SEATTLE -- Cal Raleigh’s recent power burst has a simple starting point: his hands.
It’s a subtle shift in his setup, barely noticeable unless you’re looking for it, but Raleigh has moved his hands higher in the batter’s box as the pitcher gets set. That tweak gets him to his “fire position” sooner, and for a hitter searching for better timing, that has made a real difference.
“Little adjustments like that sometimes can go a long way,” Raleigh said.
Raleigh said the higher hand position helps him find better rhythm and gives him more margin for error. Instead of feeling like he has to search for the perfect timing on every swing, he can get into the launch point earlier and stay more prepared for both fastballs and offspeed pitches.
“I get there every time, but it's just, how early can I do it?” Raleigh said. “So I don’t have to worry about getting it back on time.
“By being a little higher, a little more back, I'm a little more in that position from where I fire from. I don't really have to go searching or be on the perfect timing every time. I can have more room for error, for being on time for the fastball and a little more back on the offspeed.”
The results have arrived fast. Raleigh homered five times during the Mariners’ 4-2 homestand, including his first career three-homer game in Monday’s 9-2 win over the Phillies. Two of those blasts came against Zack Wheeler, and both were deep shots against one of the best pitchers of this generation.
He also went deep from the right side in Friday’s win over Cubs left-hander Matthew Boyd, and his hands were visibly higher in that less-used batter’s box, too.
Before the adjustment, Raleigh had 13 home runs in his first 392 plate appearances of 2026. Since making the change a few days earlier, he has hit five homers in his last 24 plate appearances.
The Mariners have felt the impact when Raleigh goes yard. They are 12-4 this season when he homers, and they went 38-11 in those games in 2025.
The tweak wasn’t some solo experiment either. Raleigh met with coaches last week in Milwaukee, and director of hitting strategy Edgar Martinez was among the voices helping identify what could unlock him again. The focus was on the pitches Raleigh has had the most trouble with this season, especially elevated fastballs, and how a higher hand position could help his barrel get there more cleanly.
“Edgar is a big proponent of it,” Raleigh said. “He always has been.”
That showed up immediately Monday against Wheeler. Raleigh crushed a 95 mph pitch up in the zone for one of his homers, the exact type of fastball that had given him trouble. Entering the homestand, he was slugging .250 against elevated heaters within the strike zone this season, down from .538 last year.
Count work has been part of the surge, too. Four of Raleigh’s five homers during the homestand came when he was ahead in the count, and the only exception was the first pitch he saw against Boyd. This season, Raleigh entered Wednesday hitting .255 when ahead in the count and just .087 when behind.
“It’s much better when you're in the driver's seat,” Raleigh said. “When you're in the driver's seat, you can have a little more freedom.”
The improvement hasn’t been limited to swings. Over his past 14 games entering Wednesday, Raleigh had walked in 24.5% of his plate appearances, second among 197 qualified hitters behind Bryce Harper’s 24.6%. That helped drive a .415 on-base percentage, the best on the Mariners.
Raleigh said the process is as much about staying composed as it is about mechanics. If a pitch isn’t there, he’s trying to let it go and carry that approach into the next at-bat.
“Maybe if it didn't show up in the at-bat, but it shows up in the next one,” Raleigh said. “You recognize and you get in more good counts.
And if you do that more often, you're going to square something up. So, I think it's a constant trickle-down effect.”
Even with the homer barrage, Raleigh’s .167 batting average remains the lowest among 138 qualified hitters for the batting title, and he likely won’t get over the Mendoza Line this season. He knows that part of it is what it is.
“Obviously it stinks,” Raleigh said. “But at the same time, there's still a great opportunity in front of us, and there's a lot of optimism and a lot of things to look forward to and things to play for.”
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