Cal Raleigh’s season is officially record-breaking. On Sunday against the Athletics (ATH-SEA GameTracker), the Seattle Mariners star slugged his 48th and record-setting 49th home run of 2025, the most ever for a catcher in a single season. The Mariners still have 30 games remaining this year, too, which means Raleigh has plenty of time to add to his total.
Here is Raleigh’s record-setting homer off A’s lefty Jacob Lopez:
That’s a 412-footer off a first-pitch changeup from Lopez, and for Raleigh that’s history.
“When he finds the barrel, it’s a rocket somewhere,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said when Raleigh hit his 44th home run earlier this month (via MLB.com). “He’s seeing it well and has a really good approach up there right now.”
Only nine times in baseball history has a catcher hit 40 home runs in a season. Here’s the leaderboard:
- Cal Raleigh, 2025: 49 and counting
- Salvador Perez, 2021: 48
- Johnny Bench, 1970: 45
- Javy Lopez, 2003: 43
- Roy Campanella, 1953: 41
- Todd Hundley, 1996: 41
- Johnny Bench, 1972: 40
- Mike Piazza, 1997: 40
- Mike Piazza, 1999: 40
Lopez holds the record with 42 home runs while playing the catcher position. Raleigh has hit 40 of his 49 home runs as a catcher, including Sunday’s pair, and the other nine as a DH. It is true he has benefited from the DH position in a way Bench, Lopez, Piazza, and others did not. It is also true the catcher position is more demanding than ever given the information heaped on them, plus it’s simply harder to hit nowadays because pitchers are so nasty. Raleigh will see three or four different guys a night for matchup reasons, a challenge someone like Bench never had.
Raleigh, 28, was a third-round pick by the Mariners in 2018. This year’s power display has not come out of nowhere, though it clearly has improved since his younger days. Raleigh hit 27 home runs in 2022, his first full MLB season, then slugged 30 homers in 2023 and 34 in 2024. Including his 47-game debut in 2021, Raleigh’s 93 home runs from 2021-24 were the most ever for a catcher in his first four big-league seasons.
In addition to top-of-the-line power production, Raleigh is also a very strong defender behind the plate. He rates as a elite pitch-framer and thrower, and he’s even stolen 14 bases this season. He’s been an all-around impact player. With 7.0 FanGraphs WAR coming into Sunday, Raleigh ranks second among all players behind only Aaron Judge (7.4 WAR).
The Mariners are threatening the Houston Astros in the AL West and are also in third wild-card position. Raleigh’s historic performance combined with the team’s place in the standings, as well as Judge’s New York Yankees crashing hard the last two months, figures to generate plenty of MVP support for Raleigh. It will be well deserved.
Back in spring training, the Mariners wisely signed Raleigh to a six-year contract extension worth $105 million. That contract looked like a smart move at the time and it is a downright bargain now. The Mariners have Raleigh signed affordably through 2030 with an option for 2031.