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Cal Raleigh’s follow-up to his stellar 2025 campaign in which he finished as the runner-up to Aaron Judge in the AL MVP voting is not off to a flying start. The Seattle Mariners may be coming off an 8-0 win on Sunday night to split their season-opening series against the Cleveland Guardians, but their star catcher has not come out of the gates strong whatsoever.
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Raleigh only has one hit on the season in 17 at-bats (a single), and he’s struck out an eye-popping 14 times through the first four games of the season, as per Underdog on X. The Mariners’ star catcher is currently hitting .058 on the season, and this is not at all what he envisioned when he entered the season with renewed hopes that he could, perhaps, get over the AL MVP hump and help the Mariners win big in the process.
The good news is that baseball is a team sport, and even with Raleigh’s struggles, the Mariners have helped pick up his slack. On Sunday, it was Brendan Donovan, leadoff hitter, who starred in their shutout victory, driving in three runs while going 2-3 from the plate.
Raleigh will get a chance to right the ship tomorrow night when they take on the New York Yankees at home.
Cal Raleigh will get it right, Mariners fans
John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images
There is nothing conclusive about the first four games of any professional sports league, let alone the MLB regular season in which there are 162 games to be played. Raleigh’s numbers are unsightly, but he did not suddenly forget how to hit overnight.
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The strikeout rate is very alarming, but again, this is a sample size of 17 at-bats. Raleigh currently has a strikeout rate of nearly 70 percent, which is downright horrible and at the same time unsustainable. He should get it right soon enough for the Mariners, knowing how hard he works.
Related: Mariners’ Brendan Donovan divulges how he made Opening Day history vs. Guardians
Related: Mariners’ Cal Raleigh laments not using ABS already in loss to Guardians