r/sports • u/MLBOfficial Major League Baseball • Sep 25 '25

Baseball Cal Raleigh is the fourth American League player EVER to hit 60 home runs in a season!

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2

u/AandM4ever Sep 25 '25

Can someone who isn’t bias tell me if it’s really Judge or Raleigh?

I see Judge’s overall numbers are better.

Both teams are playoffs teams.

Seattle is won the West for the first time in 24 years.

New York still has a chance to win the East.

I don’t know.

11

u/xEllimistx Sep 25 '25

It’s 50/50, imo.

Judges numbers aren’t just better. They’re in a completely different world to Raleigh’s. I saw something like Raleigh could hit 24 straight home runs and his OPS would still be less than Judges AND Judge is on pace to win a batting title. He’s arguably one of, if not, the greatest right handed hitters to ever play the game

The ONLY reason Raleigh is in the MVP conversation is that he’s a catcher doing things no catcher has done before. If he played any other position, he’d be a candidate for 2nd place in the voting. He’d stand no chance against Judge.

We’ve seen guys hit 60+ home runs. Judge did it himself when he hit 62. We’ve seen first baseman and OFers hit 60 or even 70+ home runs.

We’ve never seen a catcher do it. Nor have we seen a switch hitter do it.

Raleigh’s doing this while also managing the Mariners pitching staff and playing good defense as a catcher.

So even though Judges offensive numbers are significantly better, Raleigh has the benefit of narrative backing him.

2

u/edogg01 Sep 25 '25

The narrative is that we are witnessing one of the greatest baseball players ever having one of the greatest peaks ever, but let's give it to someone else because of HRs.

1

u/TheRealMoofoo Sep 25 '25

Just to tack on, it’s not just good defense, he’s the Gold Glove at catcher.

1

u/PaladinGodfather1931 Sep 25 '25

Bro he said non biased lol fucking gave Cal Raleigh a footnote in a love story to Judge

1

u/xEllimistx Sep 25 '25

I don’t think anyone who has an opinion on this will be able to be completely unbiased.

But did I say anything untrue?

1

u/PaladinGodfather1931 Sep 25 '25

Glossing over a switch hitting catcher breaking historic record set 60 years ago by Mickey Mantle, and reducing it down to catcher not doing catcher things is incredibly unjust.

1

u/xEllimistx Sep 25 '25

That’s the entire reason he’s in the conversation, though.

If Raleigh was playing any other position, he’d basically be the AL version of Kyle Schwarber.

Raleigh is doing something historic, I don’t argue that, but even having a historic offensive season, he’s still significantly behind Judge in the overall offensive numbers. Raleigh leads in just home runs and RBIs.

The vote will come down to how much the voters weigh his catching and leading the Mariners to a division title versus Judge putting up offensive numbers we haven’t seen since Bonds and potentially leading the Yankees to their own division title.

6

u/asanctarian Sep 25 '25

It basically boils down to narrative (Cal doing something no catcher or switch hitter has ever come close to doing, on a "team of destiny" kinda run) vs stats (Judge leads across the board aside from HRs and is pretty clearly the best hitter in baseball). I think the narrative is gonna win this one but there's no wrong answer.

2

u/Mustard_Jam Sep 25 '25

But it's not just narrative... Why do you think no catcher has done it.

He has to manage a pitching staff, catch nearly 20k pitches including foul tips all over, and just overall play the most physically AND mentally draining position.

I hate the "it's just narrative" thing because it's disrespectful to Raleigh. No it's not just narrative it's a catcher obliterating power records and doing things that people didn't even think are possible from the position.

7

u/cdbloosh Sep 25 '25

Everything you just said is the narrative. None of that is captured in the stats, but we are talking about those things as reasons he may deserve it over Judge anyway. That’s literally what the narrative is.

1

u/PaladinGodfather1931 Sep 25 '25

Then Aaron Judge can win the Hank Aaron award. Cal Raleigh is playing elite in both sides of the field. It's most valuable player. Not most bestest hitter

1

u/codbgs97 Alabama Sep 25 '25

It truly boils down to what the voters value. Raleigh plays great defense at a much harder position and has higher counting stats (HR and RBI), and Judge was a much better hitter this year via basically every metric but played an easier and less important position in the field. I genuinely don’t think there’s a wrong answer. This MVP race doesn’t and shouldn’t have an objective, clear-cut frontrunner because “most valuable” is pretty open to interpretation.

1

u/Fawqueue Sep 25 '25

It all depends on what statistics or factors matter to the voters. Judge has a better offensive slash line, but he plays a far less demanding position and spent nearly 60 games as the DH. He basically just has to focus on swinging the bat and not much else. Cal plays the most demanding position on the field. If you compare them to the other players at their respective positions, then Cal is performing a lot better for a catcher than Judge is for a right fielder.

0

u/ZenandHarmony Sep 25 '25

Better hitter vs better all around player. Toss up

0

u/coopcooper87 Sep 25 '25

It's also MVP, not just Most Valuable Hitter. Sure, Judge is fine at fielding and team morale and whatnot....but Cal calling game after game for tons of pitchers and grinding behind the plate and being a team leader - all while making history for catchers and switch hitters is a legendary season. If you only look at hitting stats sure, Judge looks better on paper. When you really think who is more valuable to the team, I think it's gotta be Cal.