By Ryan Divish / The Seattle Times
BOSTON — Teams inquired about his availability in the 2019 season, when he smashed 29 homers in his first full minor-league season. The calls continued in midseason of 2021 when the Seattle Mariners were searching for a veteran starter and more offense.
A switch-hitting catcher with power who also understood making pitchers the priority and possessed high-level leadership qualities and a natural intensity was something to be coveted even if he struggled in his initial call-up to the big leagues.
But history wouldn’t repeat itself. The current front office wasn’t going to make the same costly mistake that the Mariners front office of the early ’90s made and ultimately regretted.
Cal Raleigh wasn’t going to be traded for a middle reliever or for any other short-term help.
On Monday night, Raleigh broke out of a 10-game funk in historic fashion, blasting a pair of two-run homers — one from each side of the plate — to lead the Mariners to a 10-1 rout of the Red Sox.
It was the first time he homered from both sides of the plate in his big-league career. He became the first catcher to hit a homer from both sides of the plate in the 112-year history of Fenway Park.
In the first-base dugout, Jason Varitek, now a coach for the Red Sox, stood and watched Raleigh round the bases after his two majestic blasts.
As a kid growing up in North Carolina, Raleigh learned to love the Red Sox from his father, Todd, who was born in Swanton, Vt. And as a switch-hitting catcher, Raleigh loved the ever-intense ‘Tek, who was the team captain in the Red Sox glory years.
Many years before T-Mobile Park was even in the planning stages and an infamous postseason drought was still five years away from starting, Varitek was a talented but unproven prospect in the Mariners farm system.
A college All-American at Georgia Tech, the Mariners selected Varitek with 14th overall pick of the 1994 MLB draft. Represented by Scott Boars, who also represents Raleigh, Varitek didn’t actually sign with the Mariners and start playing until 1995. Thought to be the heir apparent to Dan Wilson, Varitek was putting up decent numbers in Seattle’s farm system and started the 1997 season at Class AAA Tacoma.
On July 31, 1997, former general manager Woody Woodward traded Varitek and Derek Lowe to the Red Sox in exchange for right-handed reliever Heathcliff Slocumb.
The trade will go down as one of the worst in Mariners history.
Will Raleigh help forget that mistake of the past?
In 10 games played following his two-homer game against the Blue Jays, Raleigh had a .156/.270/.188 slash line with five hits (one double and four singles) in 37 plate appearances. He hadn’t drive in a run and had struck out 10 times with five walks.
Facing one of the top offenses in baseball, featuring a slew of left-handed hitters, Seattle starter George Kirby did what he always does — throw lots of strikes with the belief his stuff is better than the hitters he was facing.
Kirby pitched 6 2/3 innings, allowing one run and holding the Red Sox scoreless over the first five innings. He gave up eight hits, issued a rare walk and struck out six batters to improve to 5-2 on the season.
It was Kirby’s seventh consecutive quality start (six-plus innings pitched, three runs or fewer allowed), which is one of the longest current streak in Major League Baseball. Over that stretch, he’s 5-1 with a 1.91 earned-run average, allowing 10 earned runs in 47 innings pitched with three walks and 36 strikeouts. Kirby has struck out 41 batters with four walks in 51 1/3 innings this season.
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