It All Started Here: Cal Raleigh

The winner of this year’s Major League Baseball Home Run Derby was pretty familiar with the long ball.

Cal Raleigh, catcher for the Seattle Mariners, broke several home run records during the 2025 campaign. He smashed 60 home runs in the regular season – the most by a switch-hitter, the most by any catcher and surpassed Ken Griffrey Jr.’s Mariners team record of 56. Raleigh was the seventh player in MLB history to achieve the feat of 60-plus home runs.

He became the first catcher to win the Home Run Derby as his dad Todd Sr. pitched and his 15-year-old brother Todd Jr. was his catcher.

During his senior high school baseball season, Raleigh hit 10 home runs in 2015 at Sylva Smoky Mountain High School i n North Carolina. That mark led the state, in addition to 20 stolen bases, and he hit .459 in 74 at-bats, according to Max- Preps.

The catching phenom also pitched and twirled 85 innings during his high school career while notching a 3.79 ERA. In 2014, he posted a 1.67 ERA and struck out 30 batters in 37 1/3 innings of work.

Raleigh’s success was not limited to the baseball diamond. He also led his basketball team to two state semifinals and was a threetime all-conference selection. As a senior, he averaged 21 points, 9.4 rebounds and 2.7 steals per game, according to MaxPreps.

Luke Modrovsky is coordinator of publications and communications at the NFHS.