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Cal Raleigh’s dream season continued Monday night when the Seattle Mariners’ slugger capped off a remarkable first half with a historic Home Run Derby performance. The All-Star catcher was the betting favorite to win the event after leading the majors in homers at the break. And Raleigh came through with a strong showing.
After out-donging the competition over three rounds, Raleigh was crowned the 2025 Home Run Derby champion, per MLB.
While the fifth-year veteran was expected to dominate the event, the Big Dumper barely made it out of the first round. Raleigh showed off his versatility by switching to the right side of the plate during Round 1 and then changing back to the left side for his bonus swings.
However, he ended up in a tie with the Athletics’ Brent Rooker as both players had 17 homers. In the first round, distance is the tiebreaker and the longest dong wins. Raleigh just edged out Rooker’s 470.54-foot blast with a 470.62-foot bomb, narrowly advancing to the second round.
Mariners’ star Cal Raleigh makes Home Run Derby history
But after just squeaking by early, the Mariners’ backstop found his groove. Raleigh easily surpassed Pittsburgh Pirates’ slugger Oneil Cruz in Round 2, mashing 19 homers to move onto the finals.
Raleigh squared off against Junior Caminero in the championship round. He put the pressure on Caminero by opening with 18 dingers and, despite a strong effort from the Tampa Bay Rays third baseman, Raleigh emerged as the Derby champ.
It’s the latest achievement in a historic season for the Mariners’ veteran. Raleigh is the first catcher and the first switch hitter to ever win the Home Run Derby, per Daniel Kramer of MLB.com. He’s the first Mariner to win the competition since Ken Griffey Jr. took back-to-back titles in 1998 and 1999.
Raleigh leads the majors with 38 bombs on the season. He fell just one blast short of joining Barry Bonds with the most home runs all-time before the All-Star break. Raleigh is on pace to leave the yard 65 times this season as he attempts to lead the Mariners to a Wild Card berth.
Raleigh’s epic Home Run Derby win got fans talking.
Sports Analyst wrote:
“Best power-hitting catcher in MLB history”
Juju was still upset about that tiebreaker:
“Brent Rooker was robbed.”
RangersReports2 added:
“This was Mariners fans’ World Series”
The Chairman commented:
“Congrats Cal you put on a historic performance from both sides of the plate. Keep it going in the second half!”
And MLB Digest noted:
“And he did it with his brother catching & his dad on the mound”
