Cal

Raleigh

Raleigh knocked a base hit in the first inning, then took the MLB lead in home runs with a grand slam off Walker Buehler in the second inning. He drove in two more runs with a double in the fourth and stole second for his eighth stolen base of the season. The 28-year-old slugger is slashing .266/.374/.624 with 27 home runs and 60 RBI across 310 plate appearances.

It’s a well-earned break for Raleigh, who launched two more round-trippers on Friday night to extend his major league-leading total to 26 home runs through 63 games. The 28-year-old slugging backstop is on pace to easily eclipse the 40-homer mark for the first time in his career. It’ll be Mitch Garver handling the catching duties on Sunday afternoon in his place.

What more can be said about Raleigh’s 2025 campaign? He took Jack Kochanowicz deep in the first inning with a pair of runner on, and he swatted another blast in the ninth off Kenley Jansen. That’s now 26 homers on the year for Raleigh, and he’s opened up a three-homer lead on Shohei Ohtani for the MLB lead. Regression is going to happen, but at this point, it’d be more surprising if Raleigh didn’t have a 40-homer season than if he did.

Raleigh is now up to 24 home runs on the year while slashing .268/.337/.638 and driving in 49 runs. He has been tremendous value for anybody who invested in him as an early-round catcher.

Chris Paddack had baffled the Mariners through 6 1/3 scoreless innings until Raleigh jumped on a first-pitch curveball and crushed a 362-foot (106.9 mph EV) solo homer to right that gave the M’s a 1-0 lead. The 28-year-old slugger finished the afternoon 1-for-4 and is now slashing a terrific .264/.369/.637 with an MLB-leading 23 homers, 45 RBI and six stolen bases in what has been an MVP-caliber start to the season.

Raleigh took a pitch at his eyes and smashed it into the right-field bleachers to turn a 3-2 deficit into a 3-2 game in the fourth off Bailey Ober. That’s his 22nd homer of the season, and it ties him with Shohei Ohtani for the MLB lead. He also walked to improve his slash to a ridiculous .264/.386/.630 with 44 RBI.

Raleigh’s first homer of the game was a three-run bomb that made him the first catcher in MLB history to have 20 homers before the end of May. His next blast was his 21st and gave Seattle a 6-3 lead in the bottom of the eighth. He’s just one homer behind Shohei Ohtani for the MLB lead with Ohtani also smacking two Friday night, and his OPS is now a ridiculous 1.004. There’s obviously some regression for Raleigh, but there’s every reason to believe he’ll remain the best fantasy backstop in the sport.

Raleigh followed Julio Rodríguez in the first inning, going back-to-back with home runs off Mitchell Parker. He later added a second solo homer in the fifth and his 19th of the season. The 28-year-old backstop is hitting .258/.372/.603 with 37 RBI and five steals across 231 plate appearances.

Big Dumper comes through in the clutch. Again. With the score tied at 3-3 after Julio Rodriguez blistered a run-scoring double, Raleigh bombed a homer to right off the normally dominant Bryan Abreu to give Seattle the lead and ultimately the win. That’s now 17 homers for the switch-hitting catcher, and he’s driven in 35 runs with an OPS of .966. If not for that one guy in New York, Raleigh might be the favorite for MVP of the American League.

Every time it looks like Raleigh might be slowing down a little, he does something like this. He had gone 1-for-12 with five strikeouts in his previous three games, but now his OPS is right back up to .954. He’s tied with Aaron Judge for third place in the majors with 16 homers, one behind Shohei Ohtani and Kyle Schwarber.