Cal

Raleigh

There’s no way to sugarcoat Raleigh’s persistent struggles after breaking nearly every single-season offensive record for a catcher during last year’s 60-homer effort. The 29-year-old slugger finishes with a calamitous .182/.296/.368 slash line with 49 runs scored, 23 homers, 69 RBI and two steals in 126 games. It feels inevitable that there will be some sort of explanation provided by Raleigh or the club at some point in the offseason because he never seemed right from the World Baseball Classic through the end of the year.

It looks to be just a routine breather for Raleigh as we head into the final weekend of the regular season. Jhonny Pereda will start in his place behind the dish and will bat seventh against Angels’ southpaw Reid Detmers. Expect to see Raleigh back behind the dish on Saturday.

Raleigh’s home run was his 23rd of the season. He hit a two-run shot off Jose Quintana in the first inning. Raleigh’s home run, which was reminiscent of his 2025 season, traveled 459 feet and had an exit velocity of 111.7 mph. One year after challenging Aaron Judge for the AL MVP award, he’s hitting .184 with a .673 OPS and 68 RBI this year.

Raleigh drove in runs with a sac fly in the first, a double in the fifth and a single in the sixth. He has 22 RBI in his last 23 games.

Raleigh’s homer off Reid Detmers and J.P. Crawford’s solo hot versus Blake Weiman accounted for all of the Mariners’ runs tonight. Raleigh now has 22 homers, 10 of which have come in his last 26 games.

Raleigh missed out on a two-run homer in the first today because the wind pushed the ball foul. He went on to strike out, but he did come through later. He’s hit in eight straight games, raising his average from .165 to .183.

Raleigh drew a walk as well, and scored three runs. He torched a homer off Kade Morris to tie the game at 5-5 in the third inning, and it’s the 21st roundtripper of the season for the backstop. There’s nothing that he can do to call this a quality season over the final three weeks, but this is still nice to see for those who are considering using a draft pick on Raleigh in 2027.

Despite going 2-for-4 with a walk and a home run on Tuesday, Montes will sit against a left-handed pitcher. It’s not a surprise, but is good confirmation that he is going to be in a strong-side platoon role. Taylor Ward will play right field and Dominic Canzone will DH with Cal Raleigh also getting a day off.

Raleigh is certainly making things up in the power department. He took Jose Soriano deep for a solo homer in the second inning to put the Mariners on the board. The home run was his sixth in his last eight games. The 29-year-old slugger is up to 19 homers and 53 RBI while slashing .169/.288/.350 across 424 plate appearances.

After crushing three homers in Monday’s game against the Phillies, Raleigh kept it going on Tuesday, taking Aaron Nola deep for a solo blast to lead off the second inning. He’d get pitched around through the game, drawing a pair of walks. The 29-year-old slugger is up to 18 homers and 52 RBI while slashing .169/.286/.346 across 412 plate appearances.