It's been a larger-than-life MLB season for the man affectionately known as "The Big Dumper," with Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh smashing home run records right and left.
That's because the 2025 MLB Home Run Derby champ has now exceeded Salvador Perez's league record for home runs in a season by a catcher, bashing 51 (and counting) to move three ahead of the former Royals' backstop, who hit 48 in 2021.
More impressive is the fact that Raleigh's bashed that many long balls in 137 games, meaning he's averaged roughly .375 homers per game in 2025. To get a sense of where that figure ranks leaguewide, RotoWire.com compiled the best home run seasons this century, averaging out the highest homers per game number to get a benchmark for the year that the fifth year catcher out of Florida State has achieved.
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Where Cal Raleigh's 2025 HR Pace Stands:
2001: Barry Bonds (San Francisco Giants): 73 homers in 153 games (.477 homers per game)
2001: Sammy Sosa (Chicago Cubs): 64 homers in 160 games (.400 homers per game)
2022: Aaron Judge (NY Yankees): 62 homers in 157 games (.395 homers per game)
2020: Luke Voit (NY Yankees): 22 homers in 56 games (.393 homers per game)
2017: JD Martinez (Detroit Tigers/Arizona Diamondbacks): 45 homers in 119 games (.378 homers per game)
2025 Cal Raleigh (Seattle Mariners): 51 homers in 137 games (.375 homers per game)
2017: Giancarlo Stanton (Miami Marlins): 59 homers in 159 games (.371 homers per game)
2024: Aaron Judge (NY Yankees): 58 homers in 158 games (.367 homers per game)
2006: Ryan Howard (Philadelphia Phillies): 58 homers in 159 games (.365 homers per game)
2006: David Ortiz (Boston Red Sox): 54 homers in 151 games (.358 homers per game)
Where Raleigh Ranks
While no MLB hitter will likely eclipse Barry Bonds' MLB record season in 2001, when the sport's all-time long ball leader bashed 73 homers in 153 games, averaging .477 round-trippers per game, that's not to say that Raleigh's season hasn't shattered ceilings on its own.
That's because the 28-year-old North Carolina native currently has the sixth best home run per game average this century, at .375, stacked between JD Martinez in 2017 (.378) and Giancarlo Stanton in 2017 (.371).
While Bonds gets all the shine for his 73-homer season 24 years ago, Sammy Sosa of the Chicago Cubs was no slouch, with 64 homers in 160 games in 2001, posting the second-best homers per game average in the 21st century, at .400.
This decade, two Yankees, in Judge of 2022 and Luke Voit during the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign (.393 homers per game) were the only hitters to bash homers at a more prodigious pace than Raleigh's current figure, speaking to the impact that "The Big Dumper" has achieved this season in the Emerald City.
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Can Cal Keep it Up?
While the second half of the MLB season has seen Raleigh's prodigal long ball rate drop off, with 13 homers since the All-Star Game (ranking in a tie for 8th with a host of other players leaguewide), the M's backstop has the inside track to clinch the home run crown in 2025.
That's because oddsmakers at FanDuel Sportsbook are still giving Raleigh the top odds to win the MLB home run title this season, at -110, while Kyle Schwarber of the Philadelphia Phillies is the closest competitor, at +110.
Schwarber's closed the gap, thanks to his MLB-leading 19 homers since the break, but there's still ample time for Raleigh to put this thing away, with 23 games remaining on Seattle's schedule and plenty of hanging off-speed pitches to pulverize between now and the end of the month.
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