The Seattle Mariners catcher has struggled mightily in 2026, so what's at the root of it all?
After hitting 60 home runs and finishing second in the American League MVP voting in 2025, it's been a generally nightmare-ish season for Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh.
The durable catcher missed a month with an oblique strain, but he's struggled throughout the campaign when he has played. Trying to play through the strain initially didn't help him either.
At Wednesday's off day, Raleigh is hitting just .164 with a .268 on-base percentage. He has eight home runs and 23 RBIs, and his drop off has been one of the biggest reasons why the Mariners offense has scuffled consistently in 2026.
So what's changed? Let's take a look at some visuals, thanks to Baseball Savant.
How about in 2025?
Obviously, there's a ton of red in this graph. Red is good. Let's go to the blue, which represents the areas that Raleigh struggled, even in his historic season.
His chase rate was in the 24th percentile and his whiff rate was in the 10th percentile. That means that, even in a great season, Raleigh still swung and missed a lot, and still was willing to expand the strike zone. He also struck out a lot, ranking in the 14th percentile.
Of course, a lot of those warts were covered up by the fact that when he was hitting the ball, he was hitting it very hard and very far. He also was in the 95th percentile in walk rate since pitchers didn't want to pitch to him. Even though he was willing to chase, he was still discerning enough to draw a lot of walks.
And now in 2026?
Obviously, there's a lot more blue. He's not hitting the ball as hard, but those flaws have magnified. He's now in the 16th percentile in chase rate and the eighth percentile in strikeout rate. His walk rate is still strong, but that's dropped too.
One thing that seems noticeable?
Raleigh seems to be particularly vulnerable to the pitch up in the zone. He's always been vulnerable to that pitch, but it's more pronounced this year. The graph immediately below is Raleigh's swing percentage by zone in 2026.
This is swing percentage by zone from 2025.
What can Raleigh do?
It sounds too simple, but I really think Raleigh needs to just start step-by-step and at-bat by at-bat in making some better swing decisions.
He's going to have to try to get himself in more advantageous counts. Right now, he's too often down 0-1 or 0-2, and it's a result of him taking himself out of the zone.
He's going to have to try to get ahead 1-0 and 2-1, counts where he forces the pitcher into the zone. And at that point, he'll have the ability to do damage.
Up next
The Mariners (44-43) will take on the Los Angeles Angels on Thursday at 6:40 p.m. PT. Wednesday night is off because of World Cup action in Seattle.
Of note
The latest edition of the 'Refuse to Lose Territory' podcast is out. You can listen here, or watch in the YouTube player below.
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