Pirates' Skenes has NL Cy Young award 'locked up'
Brad Thomas and Vaughn Dalzell discuss MLB futures markets, discussing why Pirates' Paul Skenes is the best bet for Cy Young, while Brewers' rookie Jacob Misiorowski is making a strong case for Rookie of the Year.
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Best catching season ever? Inside Cal Raleigh's historic rise
Ask Cal Raleigh how he got to this point, on pace for the greatest season from a catcher in MLB history, and there isn't one all-encompassing answer. The 28-year-old is pulling the ball in the air more than any player in baseball, but he says that's not something he's trying to do. There are subtle differences with his setup compared to previous years: He's standing slightly closer to the plate and has narrowed and closed off his stance more than he had in the past. Likewise, though, those minor adjustments were not done purposefully. "But you can't argue the numbers," Raleigh said when informed of the data. "If they're there, they're there. It might be something I just wasn't thinking of and happened." Whatever role those tweaks might be playing in his 2025 performance, the results are staggering for MLB's home run leader. Raleigh is on pace to shatter the single-season home run record for a catcher, to post the best offensive season ever from any National League or American League catcher (both by wRC+ and OPS+) and to register the most valuable all-around season from a catcher ever. Raleigh is currently tracking toward an 11-fWAR season; no catcher before him has ever had a 10-fWAR season. This did not exactly come out of nowhere — Raleigh, after all, led all catchers in home runs each of the last three seasons — but the upswing this year is monumental. Raleigh went from hitting 12% above league average over the first four years of his career to nearly 100% above league average this season while logging career-best marks in hard-hit, barrel and walk rates to go along with the lowest strikeout and chase rates of his career. So, as "Big Dumper" becomes "Big Thumper," how does Raleigh explain this MVP-caliber first-half run? Mostly, he points to the consistency in his preparation, the knowledge he has gained and the advice he has received over parts of four big-league seasons, which have helped mold his perspective and approach at the plate. Raleigh feels fortunate now to have hitting coaches in Edgar Martinez and Kevin Seitzer who have played the game before, but he also attributes his career year to players and coaches no longer with the club. In brief stints in Seattle, veteran infielder Justin Turner and former bench coach and offensive coordinator Brant Brown were among those who made a considerable impact on him. Turner only played in 48 games with the Mariners in the second half of last season, but the way he watched the game and studied pitchers stuck with Raleigh. "It's not necessarily something physical or the swing, but just a guy who knew how to talk baseball, knew how to talk through situations to make them a lot simpler and just really kind of helped clear my mind a lot when you have those tough situations and tough times in the game," Raleigh said. "I love that guy." Brown, meanwhile, was hired by the Mariners in the winter of 2023 and fired at the end of May 2024 — but not before leaving an imprint on Raleigh, who credits Brown's teachings for putting him on the right path as a right-handed hitter. Raleigh's 93 home runs prior to this year were the most through a catcher's first four seasons in MLB history, but 73 of those homers came hitting left-handed. Entering the 2025 season, Raleigh had never slugged above .450 as a right-handed hitter. This year, he's slugging .736 as a righty with an OPS over 1.000 from each side of the plate. Part of that right-handed outburst, Raleigh believes, is simply getting more reps. "It was hard when your off days are coming with the lefties on the mound," Raleigh said. "It's hard enough as it is because you don't see a lot of lefties in general. You can go a whole week or whatever it is. It takes time to keep each side crisp." But he also made that area of his game a priority in the winter before the 2024 season. He wanted to make opponents think twice about bringing in a lefty to face him in a high-leverage spot the way they had in the past. That's where Brown, who's now the hitting coach for the St. Louis Cardinals, stepped in. "He kind of helped me realize, 'You're not the same guy from both sides of the plate,'" Raleigh said. "Sometimes you are, sometimes you're not, and sometimes you've got to feel some different things from the right side versus the left side. He just spent a lot of time with me in the offseason, which I really appreciated." As recently as the 2022 season, Raleigh was optioned down to Triple-A Tacoma, unable to sustain the consistency that is now making him the lynchpin