By the time you're reading this, Seattle Mariners star catcher Cal Raleigh probably hit another home run. That's just what the man affectionately know as Big Dumper has been doing in the 2025 season. On Friday in a 6-0 win for the Mariners over the Pittsburgh Pirates, Raleigh hit a pair of homers, including a 433-foot moonshot in the first inning, to push his total for the season to 35. Mind you, his 35th home run, which leads all of baseball, came more than a week before the All-Star break.
With the pair of long-balls against the Pirates, Raleigh tied Ken Griffey Jr. for the Mariners record for home runs before the break, a mark he'll have several chances to take sole ownership of before the All-Star festivities. Naturally, he'll keep hitting balls out in Atlanta during All-Star week as he's agreed to participate in the 2025 Home Run Derby as well.
But what might be most impressive is that he's doing all of this while being the primary catcher in Seattle. Particularly in the modern game, having a catcher even be a plus asset offensively is becoming exceedingly rarer. So it's absolutely unheard of for a catcher to be leading MLB in home runs this deep into the season. That also means that Raleigh, now 88 games into the Mariners' season, is already creeping up on the major-league record for single-season home runs by a catcher.
How many home runs is Raleigh now on pace for? And just how close is he to the record? Let's dive into the numbers and see why we should be appreciating every bit of power that the Big Dumper is putting on display for fans this year.
Cal Raleigh HR pace: How many homers is Mariners star on track to hit?
Following Friday's win over the Pirates and his two-homer effort, Raleigh now has 35 home runs on the season, as mentioned. The Mariners have played 88 games to this point. That means that Raleigh is now on pace for, by the math, 64.4 home runs in the 2025 season. Unless physics break, I'm not sure we're going to get two-fifths of a dinger into the official stats, so we'll round down conservatively and say he's on pace for 64 home runs this year.
For those keeping track at home, that would give him, by far, the most home runs in a single season by a catcher. More than that, though, it would also set the American League single-season home run record, breaking the mark that Aaron Judge set in 2022. It would also tie him with Sammy Sosa's 2001 season for the fifth-most homers in a single season by any player in MLB history.
That seems pretty damn good, huh?
Most home runs in a single season by a catcher
Salvador Perez set the record for the most single-season home runs by a primary catcher with 48 bombs in the 2021 season. He surpassed Hall-of-Famer Johnny Bench's total of 45, which was set in the 1970 season with the Cincinnati Reds. But let's take a look at the top 10 for the most homers in a season by a catcher to really put this into perspective.
Player | Single-Season Home Runs | Season |
|---|---|---|
1. Salvador Perez (Royals) | 48 | 2021 |
2. Johnny Bench (Reds) | 45 | 1970 |
3. Javy Lopez (Braves) | 43 | 2003 |
T4. Todd Hundley (Mets) | 41 | 1996 |
T4. Roy Campanella (Dodgers) | 41 | 1953 |
T6. Mike Piazza (Mets) | 40 | 1999 |
T6. Mike Piazza (Dodgers) | 40 | 1997 |
T6. Johnny Bench (Reds) | 40 | 1972 |
9. Mike Piazza (Mets) | 38 | 2000 |
T10. Carlton Fisk (White Sox) | 37 | 1985 |
T10. Gabby Hartnett (Cubs) | 37 | 1930 |
This really encapsulates how ridiculous Raleigh's first half of the 2025 season has been for the Mariners. He's already on the verge of the Top 10 in terms of single-season home runs by a catcher, and Seattle has only played 88 games. To be specific, Raleigh is already tied for 15th on that list with just under a half-season still to play. The Big Dumper is really doing some unprecedented stuff in terms of his power this season.
And as we've already discussed, he's on pace to absolutely shatter Perez's record and, potentially, establish one of baseball's newest "most unbreakable" records depending on how his power surge this season holds up in the second half of the year. One thing's for sure, though, he's more than earned his spot in the Home Run Derby in Atlanta.