Key facts
- Cal Raleigh batting .156 in 391 plate appearances for Seattle Mariners in 2026
- Only Joe Gerhardt’s 1885 season (.155 in 423 plate appearances) ranks lower in MLB history with 391+ plate appearances
- Raleigh hit 60 home runs with 125 RBI and .247 average in 2025, finished second in AL MVP voting
- Seattle Mariners record 59-67 pending August 20 game vs. Milwaukee Brewers
- Raleigh went 0-for-3 with a walk in Wednesday game against Brewers
The numbers
Cal Raleigh, the Seattle Mariners catcher, is batting .156 in 391 plate appearances through the 2026 season. According to Sporting News, this marks the second-worst batting average in Major League Baseball history among qualified hitters with at least 391 plate appearances. The only player to post a lower average with more plate appearances was Joe Gerhardt, who hit .155 in 423 plate appearances for the 1885 New York Giants. Gerhardt finished that season with 62 hits and a .399 OPS across 112 games, a benchmark often cited for historically poor offensive seasons.
The contrast with 2025
Raleigh’s 2026 collapse stands in sharp contrast to his performance the previous year. In 2025, he hit 60 home runs with 125 RBIs and a .247 average, finishing second in American League MVP voting behind Aaron Judge. The falloff from that elite production to this season’s historically bad performance is stark.
Recent performance and team context
In the Mariners’ Wednesday game against the Milwaukee Brewers on August 20, 2026, Raleigh went 0-for-3 with a walk. The Mariners’ record stood at 59-67 pending that contest’s result, placing them outside the playoff race. Raleigh has acknowledged the team’s offensive struggles, telling the Seattle Times last week: “We’re not playing well. That starts with me. I’m awful. I’ve got to find a way to be better and to help bring the guys along.”
Sources
Featured photo: Arc1294 via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0)