With the Seattle Mariners preparing for Spring Training, the team is looking for another season of greatness from catcher Cal Raleigh, who is coming off a historic season. As the Mariners and Raleigh will be examined next season to hopefully recreate the dominance he had, a certain analyst would question his ranking on the league website's top 100 ranking.
In the annual ranking list by MLB.com, which ranks the top 100 players right now, per Brian Murphy, Raleigh ranks at No. 4, only behind Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge, and Bobby Witt Jr., as Steve Phillips had thoughts. Phillips would point out Raleigh in saying that he would have him lower in the top 10, rather than fourth, as he questions if he can have another great year like this past season.
“It's because the list is not evaluating whose season was the best last year,” Phillips said. “You make a case he had a third or fourth-best season last year. It's projecting what can he do? And can he hit 60 home runs again?… I think he can hit 45 home runs this year. For me, it would put him behind Corbin Carroll, in front of Vladdy [Guerrero Jr.]. I think Vlad, he's not a 45 home run guy and is a good defender at first base, not the best there. So I had him right around Vladimir Guerrero Jr, not at number four overall.”
Steve Phillips thinks Cal Raleigh was ranked too high at No. 4 on the #Top100RightNow.
Agree or disagree? https://t.co/iGKJG4fZMR pic.twitter.com/R7biJgy0Cn
— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) January 23, 2026
Mariners' Cal Raleigh ranked fourth best player in the MLB
While the Mariners are boosting their team, there's no denying that Raleigh will be a crucial piece of the offense, though there is some understanding from Phillips that there is hesitation in saying he can once again hit 60 home runs next season. Still, his AL MVP runner-up season was enough to put him fourth on the list.
“Raleigh soars up the Top 100 Right Now following a season in which he finished as the runner-up in a hotly debated AL MVP race,” Murphy wrote. “His case for the award was simple: No catcher or switch-hitter or Mariner had hit 60 home runs in a season before. Raleigh did so while driving Seattle to its first division title since 2001. Besides authoring the 10th 60-homer campaign in big league history, Raleigh also led MLB with 125 RBIs and was second to Judge with 9.1 FanGraphs WAR.”
It remains to be seen if Raleigh will be able to follow up on the impeccable season.
