Raleigh breaks record for HRs by switch-hitting catcher with No. 42

SEATTLE -- After the Mariners’ major moves ahead of the Trade Deadline, Cal Raleigh doesn’t necessarily have to be the guy in Seattle’s new-look lineup. But perhaps he still will be as his historic season continues.

Raleigh reached the record books again Thursday night when he crushed his 42nd homer in the fifth inning of Seattle’s 6-0 win over Texas, surpassing Todd Hundley (with the Mets in 1996) for the most by a switch-hitting catcher in a single season in MLB history.

Raleigh is inching closer to the overall record for homers by a catcher in a single season -- 48 by the Royals’ Salvador Perez in 2021 -- and remains in striking distance for the American League record of 62, set by Yankees star Aaron Judge in 2022. Judge hit his 42nd of the year on July 31 that season, the same date as Raleigh’s.

The Mariners’ catcher jumped on a 96.3 mph, high-and-in fastball from Kumar Rocker in an 0-1 count and lifted it 364 feet, just narrowly beyond the right-center-field wall at T-Mobile Park, which built upon Seattle’s early lead.

Raleigh also extended his MLB lead atop the home run leaderboard (four more than second-place Shohei Ohtani) and in RBIs (breaking a tie with not-so-new teammate Eugenio Suárez, who has 87).

“He knows how to handle and how to prepare himself,” Suárez said of Raleigh’s growth since they were last teammates in 2023. “It's good to see, and I just wish him the best and keep going -- go for the MVP this year.”

With Suárez and Raleigh reunited, the 2025 Mariners joined the 1961 Yankees (Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle) as just the second team in history with multiple players entering August with at least 35 homers. Suárez led the Mariners with 31 in 2022 and was among the first to greet Raleigh at home plate when he crushed that iconic walk-off homer that ended their two-decades postseason drought.

One of the many smartphone videos that surfaced from Raleigh’s epic All-Star Week in Atlanta was of Suárez giving the catcher a big bear hug, and shouting: “I want to be like Cal! Please! Please! I want to hit all those homers!”

“It's amazing,” Suárez said. “I see it right now, like everything he's doing is hitting a homer. If you make a mistake, he's going to bang it. It's really good. I was watching it on TV, but now I see it on the front lines, which is awesome.”

Speaking of Suárez, he made his highly anticipated return to the Mariners on Thursday -- with multiple ovations -- and even more key, made an immediate impact.

The slugging third baseman sparked Seattle’s scoring after yanking a one-out double down the left-field line in the fourth inning, advanced to third on a flyout then raced home on a wild pitch from Rocker that broke a scoreless tie.

“I feel the love, and I appreciated that so much,” Suárez said. “That was a lot for me and my wife and my daughters, and it feels like I never left.”

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Raleigh carried the Mariners’ offense at times in the first half, but he’s been more boom or bust since the Midsummer Classic, seeing his season OPS drop from 1.005 to .972 going into the day during a stretch where he’d hit three homers but was 9-for-47 (.192) otherwise.

So when Raleigh said on Wednesday night in Sacramento that he thought Seattle’s addition of Suárez could “take some pressure off some guys” because “whether they admit it or not, guys are trying to overcook things,” it’s possible that he was also talking about himself.

Suárez -- and Josh Naylor, arguably the second-best bat moved ahead of the Deadline -- should ease things on everyone.

“Naylor is one of the toughest outs in the league,” Raleigh said. “Getting those two guys is going to be a big add for us. It’s been a fun couple of days seeing us add like that.”

All that said, though, Raleigh did not have the night’s most majestic blast. That belonged to rookie Cole Young, who sent one into the second deck and to the outdoors portion of the Hit It Here Café way beyond right field, just two at-bats before Raleigh went deep. It was the first career homer for the promising second baseman at T-Mobile Park, coming exactly two months after his MLB debut.

The blast left Young’s bat at 113.4 mph, though distance projections were still being examined by Statcast.