How Mariners' Cal Raleigh's HR pace compares to Aaron Judge from 2022

Whatever happens from here on out, this has already been a career year for Cal Raleigh, who will finish with a whole host of single-season bests in the fifth campaign of his Major League career. However, there's still plenty on the line for the Seattle Mariners' clubhouse leader and offensive spark plug, in what has become a genuine challenge to win the AL MVP award.

The general sentiment at this stage is that it's Raleigh and Aaron Judge who are the two front-runners for the award, which the latter has already won twice. With this in mind, the Mariners catcher continued to make his case on Thursday night in the home series opener versus the Texas Rangers:

In the interest of fairness and objectivity, it's worth pointing out an important qualifier. The Mariners have so far played 110 games this year. At the same point in 2022, Judge was a couple of home runs ahead of Raleigh at 44.

Not that this should be perceived as alluding against Raleigh's chances of equalling (or passing) Judge's AL record of 62 home runs from that 2022 season. As per FanGraphs, following Thursday night the 28-year-old is on pace to finish with the exact same number of bombs as the New York Yankees superstar did that year.

Cal Raleigh already leaving his mark on the Major League record books

Whether Raleigh does indeed catch Judge's mark remains to be seen, but it doesn't change the fact he is doing remarkable things this season. The 2025 All-Star leads the majors in home runs and RBI, while also continuing to excel at the most physically demanding position in baseball on a daily basis.

Thursday night's home run in the 6-0 shutout win over the Rangers was a special one in its own right, as Raleigh surpassed the record previously held by Todd Hundley for most blasts in a season by a switch-hitting catcher. Next on the horizon is Salvador Perez's overall record for a catcher of 48 homers set in 2021, which seems more than feasible.

After this is where is gets really interesting for Raleigh. If he can get to 50, he can then take aim at the Mariners record for most home runs in a season by a player. And wouldn't you know that record is held by a certain Ken Griffey Jr.? He hit 56 homers on two occasions, in 1997 and 1998.

It's tough to come up with the words to accurately convey just how important Raleigh is to the Mariners. He is beloved by teammates, the coaches, ownership, the front office and fans alike, and you get the feeling more and more people not connected to the organization are beginning to understand just what an impressive talent and truly special individual he is.