During the 2025 baseball season, we saw a catcher do something that has never been seen before in baseball history.
Cal Raleigh of the Seattle Mariners just hit 60 home runs in a single season, the most single season homers by a catcher and by a switch hitter in baseball history, while also maintaining status as a renowned defensive catcher and leading his Mariners to their first appearance in the American League Championship Series since 2001.
Yet, Raleigh still may not win the American League MVP award, even after all the homers, his stellar defense that won him the 2024 AL Platinum Glove, the award given to the top overall defender in the AL, and his victory at this year’s Home Run Derby. Because on the opposite side of the country, in the Bronx, (and it feels like we say this every season), Aaron Judge once again put together one of the best seasons a hitter has had in baseball history, and he finally had a productive postseason for his New York Yankees. Only one of these two can win the award, and if Raleigh doesn’t win, it will be a sad ending to the greatest season a catcher has ever had.
Most catchers in this era spend a vast majority of their practice time working with pitchers on the staff, helping them with their mechanics, and with coaches, working on the art of pitch framing and blocking. Along with that, duties of a catcher on game day include warming up with pitchers in the bullpen, doing specialized drills with coaches, calling pitches from behind home plate, and rushing to take gear on and off between innings. Catchers get hit with balls and swings behind the plate regularly during games.
That doesn’t leave a lot of time for hitting mechanics. Usually, a good offensive season for a catcher includes 15 homers, a 3.5 WAR and a .750 OPS, along with the expected good defense.
Raleigh finished this season with 60 homers, a 7.0 WAR, a .948 OPS, and 125 RBIs, which is top 5 in the MLB in each of those stats. Raleigh hit 29 more homers than the next closest catcher, and four more than the next closer player of any position. As I mentioned earlier, Raleigh also demolished the record for most homers by a catcher in a single season, breaking Salvador Perez’s 2021 record of 48 homers.
Raleigh is also, somehow, a switch hitter, meaning he can hit from both sides of the plate, which is incredibly hard to do. Consider this: almost all baseball players will never make the minor leagues, let alone the major leagues, because they’re not good enough hitters. Cal Raleigh is so good, he can hit balls 420 feet as a righty and a lefty. And this season, he broke Mickey Mantle’s record of most homers by a switch hitter, besting the legendary Mantle by 5 homers.
Raleigh is also one of the best defensive catchers in the American League, maybe the best defender in the American League, as shown by his winning of the AL Platinum Glove last year. Raleigh caught the third most innings behind the plate this year, at 1,072 innings, and didn’t allow a single passed ball until the AL Divisional Series against the Detroit Tigers. Raleigh also had to manage his pitchers, calming them down and making pitch selections that he thinks will generate weak contact.
Additionally, even though the ballots have already been cast for AL MVP, and postseason performance isn’t considered in ballots, it’s worth noting that Raleigh has gone 10-for-25 in postseason at-bats as of Oct. 12, which equates to a .400 batting average, while the rest of the Mariners are 35-for-181, equating to a mere .181 average.
If Raleigh is to win the MVP this year, he’ll join an elite group of catchers to have won the award which includes hall of famers Yogi Berra, Johnny Bench, Roy Campanella and Joe Mauer. Raleigh would be the first catcher to win the award since Buster Posey won the NL MVP in 2012 for the San Francisco Giants. He would be the first Mariner since Ichiro Suzuki in 2001 to win the MVP.
My main argument against Judge doesn’t try knock down his incredible season but instead is based on the knowledge that the overall workload a catcher faces is much more significant than that of any other position player, which makes Raleigh’s 60-homer season much more significant when you put it into comparison. A player like Judge no doubt works tirelessly on defense, but not as much as a catcher, and therefore would have much more time than catchers to spend time in the batting cage working on hitting.
Judge also spent a portion of the season on the injured list due to a right flexor strain in his elbow. Admittedly, that’s hard to hold against him, but the injury forced him to hit as a DH for a stretch of games- and did wind up affecting his arm value in the field when he returned to the outfield.
On the other hand, Judge had perhaps the most well-rounded season of his career. Judge once again broke the 50-homer mark, hitting 53 this season with 114 RBIs. He led the majors in each category of his slash line (AVG/OBP/SLG,) by posting .331/.457/.688. Judge also led the majors with his 9.7 WAR.
Judge’s defense was among the best of all outfielders, even with the post injury games were accounted for, and he finished with 4 outs above average, in the 87th percentile of all major leaguers, and with one of the stronger arms in the majors.
Granted, he was playing right field in Yankee Stadium for half of his games, which is only 314 feet down the right field line, and is one of the shortest distances from the plate to the foul pole in the majors. Thereby, it is significantly easier to play right field in Yankee Stadium than somewhere like Wrigley Field in Chicago, that is 353 feet down the right field line.
Both Raleigh and Judge had excellent seasons, but there’s no doubt in my mind the most valuable player in the American League was Raleigh. His 60-homer season by a platinum glove catcher was unprecedented, and although Judge put up another MVP caliber season, Raleigh’s magical season should shine through to voters, and they’ll award Raleigh the 2025 AL MVP.
