Cal

Raleigh

Raleigh will get a break Sunday with Mitch Garver serving as George Kirby’s personal backstop again. Mitch Haniger will be the designated hitter Sunday with Luke Raley sitting against southpaw Andrew Heaney.

Raleigh knocked a base hit in the third inning to score Josh Rojas to put the Mariners on the board. He later added a double in the fifth for his second hit of the day. The 27-year-old catcher is slashing .216/.305/.433 with 30 homers and 92 RBI across 557 plate appearances.

We were going to look it up ourselves, but we’ll take the Mariners PR department’s word for it that Raleigh is the 12th catcher in MLB history with multiple 30-homer seasons. He has a really good chance of joining Mike Piazza (nine times), Johnny Bench (four times) and Roy Campanella (four times) as the only three-time members of the club. Gary Sánchez, believe it or not, is the only other active catcher with two such seasons. Salvador Pérez might get there this year, depending on what standard is being used (he has 26 homers, 13 of them as a catcher). Pérez had 48 homers in 2021, but his next highest season total is 27.

The steal is the sixth of the season, and that’s probably six more than fantasy managers were expecting. They were expecting roundtrippers, and the man they call Big Dumper now has 29 of them along with 87 RBI, as he also drove in a run with a sac fly. The average category is one he’s not going to help in, but the power category is something Raleigh should help in for the foreseeable future.

Raleigh got the Mariners going with his first inning home run off Jake Woodford and set the tone for what would develop into a rout. The man known as “Big Dumper” is up to 27 home runs on the year, five more than any other catcher, with 78 RBI.

Raleigh has been dealing with a ton of bumps and bruises that have accumulated over the course of the year, so he’s getting a break on Saturday afternoon in Pittsburgh with left Bailey Falter on the mound for the Pirates. It’ll be veteran Mitch Garver handling the catching duties.

Raleigh will take a seat even after hitting two homers and driving in five runs against the Mets on Sunday. Mitch Garver has become George Kirby’s personal catcher so he’ll be behind the plate, and Justin Turner will be the designated hitter while Big Dumper rests.

Raleigh tagged Mets’ starter Luis Severino for his 415-foot (108.3-mph EV) two-run blast in the fifth inning that extended the M’s lead to 4-0. He then put the game way out of reach with a 407-foot (106.0-mph EV) three-run shot off of Adam Ottavino in the sixth that made it 10-1. Both of his homers came on the first pitch of their respective at-bats. The 27-year-old backstop also singled and drew a walk in the ballgame, finishing the night 3-for-4. He’s slashing .217/.310/.448 with an impressive 26 homers and 76 RBI on the season.

Raleigh cemented the Mariners win with a two-run single in the seventh inning to make it 6-0. The man they call Big Dumper has now driven in 71 runs to go along with a slash of .214/.305/.432 with 24 homers.

Raleigh drove in the only two runs of the game for Seattle, taking Tarik Skubal deep for a two-run homer in the fourth inning. He nearly gave the Mariners the lead in the eighth, but was robbed of a home run at the center field wall by Parker Meadows. The 27-year-old backstop is slashing .213/.306/.436 with 24 homers, 50 runs scored, 69 RBI, and five steals across 432 plate appearances.