ATLANTA -- There’s an age and geographical gap that separates them substantially, but Cal Raleigh hasn’t let either of those barriers get in the way of being deeply involved in the life of his 15-year-old younger brother, who will be behind the plate on Monday night as the Mariners catcher takes part in the T-Mobile Home Run Derby.
That’d be Todd Raleigh Jr., known as “T” in the Raleigh household, who is following in the footsteps of his big brother while also carving out his own baseball path.
“He’s getting a little bit older, so he’s starting to understand baseball a little more,” said Cal, who at age 28, is 13 years older. “It’s really cool to be able to share that with him. We’ll keep that going, and I try to stay as involved as much as I can.”
Just as Cal did over a decade ago, T is playing amateur travel ball in the Atlanta area, making this All-Star Week for the whole family that much more special.
The Raleighs hail from rural North Carolina, about 150 miles away from Truist Park. But because of Atlanta’s hotbed for baseball talent, they bought property in the suburb of Locust Grove, Ga. -- which is serving as the unofficial Raleigh headquarters this week -- to facilitate Cal and T’s baseball pursuits.
Todd Sr., their father, is coaching T, just as he did Cal over a decade ago, and on many of the same travel ball circuits. One of the fields that Cal grew up playing on is off the same highway exit as Truist Park, and when the Mariners were in town playing the Braves in 2023, Cal got up in the 7 a.m. hour after a late game the night prior to attend one of T’s games.
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“It’s hard because I don’t get to see him play because we’re playing at the same time,” Cal said. “But it’s just cool to see over time how he's playing. He's playing on the same fields that I was playing on. Him growing up and just doing that whole thing, it's really cool to see, and it's fun to go back and get to work, talk to him. I'm not doing anything through texts, but I’ll give him calls.”
Todd Sr. will throw to Cal during the Derby, and is well-conditioned to do so, joking that his arm remains in shape year-round because of all the batting practice he throws T and his teammates for the 15U SmarTense team based out of Alpharetta, Ga.
“I've thrown over a million balls to Cal, so what's 100 more?” the 56-year-old said.
Todd Sr. is still extremely close with Cal, but doesn’t get to Seattle as often as he probably could, because of how dedicated he is to foster the same opportunities for T as his coach. He makes the nearly three-hour commute from North Carolina, sometimes on a more than weekly basis during the season.
Todd Sr. was a former Division I coach, too, with his highest-profile job coming at the University of Tennessee. When he was at Western Carolina University, Cal was the team’s bat boy from 2000-07.
“Listen, it's all we know. It's all we've ever done,” Todd Sr. said. “I did this for Cal for five or six years, and T has already been playing down there since age 11 or 12, and he's 15. Atlanta is the hub for baseball, and so if you want to play in the best tournaments, that's where it's at. I do what I do for T because it’s what I did for Cal.”
Like Cal, T is a catcher, and at 6' 3", he’s already taller than his big brother. T has advanced to the wooden-bat stage of competition, too, and typically has the best merch thanks to hand-me-downs from Cal and his Mariners teammates. Logan Gilbert, one of the sport’s tallest pitchers at 6' 6", gifted T a pair of cleats during Spring Training -- because, yes, they wear the same size.
“He's the best dressed catcher in the history of travel ball,” Todd Sr. said. “We had an umpire who said, 'Wait a minute, this guy has his own personal gear that says Raleigh on it?' ... People are always like, ‘Where’s he getting all this stuff from?’”
Cal and T aren’t the only athletes in the family -- his sisters, Emma Grace and Carly, were volleyball standouts. Their mother is Stephanie, who was just as vital in instilling the values in Cal that have resonated so strongly in Seattle, from the clubhouse to the fanbase.
All of them would’ve been at the Derby and Cal’s first All-Star Game regardless of venue. But that it’s practically in their own backyard makes it that much sweeter.
“It's hard because I'm not there, but he knows and I know that we're there for each other,” Cal said. “I want to try to be there [and] be a good role model for him. Just be somebody he can lean on and support as much as I can, because I do want to help him achieve his dreams and his goals. [I] think he has a good chance to maybe do some really cool stuff one day.”