Cal Raleigh has gone deep 7 times in his last 10 games — and the most recent one cleared the Green Monster at Fenway Park. The Seattle Mariners catcher hit his 20th home run of the season on August 31, driving a 95 mph sinker from reliever Erik Miller into the Boston night, and in doing so crossed a threshold that only one catcher in MLB history had ever crossed before him: Mike Piazza.
The Home Run That Closes an Improbable Arc
Earlier in August, Raleigh was batting .167. He had strung together 43 consecutive at-bats without a hit — the kind of slump that gets analysts using words like «crisis.» Then something shifted.
On August 24, Raleigh launched three home runs in a 9-2 win over the Philadelphia Phillies at T-Mobile Park — the first three-homer game of his career. The very next day, he went deep again on his first at-bat against Aaron Nola, giving him four home runs in four consecutive at-bats and tying the franchise record Mike Cameron had set on May 2, 2002.
The number behind the resurrection lives in Statcast: Raleigh’s average exit velocity climbed to 93.3 mph in August, up from 88.4 mph before that month. Nearly five miles per hour of difference. This wasn’t luck — it was a real mechanical adjustment that brought back the contact ability that made him famous.
Only the Second Catcher in MLB History to Do This
The Fenway blast wasn’t just home run No. 20. MLB.com statistician Sarah Langs documented what it means in historical context: Raleigh became the second catcher in major league history with five seasons of 20 or more home runs in his first six years in the league. The first to do it was Mike Piazza.
The context makes it even more remarkable. Raleigh reached that mark after batting below .200 for much of the year. In 2025, he had led all of MLB with 60 home runs, shattering the all-time catcher record (Salvador Pérez, 48), the switch-hitter record (Mickey Mantle, 54), and the Mariners franchise record (Ken Griffey Jr., 56). The 2026 regression was steep and widely discussed. This August tear reframes the whole conversation.
Seattle won the game 8-7 and snapped a four-game losing streak. The Mariners entered Fenway at 64-73, five games back of the final AL Wild Card spot — a tough gap to close, but the baseball Raleigh is playing right now is the strongest argument Seattle has for trying.
What to Watch the Rest of the Way
With his exit velocity back where it belongs and his swing in order, the real question is how many more home runs Raleigh can pile up in September. Seven in 10 games is a pace that, if it holds, would push him close to 30 for the season from a point where reaching 20 looked uncertain.
There’s a six-year, $105 million contract backing Seattle’s bet on him through 2030. The first half of the year raised questions. The second half, so far, is answering them with hard numbers.
