SEATTLE -- Cal Raleigh has crushed his way toward home run history in an epic first half of the 2025 season, and now he’ll have the chance to reach another MLB first, hoping to become the only catcher ever to win the T-Mobile Home Run Derby (ESPN).
Indeed, the Mariners backstop announced on Friday that he’ll be competing in the sport’s premier power-hitting event, set for July 14 at Truist Park in Atlanta -- a full-circle venue for Raleigh, given that he grew up just 150 miles away in North Carolina and regularly played in the Atlanta area throughout his youth travel-ball days.
“It's really cool,” Raleigh said. “Obviously, for all my family, it'll be easy for them to get to. And friends have already been texting me and asking if I would do it. So now hopefully I can put their mind at ease a little bit.”
Raleigh’s dad, Todd, will throw to him, and he’s hoping that his younger brother, 15-year-old Todd Jr., will be behind him, catching. Todd Jr., known as “T,” is already taller than Cal at 6-foot-3.
“T” is currently playing travel ball -- in, of all places, the Atlanta suburbs -- with Todd Sr. as his coach while using Cal’s hand-me-down gear.
“As a dad, it doesn't get any better than that. It's all downhill from there,” Todd told MLB.com by phone. “To be able to be there with him on the field and have T involved, I mean, it's kind of like one of those Hallmark moments.”
Raleigh, who first publicly hinted to MLB.com earlier this month that he’d do the Derby “in a heartbeat,” is the second player to announce that he’s in, along with Atlanta’s Ronald Acuña Jr., who will be the hometown star -- much like Raleigh’s teammate, Julio Rodríguez, was in 2023 at T-Mobile Park.
Raleigh also hinted that he might switch-hit during the event, which would make him just the second player to do so after Adley Rutschman’s electric performance from both sides in 2023.
“That'd be kind of cool, but you've also got to plan it out right with the timeout,” Raleigh said, noting the Derby’s format, which allows for a 45-second timeout in each of the three regulation periods, which last three minutes apiece.
“In talking to some people, obviously right field feels a lot shorter, a lot easier to hit it out,” Raleigh said of Truist Park, which is 335 feet to left field, 385 feet to left-center field, 400 feet to center field, 375 feet to right-center field and 325 feet to right field. “So, I mean, [batting] left is looking pretty promising, yeah. But I mean, I feel like it'd be cool to do both.”
Raleigh also intends to do a few practice rounds prior to the event, potentially with Todd Sr. visiting Seattle during the club’s next homestand.
“I only take a little sabbatical from throwing during Christmas,” Todd said, before pausing and retracting. “Well, actually, I didn't -- because I was in Arizona throwing to Cal over Christmas.”
Beyond Rodríguez, whose breakout moment toward stardom took place in his first Derby in 2022 at Dodger Stadium, Raleigh is the eighth Mariners player to participate, joining Ken Griffey Jr. (1990, 1992-94, 1997-2000), Jay Buhner (1996), Alex Rodriguez (1998), Edgar Martinez (2000), Bret Boone (2001, 2003) and Robinson Canó (2016).
Among that group, Griffey is the only winner, having done so three times -- a record that still stands today. Raleigh will look to become both the first catcher and switch-hitter to win outright (switch-hitting Ruben Sierra also won in 1989 but in a tie). Separate but related, Rodriguez holds the single-round record under the current format, with 41 homers in the first round in 2023.
“His mechanics, he’s really good right now,” Martinez, the Mariners’ director of hitting strategy, said of Raleigh. “He’s staying behind the ball, and when you’re staying behind the ball, you can hit the ball out front without trying to pull it.”
Raleigh was the most obvious Derby candidate to be invited, given that he’s a first-time participant, plays a unique position for a Derby contestant -- and, obviously, leads MLB with 32 homers. Over the weekend at Wrigley Field, Raleigh set separate records for the most homers before the All-Star break by both a catcher and switch-hitter. And he’s thrust his way into the AL MVP conversation.
Raleigh hasn’t officially been named an All-Star yet, but he ranked second (3,040,594) to only Aaron Judge in total votes among American League players in the final tally of the Phase 1 ballot, which closed Thursday. Phase 2, the finalists phase, begins at 9 a.m. PT on Monday.
He was already a fan favorite in Seattle, but Raleigh's national profile has skyrocketed in the three months since he signed a six-year, $105 million extension with the Mariners just before Opening Day.
Fans who don’t know Raleigh by now certainly will come Derby time.