Cal Raleigh has begun testing Mariners fans' patience with post-injury slump

Nobody in the Seattle Mariners fanbase has turned against Cal Raleigh, but we're certainly well past the point where patience has given way to impatience. Now's the time for frustration.

At least when "Big Dumper" went on the injured list with a strained oblique in May, there was an excuse for his slow start. But despite expectations to the contrary, not enough has changed since the Mariners activated him on June 16:

• 41 G Pre-Injury: .161/.243/.317, 7 HR, 62 wRC+
• 14 G Post-Injury: .174/.345/.261, 1 HR, 92 wRC+

The higher OBP is nice, and that's being fueled by a walk rate that is more than twice as high as the one Raleigh had at the time of his IL stint. And yes, what knocks he's had do include a couple clutch two-run singles that helped the Mariners win games.

But where's the pop?

Cal Raleigh still doesn't know where his swing is, and it's making Mariners fans anxious

It's a fair question to ask of a guy who was a reliable 30-homer slugger even before he went off for 60 homers in a historic 2025 season. And this is where Raleigh has somehow regressed since coming off the IL. His expected slugging percentage has gone from .387 to .294, with the latter putting him in the David Hamilton tier of slugging ineptitude.

This is to say Raleigh isn't doing much damage even when he connects, and he's still not doing that about as often as he did pre-injury. His strikeout rate is only down from 31.5 to 31.0 percent, with his overall 31.4 K% ranking in the eighth percentile among all hitters.

This is a window into just how discombobulated Raleigh has looked at the plate, and it hasn't gone unnoticed.

Just using Tuesday's game against the Los Angeles Angels as an example, fans were aghast at his at-bat against Brent Suter in which he swung at two pitches outside the zone only to take an 89 mph pitch down the middle for strike three. He also had an at-bat against José Soriano where he merely fouled off — notably to Aaron Goldsmith's surprise during the broadcast — a hanging splitter that should have been crushed.

The Mariners aren't built to survive this version of Cal Raleigh

Just in case it needs to be said for the umpteenth time, nobody expected Raleigh to hit 60 home runs again. But the Mariners might at least have expected 30 to 40, which still would have made him the primary power supply for their offense.

That he's nowhere near that kind of pace is a big reason why Seattle's offense as a whole has disappointed. And unlike when Josh Naylor and Eugenio Suárez came through the door last July, salvation may not come from the trade deadline. Unless Byron Buxton changes his tune, nobody the Mariners can get is going to single-handedly pick up the slack that Raleigh has left hanging.

Julio Rodríguez going on his annual second-half heater would help. So would a healthy Brendan Donovan, and continued productivity from Randy Arozarena and Dominic Canzone. But when it comes down to it, these guys are supposed to be supporting Raleigh, not covering for him.

As the Mariners are only a game over .500 and merely tied for first place in the AL West, they already know how much this version of Raleigh can drag them down. The last thing they want to find out is if it can get any worse.

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