Cal Raleigh Home Run Watch: Will the Big Dumper hit 60?

Sep 12, 2025, 12:00 PM ET

The Big Dumper just left the yard again!

In what has become a regular occurrence during Cal Raleigh’s incredible 2025 season, the Seattle Mariners catcher added two more home runs to his historic total Tuesday — and passed another MLB legend in the process.

Raleigh has already surpassed the record for home runs by a catcher and by a switch-hitter and joined the prestigious 50-homer club, and who could forget his Home Run Derby triumph earlier this summer?

What record could Raleigh set next, how many home runs will he finish with and just how impressive is his season? We’ve got it all covered.

Raleigh must-reads: Raleigh’s road to homer history | Surprising 50-HR seasons | Best power half-seasons in MLB history

Raleigh’s current pace

Raleigh is now at 56 home runs and on pace for 60 with 11 games left.

The American League record is 62, set by Aaron Judge in 2022, and there have been only nine 60-home run seasons in MLB history.

Who Raleigh passed with his latest home run

With his 55th and 56th home runs Tuesday, Raleigh passed Mickey Mantle (yes, you read that right: The Mick himself) for the most in a season by a switch-hitter.

Raleigh and Mantle (who reached the mark twice) are the only switch-hitters in MLB history with 50 long balls in a single season — well ahead of Lance Berkman and Chipper Jones, who each hit 45 in their most prolific home run season.

Who Raleigh can catch with his next home run

The next milestone up for Raleigh is passing Ken Griffey Jr.’s Mariners franchise record of 56, which Raleigh tied with his two-homer effort Tuesday. That’s a number Griffey reached twice — in the 1997 and 1998 seasons.

Raleigh has already joined Griffey as the only Mariners with 50 home runs (or even 45) in a season. Raleigh is also the first Seattle slugger with 40 homers in a season since Nelson Cruz in 2016.

Raleigh’s 5 most impressive feats of 2025

Most home runs in a season by a switch-hitter

With his 55th home run, Raleigh knocked Mickey Mantle, who hit 54 in 1961, from the top spot. Breaking Salvador Perez’s record of 48 home runs by a primary catcher understandably got a lot of attention, but beating Mantle’s mark is arguably more impressive given how long the record stood and the Hall of Famer’s stature.

One of the best months ever for a catcher

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In May, Raleigh hit .304/.430/.739 with 12 home runs and 26 RBIs. Only four catchers have hit more home runs in a calendar month and only eight with at least 100 plate appearances produced a higher slugging percentage. Raleigh was almost as good in June, hitting .300/.398/.690 with 11 home runs and 27 RBIs, giving him two-month totals of .302/.414/.714 with 23 home runs and 53 RBIs. In one blazing 24-game stretch from May 12 to June 7, Raleigh hit .319 with 14 home runs.

Reaching 100 runs and 100 RBIs

Raleigh is sitting on 101 runs scored while leading the American League with 115 RBIs. Only eight other primary catchers have reached 100 in both categories in the same season — Mike Piazza did it twice, in 1997 and 1999, and he and Ivan Rodriguez were the last catchers to do it in ’99. Of the other catchers, seven are in the Hall of Fame (Piazza, Rodriguez, Mickey Cochrane, Yogi Berra, Roy Campanella, Johnny Bench and Carlton Fisk). The lone exception is Darrell Porter, who reached the milestone with the Royals in 1979.

Tying Ken Griffey Jr.’s club record for home runs

Griffey hit 56 home runs for the Mariners in 1997 and 1998, leading the AL both seasons and winning the MVP Award in 1997 (he and Ichiro Suzuki in 2001 are Seattle’s two MVP winners). Griffey had the advantage of playing in the cozy confines of the Kingdome in those years, although his home/road splits were fairly even. Raleigh, however, has had to play in a tough park to hit in, with 30 of his 56 home runs coming on the road, where his OPS is about 100 points higher. That marks only the 19th time a player has reached 30 road homers (by contrast, 30 homers at home has been accomplished 37 times).

An outside shot at most total bases by a catcher

With 317 total bases, Raleigh’s 2025 campaign is already one of only 20 catcher seasons with 300 total bases (yes, time at DH has helped him here). The record is 355, shared by Piazza in 1997 and Bench in 1970 (both played 150-plus games in those seasons). Raleigh would need a strong finish to get there but could at least move into third place ahead of Perez’s 337 total bases in 2021. Not counted in Raleigh’s total bases: his 14 stolen bases!