Mariners’ Cal Raleigh hits his hardest HR, then sets new career-high

SEATTLE — The reigning American League Player of the Month and the starting catcher for the AL in the upcoming MLB All-Star Game celebrated the Fourth of July on Friday with the biggest blast of his career. Then he added another for good measure in a 6-0 Mariners win over Pittsburgh.

With his two homers against Pirates left-hander Bailey Falter, Raleigh tied and then broke his own career-high for a season. He had 34 last year, and now has 35 – with almost three whole months still to go.

At 35 homers, he also tied Ken Griffey Jr. for the most before the All-Star break by a Mariners player. And he can make that record all his own with just one more in the eight games before he heads to Atlanta for the Midsummer Classic.

Raleigh’s first home run Friday was the headliner. Not only did it travel 433 feet, but it was the hardest-hit home run we’ve ever seen from “The Big Dumper.” With a 3-1 count in the first inning, he unloaded on a 92 mph fastball from Falter.

There was no doubt the ball was on its way toward the upper deck in left field at T-Mobile Park. The only question was whether the park would hold it.

It did, but if Raleigh had a bit more launch angle to it, the ball might have found its way onto Royal Brougham Way, because Raleigh smacked it with an exit velocity of 115.2 mph. According to Sarah Langs of MLB, it was the hardest exit velocity of any batted ball in Raleigh’s career.

Raleigh struck again in the sixth inning, clearing the wall in left-center with a 381-foot homer to set his new career-high for a season.

Interesting enough, Raleigh’s first homer Friday was his 13th this year hitting right-handed. That gave him an identical split this year between homers from the right side and left side to last year, when he had 13 from the right side and 21 from the left side for 34 total. Of course, he added to his right-handed total five innings later.

Raleigh has hit much better overall as a righty this year, though, entering Friday with a .323 average compared to .246 from the left side. In 2024, Raleigh hit .183 as a righty and .234 as a lefty.

Raleigh remains the MLB leader in home runs this season, and with three RBIs on Friday tied Chicago Cubs’ Seiya Suzuki at 74 for the most in the big leagues.

Raleigh has already set records for the most home runs before the All-Star break for both a catcher and a switch-hitter.

The Mariners opened a three-game series against the Pirates on Friday. Game 2 is set for 6:40 p.m. Saturday, with radio coverage on Seattle Sports beginning at 5:30 with the pregame show.

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