Cal Raleigh Ties, Breaks Bench's Record For Catcher Homers Before All-Star Break
Mariners' catcher Cal Raleigh is having a truly great season. The switch-hitting slugger went deep twice against the Cubs on Friday at Wrigley Field, for home runs 28 and 29 of the 2025 season, allowing him to tie and then pass Hall of Famer Johnny Bench's record for homers by a catcher before the All-Star break.
The first blast came in the top of the first inning, a solo shot with two outs to put the Mariners up 1-0. That tied Bench's mark, set in 1970 in what would be the first of two MVP-winning seasons for the Reds' star. It took Bench 87 games to go deep 28 times, but Raleigh managed the feat in his 73rd game of the season. And it took just a few innings more for Big Dumper to set a new benchmark with his 29th dinger of the year.
That's not all, however. Raleigh came into Friday's game as MLB's home run leader at any position: having 29 puts him three up on Aaron Judge, four up on Shohei Ohtani, and six ahead of Kyle Schwarber. That he hit two also added to another chase, which is that of the most multi-homer games in a single season by a catcher. Per MLB's Sarah Langs , Raleigh now has six of them in 2025, tying him with Mike Piazza's 1995 with the Dodgers for the second-most all-time, behind only Javy Lopez's 2003 with the Braves, when he went yard multiple times per game on eight occasions.
If Raleigh makes it to 30 homers, it will be the third 30-homer season of his career, which would be the fourth-most ever by any primary catcher, behind Mike Piazza (nine times), Bench (four times) and Roy Campanella (also four). Raleigh is 28 years old, and in his fourth full season in the majors — it's not difficult to imagine him, conservatively, ending up in second place on that list.
Longevity is rarely the name of the game behind the plate, however, which is one reason why Piazza's career was as special as it was — he's the all-time leader in home runs as a catcher with 399, with 427 long balls in all. Prognosticating beyond the next few years with a catcher is tricky, at best.
For now, however, Raleigh has already made history as a backstop, and has a few weeks' worth of games left to pad that total, too. The next mark in sight, beyond the multi-homer one? Salvador Perez's single-season home run record for catchers of 48, set in 2021.
Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account , and follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily! FOLLOW Follow your favorites to personalize your FOX Sports experience Cal Raleigh Seattle Mariners
recommended
Get more from Major League Baseball Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Washington Post
14 minutes ago
- Washington Post
Springs leads Athletics to 5-1 win over Guardians
WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Jeffrey Springs allowed three hits in a season-high 7 1/3 innings, rookie Nick Kurtz homered for a third straight game and the Athletics beat the Cleveland Guardians 5-1 on Friday night. Springs (6-5) struck out six and walked one, throwing 104 pitches for his first win since May 13. He left with a 4-1 lead after giving up Angel Martínez's homer.
Associated Press
20 minutes ago
- Associated Press
Springs leads Athletics to 5-1 win over Guardians
WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Jeffrey Springs allowed three hits in a season-high 7 1/3 innings, rookie Nick Kurtz homered for a third straight game and the Athletics beat the Cleveland Guardians 5-1 on Friday night. Springs (6-5) struck out six and walked one, throwing 104 pitches for his first win since May 13. He left with a 4-1 lead after giving up Angel Martínez's homer. Kurtz followed a two-out single by Brent Rooker with his 10th home run — a 406-foot shot to left-center field — to give the Athletics the lead against Guardians starter Tanner Bibee (4-7). Tyler Soderstrom singled leading off the second and two straight fielding errors by José Ramírez at third loaded the bases. Lawrence Butler singled for a 3-0 lead. Wilson had a two-out RBI single for a 4-0 lead in the seventh. Soderstrom singled with two outs in the eighth, stole his fifth base and scored on Luis Urías' single for the final run. Michael Kelly got the final two outs in the eighth and Mason Miller pitched the ninth, closing out the four-hitter with help from another dazzling catch by Denzel Clarke. Bibee allowed five runs — four earned — on 11 hits with season highs of eight innings and 10 strikeouts. The Athletics have won six of their last eight. Key moment Cleveland never recovered after Kurtz homered for the fifth time in his last six games and the ninth time in his last 15. Key stat Kurtz, who played his first game on April 23, is the only player to hit four home runs in the ninth inning or later in a five-game span of a single season. He is one of five players age 22 or younger to hit two walk-off homers in a calendar month. Up next Guardians RHP L.L. Ortiz (3-8, 4.64 ERA) starts Saturday opposite Athletics RHP Mitch Spence (2-1, 3.50). ___ AP MLB:
New York Post
21 minutes ago
- New York Post
Aaron Judge looks like Superman again as he busts out of his Yankees slump
Access the Yankees beat like never before Join Post Sports+ for exciting subscriber-only features, including real-time texting with Greg Joyce about the inside buzz on the Yankees. Try it free That was neither a bird nor a plane sailing over the right-field wall Friday night. It was Aaron Judge's first home run in a week, and it came amid a three-hit resurgence — on his Superman bobblehead night — despite the Yankees falling 5-3 to the Orioles at the Stadium. Judge again showed signs of snapping what had been a 3-for-27 skid with three hits and an intentional walk — including his 27th home run of the season — in his first four plate appearances before striking out in the ninth. 'I liked his at-bats tonight,' Aaron Boone said after the game. 'I thought he made a little adjustment with his hands. 'Sometimes you are just a little late, get into a spot and get into that really strong position to where now you're getting your good swing off, where you're through the zone a lot. So it looked to me like a little adjustment with his hands. And I thought he put a lot of good swings tonight.' No. 99 always has served as kryptonite for the Orioles. His 48 homers in 111 career games against Baltimore represent the most by any MLB player against any opponent since Judge's 2016 debut. 'I'm making adjustments every day. There's so many that I can't really narrow one,' said Judge, who claimed he still hadn't seen the Superman bobblehead. 'They have a great pitching staff, so it's about being ready, especially in that at-bat. I took a couple of heaters that I could've done some damage on. … So I was really trying to lock it in and trying to make something happen there.' The pinstriped captain had struck out 20 times in his previous 10 games to sink his batting average from .396 on June 10 to .366 entering this three-game set against the O's. Aaron Judge belts a solo homer in the third inning of the Yankees' 5-3 loss to the Orioles on June 20, 2025. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post After contributing a single to center as the Yanks scored twice in the bottom of the first to match Baltimore's two runs in the top half against Max Fried, Judge led off the third with an opposite-field homer to right on a 2-2 fastball from Orioles starter Tomoyuki Sugano. It marked the first time Judge has gone deep since his ninth-inning blast against Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet last Friday at Fenway Park. Orioles manager Tony Mansolino ordered Judge walked intentionally with first base open and two outs in the fourth. Aaron Judge rips a single during the first inning of the Yankees' loss to the Orioles. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post Judge also stroked a two-out single to left in the sixth, but the Yankees failed to score in either frame. The two-time MVP struck out against Orioles closer Félix Bautista for the second out of a scoreless ninth, as the Yanks lost for the seventh time in eight games. 'He's a tough at-bat,' Judge said. 'He runs it up to 100 miles an hour with that splitter combo. It's not a fun at-bat, but that's who you want to face when the game's on the line. You want to go up against the best…. He got us tonight, but I think we'll definitely see him again [this weekend].'
