 2024 regular season and subsequent offseason didn’t play out the way the organization anticipated. But the Mariners have a lot of talented players that can help lead the team back to the postseason.
Seattle has arguably the best starting pitching rotation and the best starting catcher in baseball — Cal Raleigh.
Raleigh is coming off a year where he broke the record for most home runs by a catcher through their first four major league seasons (93). He followed that up by winning the American League Platinum Glove Award. And one MLB insider was extremely complimentary towards Raleigh.
ESPN’s Tim Kurkjian went our own Refuse to Lose podcast and talked extensively about Raleigh.
“He’s really special,” Kurkjian said. “He’s the son of a coach. He has an understanding of the game that a lot of young players don’t have. And when you can find a catcher who switch-hits with power from both sides, that is a rare group to begin with. Then you add in the defense, the throwing arm, the leadership and the baseball IQ — he is a really special player. And he’s also incredibly popular with his teammates, especially the pitchers, because they love to work with him. And he’s really popular, as everyone knows, in Seattle. Which is great also. So he’s a keeper. When you can find a switch-hitting catcher with power like that, and has all the other attributes, you hang on to him as long as you can.”
In addition to the aforementioned MLB record Raleigh set, he also set the franchise mark for home runs by a catcher in a single season (34), RBIs by a catcher in a single season (100) and home runs by a player through their first four seasons with the team (93). He finished 2024 with a .220 average with his 34 home runs and 100 RBIs.
Raleigh caught more innings than any other catcher in 2024. And the Mariners will depend on his offense and defense heavily in 2025.
