MINNEAPOLIS — Joe Mauer is the last catcher to win the American League MVP, a fact that was particularly relevant this week with the Seattle Mariners and catcher Cal Raleigh in Minnesota to play the Twins.
The Hall of Famer was voted MVP for a spectacular 2009 season in which he led the league in batting average (.365), on-base percentage (.444) and slugging percentage (.587) while also winning the Gold Glove Award behind the plate. He racked up 8.3 fWAR, most in AL history by a catcher.
Raleigh, who smacked his MLB-leading 32nd homer of the season Monday night against the Twins, has already produced 5.3 fWAR less than halfway through the season, putting him on pace to shatter Buster Posey’s fWAR record for a catcher (9.8 in 2012). Raleigh also has a higher OPS and OPS+ than Mauer had in 2009.
Raleigh was already one of baseball’s premier all-around catchers and most underrated star players before this season, but he’s raised his game several notches this year, hitting .281/.386/.667 with an MLB-best 69 RBIs while starting all but two of the Mariners’ first 78 games.
“Probably one of the more impressive first halves you will ever see in this game,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said.
Power has been Raleigh’s carrying tool since he was Seattle’s third-round pick out of Florida State in 2018, but a career .227 batting average and lots of strikeouts kept him from drawing national attention outside of the team’s push for the 2022 playoffs. (Raleigh’s pinch hit, walkoff homer in Game 156 that year secured the Mariners’ first playoff berth since 2001.) Now, at age 28, he has a career-low strikeout rate and a career-high walk rate.
“I’m just trying to be as consistent as I possibly can,” Raleigh said. “Not trying to do too much and trying to stay with a good routine every day. I’m really focusing more on my approach and what I’m trying to do rather than what pitchers are trying to do to me.”
Mariners legend and Hall of Fame designated hitter Edgar Martinez took an expanded coaching role this season, overseeing the hitting department. Seattle also added Kevin Seitzer to its staff after he spent the past decade as hitting coach of the Atlanta Braves.
“Edgar has been great for everybody here, especially me,” Raleigh said. “Seitzer as well. He had a lot of good years as a hitting coach over with the Braves. They’ve been great for me. Just keeping me on a level every single day. Not getting too high or too low. What they bring is a good approach.”
Raleigh, a switch hitter, entered Tuesday with a 1.019 OPS from the left side and a 1.110 OPS from the right side. And his raw numbers are suppressed by calling one of MLB’s most pitcher-friendly ballparks home: He has a .972 OPS with 14 homers in 39 games in Seattle compared to a 1.122 OPS with 18 homers in 37 games on the road.
Raleigh’s durability at the sport’s most physically demanding position stands out just as much as his offense. He leads the sport in innings caught since 2023. He has taken on more designated hitter duties this year to skip taking full days off.
Raleigh is on pace to join Johnny Bench in 1974 and Joe Torre in 1970 as the only players whose primary position was catcher in MLB history to reach 700 plate appearances in a season, becoming too essential on both sides of the ball for the Mariners to rest him. Not that he’d want to, anyway.
“They pay us extremely well to play,” said Raleigh, who signed a six-year, $105 million extension in March. “So whatever (the Mariners) want to do, I’m always here to play. And plus, I like being out there with the guys every day. So if I’m able to be out there, I want to be out there.
Bench is the last catcher to lead the majors in homers, with 45 in 1970 and 40 in 1972. He was the National League MVP both years. No catcher has ever hit 50 homers. Raleigh is on pace for 67 homers and has blown past Bench’s record of 28 first-half homers by a catcher.
Mitch Garver, who had the best offensive season by a Twins catcher since Mauer when he hit 31 homers and won the Silver Slugger Award in 2019, is now Raleigh’s backup with Seattle. It’s a job involving sporadic starts, but it comes with a front-row seat to the Raleigh Show.
“He’s the heart and soul of this team,” Garver said. “The demand is really high on his body. But he’s shown that he’s able to play every day. He does whatever the team needs him to do. And that’s amazing, because catching is by far the most difficult position. His durability is something special.”
Twins catcher Ryan Jeffers, who has seen regular DH action of late to keep his bat in the lineup, has been keeping a close eye on his fellow backstop’s amazing first half. So close, in fact, that Jeffers was quick to note Raleigh’s biggest numbers have been as a catcher rather than DH.
“Look at his splits — 29 of his homers have come when he’s catching,” Jeffers said on Monday, citing Raleigh’s exact numbers off the top of his head. “He grinds. I’m sure he wants to play every day. But it’s also good to get those breaks as a DH. Hopefully, for his sake, he can keep it going and keep setting records.”
Catchers historically tend to wear down late in seasons, especially when playing as much as Raleigh. However, Raleigh thus far has been immune to that, posting a higher OPS in the second half (.754) than the first half (.725) from 2021-24.
“You do as much as you can over the offseason, strength training, running, conditioning, taking care of your body,” Raleigh said. “Then, on top of that, staying consistent throughout the season. Getting your rest, doing the right things. Try to do the same thing every day, so it becomes a habit. You don’t get anything sneaking up on you, and you’re not surprising your body.”
Twins first baseman Ty France, Raleigh’s teammate in Seattle for 3 1/2 seasons, was asked what stands out beyond Raleigh’s record-setting performance and pointed to the day-to-day responsibilities of a catcher that often go overlooked.
“Cal does a lot of work behind the scenes that no one would typically see,” France said. “For a seven o’clock game, he’s here at noon. Prepping, getting ready, game planning.”
Seattle’s pitching staff has MLB’s third-best ERA since Raleigh became the primary catcher in 2022. During that four-season period, Raleigh has caught the most would-be base stealers (94) in the sport and ranks third in pitch-framing value, a skill that has placed him in the 85th percentile or higher each full season.
There’s no doubt Raleigh is having an MVP-caliber first half, and he seems destined for one of the greatest seasons for a catcher in MLB history. But when it comes to his chances of winning AL MVP, there’s one key difference between Raleigh in 2025 and Mauer in 2009: Aaron Judge.
Judge leads both leagues in batting average (.364), on-base percentage (.464), slugging percentage (.724) and fWAR (6.1). Judge, a two-time MVP, is on pace for an absurd 12.5 fWAR, a mark last matched in 2002 by Barry Bonds.
That there’s a legitimate MVP discussion when Judge, the reigning award winner, has career highs across the board for a first-place New York Yankees team is a credit to Raleigh’s otherworldly performance.
Raleigh is having an all-around catcher first half for the ages. In most seasons, he would be the obvious MVP front-runner. This season, there’s competition pitting the AL’s biggest star — literally and figuratively — against “Big Dumper.”
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