Photo:Bailey Hillesheim/Icon Sportswire

BY MARK SIMON

Did you catch Cal Raleigh’s next-to-last at-bat in the game in Williamsport between the Mets and Mariners on Sunday night? If you didn’t see it, you missed something quite unusual (and you can watch it here).

Raleigh hit what I would describe as a bad golf shot home run, a sliced fly ball to left field on a pitch that was down near his ankles, 17 inches off the ground.

If you look at all the home runs that MLB has marked as opposite-field home runs (linked here), you’ll see that the pitch from Reed Garrett was the 3rd-lowest hit for an opposite-field shot this season. But Raleigh’s is the only one among the 10 lowest to be hit that close to the foul line.

Raleigh went 7-for-12 with two homers in the series. That wasn’t even the only instance of him hitting an ankle-high pitch. He also bonked a Frankie Montas splitter that was 14 inches off the ground off the right center field wall, the lowest pitch on which he’s gotten a hit this season.

Splitters and forkballs thrown 12 to 15 inches off the ground have an .080 batting average and 66% whiff rate this season.

You’re not supposed to be able to do what Raleigh did to those pitches over the weekend.

But Raleigh’s season has been all about doing things others aren’t supposed to do. With 47 home runs, he’s one shy of the most by someone who primarily played catcher in a season (Salvador Perez hit 48 in 2021). The only switch-hitter with more home runs than that in a season is Mickey Mantle, who hit 54 in 1961 and 52 in 1956.

Before this season, Raleigh was known as a catcher with pretty good power, one who hit 27, 30, and 34 home runs in the previous three seasons. He was actually recognized more for his defense. He won the Platinum Glove for the Amercian League last season after leading the league’s catchers with 17 Defensive Runs Saved.

But this season his offense has become his signature. In addition to all the home runs, he’s already surpassed his career high in walks (75) and more than doubled his best stolen base total with 14. The latter is impressive considering that he ranks in the bottom 100 of major leaguers in both sprint speed and 90-foot split time.

Raleigh’s defensive numbers have actually taken a hit this season. His pitch framing and stolen base numbers are still better than MLB average but not as good as past years. His pitch blocking stats, if they hold up the rest of the season, would be the worst of his career. And though there are some flaws in evaluating this stat this way, the team ERA when he catches is 4.13, well below teammate Mitch Garver’s 3.43, and that helps to push down Raleigh’s overall Runs Saved to -2 for 2025.

But even with all that Raleigh still ranks second to Aaron Judge among American Leaguers in Baseball-Reference’s Wins Above Replacement, and you should be watching the rest of his season closely, given his penchant for doing things you haven’t seen before.