Raleigh's MVP resume has underrated aspect

Just about every team the Seattle Mariners have faced this year has allowed a home run to Cal Raleigh.

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Yet the Athletics, who the Mariners play more than every team except their other American League West rivals, nearly made it through all 13 of their games against the M’s without falling victim to one of the Big Dumper’s big blasts.

That changed in a hurry Sunday in the clubs’ final game against each other this season, as Raleigh homered in his first at-bat to tie MLB’s single-season record for catchers, then clubbed No. 49 in his next plate appearance to stand alone as baseball’s greatest home run-hitting catcher in a single season.

The switch-hitting slugger made it to 50 home runs with another blast in Monday’s win over the Padres.

Cal Raleigh continues historic march with home run No. 50

With another home run record under his belt – and more in his sights – the conversation about the AL MVP is starting to shift in Raleigh’s favor, even as Yankees slugger Aaron Judge continues to put up ridiculous offensive numbers.

“Judge still just has such an enormous OPS advantage. I think it could be pretty close. I do think Cal Raleigh is the favorite right now,” ESPN MLB insider Jeff Passan told Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk on Tuesday. “I do think if the vote were taken today, he would win. But we are also coming off his 50th home run.”

Judge’s offensive numbers outside of home runs and RBIs are still well ahead of Raleigh, but Raleigh makes up for a portion of that with the impactful role he has as the club’s every day catcher, which is fairly evident from his Platinum Glove award a season ago. It also shows up in the fact that Raleigh and Judge are tied atop the league with 7.3 fWAR.

The defensive factor is starting to weigh in more now, too, as Judge has been limited to a role as a designated hitter since returning from an elbow injury earlier this month.

Another part of Raleigh’s impact as the catcher is how he helps his pitchers out. Passan feels that’s a hard impact to quantify, but there’s a different aspect of Raleigh’s MVP resume that is being underrated.

“We can’t say if Logan Gilbert goes out in his next start and shoves that it’s directly attributable to Cal Raleigh,” Passan said. “… I think in that situation the best word to describe what he was there is ‘friend,’ and I love the fact that Cal Raleigh is adored in that clubhouse the way he is.

“There are plenty of turds in baseball. Guys who if they were having the kind of year that Cal Raleigh was having, it would be appreciated, but it might not be celebrated.”

Hear the full conversation at this link or in the audio player in this story. Listen to Brock and Salk weekdays from 6-10 a.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.

Raleigh’s MVP resume has underrated aspect

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