The Mariners don’t have the luxury of brushing off what happened to Cal Raleigh in 2026, because the slide wasn’t confined to the batter’s box.
Raleigh has built his reputation on impact at the plate. From 2021 to 2025, his 126 wRC+ ranked third among qualified catchers, and his 2025 season landed him in the record book twice: most home runs by a catcher and most home runs by a switch-hitter. That’s the version of Raleigh most people know - a middle-of-the-order threat with uncommon power for the position.
But he’s never been a bat-only player. Raleigh won the Platinum Glove for 2024 after posting 17 Defensive Runs Saved, and a huge chunk of that value came from the kind of work that doesn’t always jump off the screen: pitch framing, catcher ERA and his ability to control the running game. He paired especially well with Seattle’s pitching staff, helping steal strikes, and he also threw out an MLB-leading 32 runners.
The problem is that last season brought a sharp drop on defense, too.
His offense was the headline setback, with a 91 OPS+ and a .182 batting average, but his glove took a bigger hit than many realized. Raleigh finished with -6 Defensive Runs Saved, the lowest total among catchers with more than 700 innings behind the plate.
The most glaring issue was catcher ERA. Seattle’s pitchers posted a 4.24 ERA with Raleigh catching, a step back from the standard he’d set in previous years.
Even with ABS changing the landscape, framing still matters a little, and Raleigh wasn’t helping there either. With only two challenges allowed per game, there’s still value in stealing strikes, but Raleigh came out at -4 Framing Runs Above Average.
The trouble didn’t stop there. He remained productive in one sense - he still led the American League with 21 runners caught stealing - but the overall numbers painted a rougher picture because of how many stolen bases he allowed.
His Caught Stealing Runs Above Average landed in the bottom percentile among catchers. His 2.00-second pop time checked in in the eighth percentile, a number dragged down by weaker arm strength and a slower exchange.
Blocking pitches was the one area where he still stood out, but it wasn’t nearly enough to offset the decline in the other defensive categories.
There’s a reason to wonder whether the same injury that bothered him at the plate also affected his throwing and movement behind the dish. Fans will have to wait until next season to see whether a healthy Raleigh can get back to being the best all-around catcher in baseball.
In the best case, 2026 turns into a one-year blip - a bad season on both sides of the ball and nothing more than an outlier in a long career. And while defensive performance can swing from year to year, that kind of bounce-back is always possible.
At the same time, it’s fair to ask what a down year like this means. Raleigh has been a core piece of the Mariners since his debut, which is why the front office gave him an extension.
Recency bias makes it easy to dwell on the negatives, but he’s had more strong seasons than weak ones. If he comes into next year healthy, the Mariners still have every reason to believe he can return to form.
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