Cal Raleigh

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Cal Raleigh
Seattle Mariners – No. 29
Catcher
Born: (1996-11-26) November 26, 1996 (age 26)
Cullowhee, North Carolina
Bats: Switch
Throws: Right
MLB debut
July 11, 2021, for the Seattle Mariners
MLB statistics
(through 2022 season)
Batting average.202
Home runs29
Runs batted in76
Teams

Caleb John Raleigh (born November 26, 1996) is an American professional baseball catcher for the Seattle Mariners of Major League Baseball (MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2021. In his second year in the Majors, he hit a walk-off home run to end the Mariners' 21-year playoff drought. His nickname is Big Dumper.[1]

Amateur career

Raleigh attended Smoky Mountain High School in Sylva, North Carolina, and played college baseball at Florida State University.[2][3] In 2016, he played collegiate summer baseball with the Harwich Mariners of the Cape Cod Baseball League.[4] In 2018, his junior year at FSU, he slashed .326/.447/.583 with 13 home runs and 54 RBIs over 62 games.[5] After the season, he was drafted by the Seattle Mariners in the third round of the 2018 Major League Baseball draft.[6]

Professional career

Minor leagues

Raleigh made his professional debut with the Low-A Everett AquaSox, batting .288 with eight home runs and 29 RBIs in 38 games. He started 2019 with the High-A Modesto Nuts, with whom he was named a California League All-Star,[7] before being promoted to the Double-A Arkansas Travelers.[8] Over 121 games between the two clubs, Raleigh slashed .251/.323/.497 with 29 home runs and 82 RBIs.

Raleigh did not play in a game in 2020 due to the cancellation of the minor league season because of the COVID-19 pandemic.[9] To begin the 2021 season, he was assigned to the Triple-A Tacoma Rainiers, and hit .324/.377/.608 with 9 home runs and 36 RBI in 44 games.[10]

Seattle Mariners

On July 11, 2021, Raleigh was selected to the 40-man roster and promoted to the major leagues for the first time.[11] He made his MLB debut on July 11, starting at catcher in a game against the Los Angeles Angels, going 0–4 with two strikeouts. Raleigh recorded his first career hits and RBIs on July 20 in a win against the Colorado Rockies. On July 23, Raleigh hit his first career home run, a two-run shot off Oakland Athletics starter Frankie Montas.[12] He finished the 2021 season with a .180/.223/.309 slash line, 25 hits, 12 doubles, 2 home runs, 13 RBIs and 52 strikeouts, all in 47 games.

Raleigh began the 2022 season on the major league roster but remained with Tacoma. He then returned to the Mariners on May 7 to replace injured catcher Tom Murphy and became a major offensive talent to help the team to seven wins in ten games by June.[13][14] On September 30, Raleigh hit a pinch-hit, walk-off home run against the Oakland Athletics to clinch the Mariners' first playoff trip since their 2001 season, ending the longest active playoff drought amongst the four major North American sports leagues.[15] Raleigh had 27 home runs by the end of the season, leading all catchers in MLB and setting a new Mariners record.[16][17]

References

  1. ^ Stone, Larry (September 30, 2022). "As if these Mariners could clinch a playoff berth with anything other than dramatics". The Seattle Times. Retrieved October 1, 2022.
  2. ^ "Florida State's Cal Raleigh chasing improvement not pitches". Tallahassee.com. Retrieved December 13, 2020.
  3. ^ "Ex-Smoky Mountain star Cal Raleigh is a hot MLB draft prospect". Citizen-times.com. Retrieved December 13, 2020.
  4. ^ "#31 Cal Raleigh - Profile". pointstreak.com. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
  5. ^ "Meet the Seattle Mariners' 2018 draft selections". Kitsapsun.com. June 5, 2018. Retrieved December 13, 2020.
  6. ^ "Smoky Mountain's Cal Raleigh drafted by the Mariners". Citizen-times.com. Retrieved December 13, 2020.
  7. ^ Jenkins, Erin (June 26, 2019). "Raleigh suits up for all-star game | Smoky Mountain". thesylvaherald.com. Retrieved December 13, 2020.
  8. ^ "Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto on Logan Gilbert and Cal Raleigh's promotion to Class AA: 'We're pumped'". The Seattle Times. 15 July 2019. Retrieved December 13, 2020.
  9. ^ "2020 Minor League Season Canceled". mlbtraderumors.com.
  10. ^ "With Tacoma Rainiers, Mariners prospects Jarred Kelenic, Cal Raleigh and Logan Gilbert are so close, yet so far | The Spokesman-Review". www.spokesman.com.
  11. ^ Crabtree-Hannigan, James (July 11, 2021). "Reports: Smoky Mountain alum Cal Raleigh called up by Mariners". Asheville Citizen Times. Retrieved July 11, 2021.
  12. ^ "Mariners' Cal Raleigh: Swats first major-league homer".
  13. ^ Hanson, Scott (June 7, 2022). "It might not be a coincidence that the Mariners and catcher Cal Raleigh are surging at the same time". The Seattle Times. Retrieved October 8, 2022.
  14. ^ Fernandez, Roshan (July 15, 2022). "How Cal Raleigh returned from a stint in the minors to find his offensive groove". The Seattle Times. Retrieved October 8, 2022.
  15. ^ "Raleigh's walk-off homer ends Mariners' long playoff drought". USA Today. Associated Press. Retrieved October 1, 2022.
  16. ^ Gustafson, Brandon (October 1, 2022). "Cal Raleigh's walkoff highlights how important he's become to Mariners". Seattle Sports 710AM. Retrieved October 8, 2022.
  17. ^ "Cal Raleigh Stats". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved 18 October 2022.

External links

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