Seattle’s Cal Raleigh — better known by the catchy nickname “Big Dumper” — has lived up to the moniker, dropping baseball into the outfield seats all over the big leagues this season.
Manager Dan Wilson has been in awe of his talents.
“That’s what you get from Cal,” Wilson said. “Night in, night out, blocking balls, calling the game, leading a pitching staff, throwing runners out — that’s what Cal does and he does it very well.”
Oh … wait a second. Wilson obviously wasn’t taking about Raleigh’s prodigious power — he’s talking about how the 28-year-old handles the most demanding defensive position on the baseball field: Catcher.
Raleigh has smashed 42 homers this season, putting him on pace for 60, with a chance to catch Aaron Judge’s American League record of 62. That would be fun to watch under any circumstance. The fact that the All-Star and Home Run Derby champion is also responsible for guiding the Mariners’ pitching staff on most nights makes it even more impressive.
Seattle is currently in the thick of the American League playoff race with a 60-53 record, and the Mariners are relying on Raleigh’s bat and his brain to try and make the playoffs for just the third time since 2001.
There’s the mental side of the job — meetings, film study, calling pitches — but there’s also the wear and tear of the physical side. The 2024 Gold Glove winner is also squatting, handling the run game, taking painful foul tips off all parts of his body, putting his 6-foot-2, 235-pound frame through the ringer four or five nights a week.
All while hitting those homers.
Catching is demanding and can wear on power hitters
The fact that it took Raleigh a few years in the big leagues to emerge as a true superstar — this is his fourth full season with the Mariners — isn’t surprising. The learning curve for young catchers can be severe and the defensive part of the job takes precedence. There’s a long list of backstops who couldn’t hit a lick yet carved out long MLB careers.
Raleigh is a man of many talents and his power was always evident. He hit 27 homers in 2022, 30 in 2023 and 34 last season. Now he’s on pace for 50 long balls and maybe more. There are only five other players in big league history who have hit at least 40 homers while primarily playing catcher: Salvador Perez, Johnny Bench (twice), Roy Campanella, Todd Hundley and Mike Piazza (twice). Bench, Campanella and Piazza are Hall of Famers.
It’s evidence of a player at the top of his game — and one who has come through plenty of experience.
“I don’t think I’m trying any harder or doing any more than I have in the past,” Raleigh said. “Maybe a little more focused on the right things, and not constantly trying to tweak or change something that I have been in the past. So, I think that’s been the biggest part to the success, and just trying to keep that consistent and steady.”
Wilson was more direct, putting into perspective what Raleigh has accomplished through the first four months of the season.
“It’s pretty staggering,” Wilson said.
Raleigh’s big numbers are part of an offensive surge for MLB catchers: Will Smith, Hunter Goodman, Logan O’Hoppe, Shea Langeliers, Alejandro Kirk, Salvador Perez and William Contreras are among roughly a dozen at the position who are more than holding their own at the plate.
Veteran catcher Carson Kelly is on pace to have his best offensive season in the big leagues at 31, batting .272 with 13 homers and 36 RBIs for the Chicago Cubs. He’s been in the big leagues for 10 years and said the balance between offense and defense is tough for young players.
“It’s almost like you’re drinking from a firehose with how much information you have,” Kelly said. “And I think, as you see catchers, as the years go on, you get smarter.
“You get smarter in your routines. and you’re able to focus on the little details,” he continued. “When you get called up as a young guy, there’s so much going on. And as the years go by and as the days go by, you get more comfortable. ‘OK, I know this, I know that, how do I really funnel this down into a couple points?’
“I think that’s, you know, when you see catchers kind of take off.”
Some adjustments are helping catchers stay fresh
One major factor for the increased offensive production for catchers could be the one-knee down defensive stance that’s been adopted by nearly every MLB catcher over the past five years.
The argument for the stance is its helpful for defensive reasons, including framing pitches on the corners.
But there’s also the added benefit that it’s a little easier on the knees than squatting a couple hundred times per game.
“A hundred percent,” said Goodman, the Rockies primary catcher who is hitting .279 with 20 homers. “You think about back in the day when everybody was squatting … being in a squat for that long can be can be hard on your legs. Getting on a knee gives your legs a little bit of rest for sure.”
Statistical trends suggest he has a point. Catchers have accounted for 12.2% of all MLB homers this season, making a slow climb from 10% in 2018.
Raleigh’s been the best of the bunch and fans — along with his catching peers — are noticing.
“It just seems like on both sides of the ball, when he’s behind the plate he’s really focused on his pitchers and calling a good game and all the things that a catching position entails, and then when he comes up to the plate, he can do damage,” Kelly said.