of the Mariners' offense. Three years later, he is outhomering Aaron Judge, outslugging Shohei Ohtani and the only switch-hitter at any position in MLB history to record at least 30 home runs before the break. He reached that milestone number in just 75 games, the fastest since Barry Bonds and Luis Gonzalez in 2001. Still, he isn't allowing himself to smell the roses yet. "You appreciate it, you do," Raleigh said earlier this month when I asked him if he has taken any time to savor what he's doing. "But at the same time, I know the first thing in this sport is winning games and this team. And after that, it's about me keeping my head down knowing it is a long season, a full 162, and I've got to keep going and keep that consistent approach and do that every day. I know it's a boring answer." Cliché or not, though, Raleigh, who has caught more innings than any player over the last three seasons, knows what he's talking about. On June 6, he strolled through the visiting clubhouse at Angel Stadium wearing a dark Seattle T-shirt that read "availability" on the back. The ensemble was appropriate. Raleigh's power numbers are extraordinary for a player at any position, let alone a catching ironman. Raleigh has played in 77 of the Mariners' 78 games and made 76 starts, including 59 behind the plate. He was given a start off on May 6. That night, he drove in the winning runs as a pinch-hitter in the ninth. In the first year of a six-year, $105 million extension, "Big Dumper" is backing up his team's belief. "It's such a special person to have," 26-year-old pitcher Emerson Hancock said. "For him to have the knowledge he does behind the plate, it allows me to go out there and fully trust him. It starts with planning, knowing what you want to do when you go into the game. And when you get into a big situation, I know that I can lean on him. I know he's thinking about, 'This is what we want to do, this is how we want to attack.' And I think another thing, he does really, really good mound visits as well to settle you down: 'Think about this situation, think about what you want to throw here.'" The mental and physical toll of playing the most grueling position in the field does not appear to be wearing on Raleigh, who on Monday night received "MVP" chants on the road at Target Field after launching his 32nd home run of the season. It was his sixth home run in a six-game span. That performance came after a four-homer weekend — two apiece from the left and right side of the plate — while a heat wave enveloped Wrigley Field. In the process, Raleigh passed Johnny Bench for the most home runs by a catcher before the All-Star break. "He was good lefty, then he got good righty, and then he got better defensively," teammate Dylan Moore said. "It's one of those things where I feel like he's worked his a** off, and it's not a surprise to me. I've seen what he's done week in and week out, year in and year out, so, we're super glad to have him, obviously." Salvador Perez holds the record for the most home runs by a primary catcher in a season with 48; Raleigh is on pace for 67, a number only Bonds (73 in 2001) and Mark McGwire (70 in 1998) have reached before. It might be ludicrous to expect Raleigh to maintain this level of play, but despite the taxing nature of his position, he is not prone to second-half dropoffs. Raleigh has produced better results after the break every season of his career, a testament to the strength he maintains through the course of a season. "Sometimes you do have to cut the volume back in the sense of, you can't go out and take 100 swings every day," Raleigh explained. "You've got to learn to take those days and trust mentally you're going to be in a good spot and prepared rather than feel like you have to do a bunch of stuff to be prepared. That comes with experience and time and learning and talking to guys, so yeah, it's just those last two months of the season really make a difference in kind of how guys do. Took a while to learn that, but it's just knowing the right balance of rest and staying on top of things." For now, 18 games still remain before the end of the first half and what will certainly be his first All-Star appearance. If he hits three more home runs in that time, he will tie Ken Griffey Jr.'s franchise record for the most home runs in the first half of a season. It's a remarkable rise for Raleigh, whose elite combination of power and defense put him in the conversation among the best players at his position in the sport entering this year. Now on pace for the best season from a catcher in MLB history — and one of the best seasons for any player at any position — there's no question where he stands in that pecking order. "We obviously see it every day, so we know how good he is," Moore said. "He's No. 1 in my book." Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on X at @RowanKavner.
