ARLINGTON, Texas – Major League Baseball announced today that Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh has been selected to participate in the 2025 Home Run Derby, set for Monday, July 14 at Truist Park in Atlanta, Georgia.
“I’m excited to represent the Mariners and our fanbase at the Derby,” Raleigh said. “It will be extra special for me getting to do it in Atlanta, where I spent a lot of time playing baseball as a kid.”
Raleigh, 28, entered Friday as the Major League leader in home runs with 32. The switch-hitting catcher has hit several history-making home runs during the 2025 season, including becoming the first catcher to reach 30 homers before the All-Star Break and also the first switch-hitter to do so.
His father, Todd Raleigh, is slated to be Raleigh’s pitcher in the event. Todd, who throws right-handed, was the head baseball coach at Western Carolina University (2000-07) and the University of Tennessee (2008-11).
Cal Raleigh will attempt to become the first catcher to win the Home Run Derby, an event that started in 1985.
Raleigh is set to be the eighth different Mariners player to participate in the Home Run Derby, joining Hall of Famers Ken Griffey Jr. (8 times, 1990, 1992-1994, 1997-2000) and Edgar Martinez (2000), along with Jay Buhner (1996), Alex Rodriguez (1998), Bret Boone (2001, 2003), Robinson Canó (2016), and Julio Rodríguez ( 2022, 2023).
Griffey Jr. is the lone Mariners player to win the Derby, doing it a record three times in 1994, ’98 and ’99, while Julio holds the single-round home run record (41) under the current format, set in front of his home crowd at T-Mobile Park in Seattle in 2023.
In 79 games this season, Raleigh is batting .275 with a league-leading 32 home runs and 69 RBI. The 28-year-old catcher has 58 runs scored, 15 doubles, 47 walks and 9 stolen bases, getting on base at a .380 clip, slugging .651 with a 1.031 OPS in 347 plate appearances.
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