National Hype for Mariners Superstar Cal Raleigh Has Reached A Fever Pitch

The rise of Cal Raleigh has been meteoric in 2025. He has done nothing but hit bombs all season and leads the Majors with 32 home runs, all while leading the Seattle Mariners from behind the plate. He is absolutely incredible and we are running out of words to describe just how good he has been.

Finally, Raleigh is starting to get the national attention that he deserves. He is being talked about in the AL MVP conversation, and he personally cranked the hype up even higher on Friday when he announced that he'll be participating in the Home Run Derby at Truist Park next month.

Also this week, MLB.com published their latest Hitter Power Rankings and rightfully placed Raleigh atop the standings, most notably ahead of New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge.

Auther Andrew Simon started off the article by saying that it seemed impossible for anyone to dethrone the Yankees two-time MVP, but that Raleigh has been flat-out that good and deserves to the title of best hitter in baseball. It is also not just a vote or someone's opinion, as these power rankings are based on a formula.

Cal Raleigh has forced his way into the national spotlight like few recent Mariners have

"Big Dumper" has been lighting up the league lately. From June 17th and 24th, he put up a slash line of .483/.545/.1.207 for a 1.752 OPS with six home runs, 15 RBI, and two stolen bases to boot. That is an incredible week and it was the driving force as to why he was named the American League Player of the Week. The season that he is having could end up being the best that a catcher has ever had in the history of baseball, which seems unfathomable, but the Mariners stud is doing just that.

It is great to see Raleigh getting the national attention that he deserves. As fans of a team in Seattle, it is easy to get annoyed with the lack of national attention that had been typical for him. Something I was shocked to learn in the Raleigh vs. Judge MVP debate is that Judge has played more games at DH than Raleigh has this year. Raleigh is playing the much tougher, demanding, and important position of catcher while Judge plays right field in a small ballpark and is actually DHing more.

It is far too early to call the MVP race for Raleigh or Judge on June 26th. But as we near the halfway point in the 2025 season, we are in a great place for a summer of back and forth debates about two stars and whether or not they deserve to win the MVP award.

If Raleigh and Judge can continue to put up historic numbers, we could be in for a modern-day version of the home run races of the 1990s with Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, and Barry Bonds to determine the AL MVP in 2025.