Cal Raleigh is on a historic home run pace for a catcher

[True Dough]

On June 20th, Seattle catcher Cal Raleigh clubbed his 28th home run. He reached that mark in 73 games. The previous catcher to hit 28 home runs the fastest to start the season was Johnny Bench, and it took him 14 more games (87). Raleigh hit another HR later that day for good measure.

Yesterday, he put his 30th ball over the fence.

Today, Cal Raleigh smoked dinger #31. The man is ON FIRE!

Link to tweet

[SheltieLover]

1. WOW! Quite impressive!

[Iwasthere]

2. "On pace" is inaccurate

The 2nd one hit hit today gave him put him sole position. He is the all time leader for a catcher. One more hr than Johnny Bench. Amazing!! He's great, and so humble too. The ""Big Dumper", pretty cool

[True Dough]

3. Not sure if I understand your post

Salvador Perez holds the record for the most HRs by a catcher in a single season with 48, a mark he established in 2021. Raleigh is on pace to surpass that by a wide margin, but slumps and injuries do occur, of course.

[ProfessorGAC]

4. 32 Now

Hit Another One Last Night
A switch hitting catcher with power from both sides. Pretty rare.

[True Dough]

5. Just turned 28

He hit 34 dingers last year, a career high. He's on the verge of blowing past that mark before the season is half over.

Maybe another 3 or 4 close to peak seasons ahead of him. Wonder if he'll be above average in offensive production in the future or taper off rather quickly? So hard to say in these sorts of situations.

[ProfessorGAC]

6. Catcher Is A Physically Demanding Position

Even if he doesn't burn out, he may have to play fewer games just to preserve him for a playoff push.
I looked at standings yesterday and Seattle has the 6th best record in the AL. So, they're clearly in the running.

[True Dough]

7. True

Not a team you think of as a contender, but they're holding their own so far.

[True Dough]

8. Can't stop! Won't stop!

Link to tweet

[Morbius]

9. The most home runs hit in a season by a catcher:

48, hit by Salvador Perez of the Kansas City Royals in 2021. With 35 before the All-Star break, Raleigh appears to be in good position to shatter this record. If he stays healthy in the most physically demanding position in the game.