Mariners' Cal Raleigh has a glaring problem
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Mariners' Cal Raleigh has a glaring problem originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Hitters can start a season slow. That's certainly common enough. Hitting is hard, after all.
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But the Seattle Mariners' star catcher, Cal Raleigh, isn't just off to a slow start. It's not like he's getting unlucky.
Right now, Raleigh is mired in one of the roughest stretches of his career, and the underlying numbers look even worse than the traditional stats.
Those aren't good, either -- Raleigh is 5-for-38 (.132) with 20 strikeouts. He has two doubles and no home runs.
This is coming off a 60-homer season, and many have pointed out that Raleigh started last season slow, including 2-for-20 to open the campaign.
This is different, though. Raleigh is whiffing, and whiffing, and whiffing.
In fact, on more than half the fastballs over the heart of the plate that Raleigh has swung at this season, he has missed.
Final: 8-7 Angels
— Callaghan Bluechel (@CalBluechel) April 5, 2026
The M's HAVE to figure out Raleigh's swing and miss on meatballs.
Raleigh entered the game 52.9%(!!!) whiff rate on fastballs over the heart of the plate this season. Worst out of 196 qualified hitters by TEN percentage points. About 4 sd from median.
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The Mariners actually had Raleigh up in a bases-loaded spot with Sunday's game on the line, and he didn't get cheated. He swung three times.
He just didn't hit the ball on any of those swings.
If Raleigh keeps whiffing at even close to this rate, he'll have no chance of replicating last season. It's as if something is entirely off in what he's doing.
It's a major concern for a Mariners team with huge goals.
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