The month that turned Cal Raleigh into baseball's best home-run hitter

Halfway through this Major League Baseball season, the hitter on a historic home-run pace is not Aaron Judge, the reigning American League MVP, nor Shohei Ohtani or Juan Soto, the sport’s $700 million sluggers
Halfway through this Major League Baseball season, the hitter on a historic home-run pace is not Aaron Judge, the reigning American League MVP, nor Shohei Ohtani or Juan Soto, the sport’s $700 million sluggers.
It’s Cal Raleigh, the Seattle catcher whose previous career-high for home runs in a season was 34, and who plays a position, and in a home ballpark, that has never been known for producing prolific home-run hitters.
And yet, in only the first 96 games of the season, Raleigh has already hit 38 homers, the second-most ever before the All-Star break. A primary catcher has never hit 50 home runs in a single season; the record belongs to Salvador Perez's 48, from 2021.
Raleigh made more history on Monday when he became the first catcher and switch-hitter to win the Home Run Derby.
His breakout has been the season’s biggest surprise. Yet it did not come out of nowhere.
Rating: 5