Cal Raleigh stands alone.
And it’s not just on the catcher home run leaderboard, where the Seattle Mariners’ superstar affectionately known as Big Dumper has passed Salvador Perez for the most single-season home runs by a catcher ever, now at 49 and counting.
It’s also because of the way Raleigh did it.
All season long, Raleigh’s home runs have come in bunches. Sunday marked his ninth multi-homer game of the season.
And no one, in the history of the Seattle Mariners or of MLB switch-hitters, has ever done that.
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MLB Network’s Sarah Langs provides us with these two remarkable statistics:
- Cal Raleigh has now had more multi-homer games in this season than any player in Seattle Mariners history, with his 9 breaking Ken Griffey Jr.’s previous mark of 8
- Cal Raleigh has now had more multi-homer games in this season than any switch-hitter in MLB history, with his 9 breaking Mickey Mantle’s previous mark of 8
Yeah, just two of the greatest players in baseball history, surpassed by Raleigh.
This season has been so magical, and now Raleigh is closing in on (a) 50 home runs and (b) Mantle’s record of 54 home runs in a season atop the switch-hitter charts.
At this point, you wouldn’t bet against Raleigh getting to both of those marks.
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He was always a powerful hitter, but this year, it’s been on a whole new level. And not only has it captured the Pacific Northwest, but all of baseball is watching what the Big Dumper is doing.
He’s also got the Mariners in the thick of the playoff race, and with a powerful lineup and a strong rotation, they truly believe they can make noise in the postseason.
It all starts with Cal Raleigh, in the midst of the greatest home run hitting season a catcher has ever had.
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