The Cage Behind the House

The Cage

Todd Raleigh coached college baseball — Western Carolina, then Tennessee — and he began teaching his son to switch-hit from the day Cal first picked up a bat. Cal was a toddler, still in diapers, swinging a big red bat. He has said he did not know whether he was naturally a lefty or righty hitter, and assumed switch-hitting was normal until he saw Little League peers hitting from only one side.

The family kept a batting cage in their backyard. Todd and Stephanie Raleigh ran a printing company. When Cal was 14, trying out for the team at Knoxville Catholic High School, the coach told him he was not good enough — Division III, at best. Todd left his coaching job at Tennessee and moved the family back to North Carolina, partly to focus on developing Cal's game. Cal transferred to Smoky Mountain High School in Sylva, went on to Florida State, and graduated in 2020 with a degree in business entrepreneurship. The Mariners took him in the third round of the 2018 draft, 90th overall.

Five Hundred

Raleigh reached 500 career hits on April 15, his sixth season in the major leagues. He debuted on July 11, 2021, and has spent all 714 games of his career with Seattle — the only organization he has known. Teammates call him Big Dumper, a name Jarred Kelenic coined for the backside that fills out the catcher's crouch. The hits include 166 home runs and 103 doubles, against a .217 career average and a .460 slugging percentage.

In 2024 he won the AL Gold Glove and Platinum Glove at catcher. A year later, his first All-Star selection and a Silver Slugger. He has been voted the Mariners' team MVP in back-to-back seasons.

The Derby

In the 2025 Home Run Derby, Raleigh became the first catcher to win the event. His father pitched to him. His younger brother Todd Jr. — himself a switch-hitting catcher — caught. A childhood video had surfaced beforehand: an eight-year-old Cal calling himself a future Derby champion. He is 29, still catching in Seattle.

Reporting: Britannica, MLB.com, Seattle Sports/MyNorthwest, Florida State University Athletics, Wikipedia. Career and biographical data: MLB StatsAPI, via the Fever engine.