Seattle Mariners Catcher Cal Raleigh Has Entered into the MVP Discussion

Last season, Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh hit 34 homers and drove in 100 runs and finished 12th in the American League Most Valuable Player voting. This season, Raleigh is improving on that and should be one of the favorites for the award, along with Aaron Judge of the Yankees, Riley Greene of the Tigers, and possibly a couple more players who have really great second halves of the season.

Through games of July 8th, Raleigh is hitting .268 and leads the American League with 36 homers and 76 RBIs. His OPS of 1.029 trails only Aaron Judge (1.205). He fields his position well; he won a Gold Glove last year and has a fielding percentage of 0.997 this year.

On July 8th, the Mariners and Yankees began a three game series in New York. Raleigh hit his 36th homer of the season, and Judge hit his 34th in a 10-3 Yankees victory. Judge leads the AL with a .360 batting average, and trails Raleigh by one RBI and two homers. Cal Raleigh may be the only one who can stop Aaron Judge from winning the Triple Crown and or MVP Award.

Here’s the highlights of the Mariners-Yankees game on July 8th: