Cal Raleigh’s magical season continues with Home Run Derby win

ATLANTA – Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh, whose home run total has been the talk of Major League Baseball, had a power surge when it mattered most in the opening round of the Home Run Derby, propelling him to the championship.

After surviving a real chance of getting knocked out in the opening round, Raleigh cruised through the semifinals and defeated Tampa Bay’s Junior Caminero in the final (18-15), earning the championship belt and $1 million.

Raleigh joined Ken Griffey Jr. (1994, 1998, 1999) as the only Mariners player to win the Home Run Derby. He’s the only catcher to ever win the Derby.

“It means the world. I could’ve hit zero home runs and had just as much fun,” Raleigh said on ESPN after the final round. “I just can’t believe I won, it’s unbelievable.”

“The whole night was amazing. First All-Star appearance, get to experience the whole thing all day … obviously getting to win it is unbelievable, and then getting to do it with my dad and brother, I’m speechless.”

It would not have been possible had it not been for Raleigh’s late heroics in the opening round.

Facing elimination with one out left in the bonus round, he hit two straight homers to tie Brent Rooker of the Athletics for fourth with 17, and advanced to the semifinals by about an inch in a tiebreaker – the farthest homer hit.

Raleigh’s farthest was 470.6 feet. Rooker’s farthest was 470.5.

Raleigh faced Pittsburgh’s Oneil Cruz, the top seed of the opening round, in the semifinals and he put on a show. Hitting left-handed, he had 16 home runs in two minutes, then added three more in the bonus round.

Cruz put up a good fight, hitting 13, but it wasn’t nearly enough.

In the first semifinal, Minnesota’s Byron Buxton hit seven homers, and Tampa Bay’s Junior Caminero stopped when he reached eight, good enough to advance to the finals.

Raleigh, who has an American League record 38 home runs at the All-Star break and is on pace to hit 64 this season, was pitched to by his father Todd, former baseball coach at Western Carolina and Tennessee.

Catching was Todd Jr., Cal’s 15-year-brother.

“It’s just a great accomplishment and I think everyone, every dad who’s ever had a kid, this is what they dream about,” Todd said to ESPN. “To see it come true for your son is unbelievable.”

Cal credited his family for his success, particularly his brother who was his hype man behind home plate.

“Honestly, he was hyping me up. He was firing me up the whole time,” Raleigh said of his brother. “I’d hit one good, and he’d be like ‘let’s go’, and I don’t know, it just got me going. …That’s why I got good spurts through the Derby.”

Raleigh, the seventh hitter of the night, hit eight home runs left-handed before calling a timeout with 1:22 left in the three-minute opening round. He then switched to right-handed and hit seven more.

Needing at least two in the bonus round to have a chance to advance, he went back to left-handed and made two straight outs before crushing two balls that moved him on in the competition.

Raleigh then stuck with the left-hand side in the semifinals and finals.

James Wood of the Washington Nationals opened the competition, hitting 16 home runs.

It got better from there. Brent Rooker of the Athletics followed with 17, and Caminero then topped that with 21.

Cruz then equaled Caminero with 21, with five of his homers going at least 483 feet, with a top one of 513, the farthest of the night.

Buxton, hitting fifth in the first round, had 20 homers, eliminating Wood. The Yankees’ Jazz Chisolm Jr. followed Buxton, and struggled mightily, hitting three.

Atlanta’s Matt Olson, hitting last in the opening round, had a chance to eliminate Raleigh and Rooker, but finished with 15.

Ex-Mariner Suarez addresses trade rumors

Could former Mariner third baseman Eugenio Suárez, who has 31 home runs and leads the National League with 78 runs batted in for the Arizona Diamondbacks, return to Seattle?

That is certainly a possibility.

Suárez hit 53 homers over two seasons with Seattle (2022-23) before being traded to the Diamondbacks, who are reportedly interested in trading several of their stars.

Suárez’s contract expires at the end of this season, and several teams, including the Mariners, are rumored to have interest in him. Suárez said earlier this month that he did not want to be traded, but struck a different tone Monday.

“You know, everything can happen,” said Suarez, on pace to hit 52 home runs this season. “I don’t want to say I don’t want to get traded, because this is a business and you never know. It is something out of my control. Whenever I go, I will do my best.”

As for his time with the Mariners, Suárez was very complimentary.

“They treated me really good,” he said. “Part of my heart is in Seattle.”

Suárez made national news April 26 when he hit four homers against the Atlanta Braves, making him the 19th player to hit four homers in a game and the first since J.D. Martinez in 2017.

Praise abounds for Raleigh

When you’ve set the American League record for home runs before the All-Star break (38) and are on pace to hit 64, you’re going to draw a lot of attention, and praise.

“Thirty-eight home runs as a catcher, that’s hard to fathom,” Aaron Boone said of Raleigh, while announcing he would bat fourth in the lineup in Tuesday’s All-Star Game.

Suarez said when he ran into Raleigh, his former teammate, “I told him I want to be like him.”

“Everything he’s been doing so far is impressive and I’m so happy for him,” Suarez said. “I know how hard he worked, how he put it all together.”

San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Robbie Ray, who pitched for the Mariners in 2022 and for one game in 2023 before needing Tommy John surgery, said he has remained close with Raleigh.

“It’s ridiculous,” Ray said of what Raleigh is doing, saying it seems like he is hitting a home run every other game. “It feels like I text him every other day. It’s special and it’s fun to watch. And couldn’t think of a better guy to have the

recognition, to be here to compete in the Home Run Derby and to be an All-Star.

“And they are big homers too,” added Ray, who was selected to the NL All-Star team, but was taken off the roster because he pitched Sunday. “They’re game-winning homers, they’re go-ahead homers. He’s doing it in pressure situations.”

Ray said Raleigh always had power batting left-handed, “but this year he is having it from both sides.”

Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Will Smith, who is starting for the National League behind the plate, said he doesn’t pay a lot of attention to players on other teams, but is aware of the great season Raleigh is having.

“It’s incredible what he’s doing,” Smith said. “He has all the homers and his average is pretty high (. 259) as well, pulling the ball, getting on base and driving guys home. The games are on in our clubhouse all the time and you see the highlights. So we know the guys who are doing well, so it’s fun to see (what Raleigh is doing).’ ”

Carroll, Rasmussen arrive in Atlanta

Arizona outfielder Corbin Carroll, a former Lakeside School of Seattle star, is back in the All-Star Game for the second time in three years after a down season in 2024.

Tampa Bay starter Drew Rasmussen, who is from Puyallup and went to Mt. Spokane High School in Mead, is at his first All-Star Game after missing much of last season after undergoing elbow surgery for the third time (including two Tommy John procedures).

Carroll is hitting .245 with 21 home runs and an .847 OPS. Last year at the All-Star break, he was hitting .212 with five home runs and a .635 OPS.

“I think it’s a testament to the work that I’ve put in, but also our coaches and the group around me,” said Carroll, 24, who was a first-round draft pick in 2019. “It means a lot to see it pay off this way.”

Rasmussen is 7-5 this season with a 2.86 ERA and a 1.03 WHIP.

“There have been some speed bumps in my journey, but it’s really cool to get the opportunity to come here and experience being an All-Star,” he said. “It’s something that’s truly special and I know my wife and I won’t take it for granted. Then on top of it, having the opportunity to have my son here and my parents here, getting to enjoy this, and experience it with us is more than I could have asked for.”

Note

The automated balls and strikes (ABS) challenge system, that has been used in the minor leagues, will be in place in Tuesday’s All-Star Game.

Only the pitcher, catcher, or batter who is in the box may challenge a call. Teams will get two challenges and will retain those challenges if a challenge is successful.

After two failed challenges, the team has no more. Skubal said he believes every pitch he throws is a strike and said he will not make any challenges.

“I will leave that to (catcher) Cal (Raleigh),” AL starter Tarik Skubal said.