Cal Raleigh hits first homer

Cal Raleigh waited 10 games for his first home run of 2026, then took it off Jacob deGrom in a 12-pitch fight that ended with a 417-foot shot into right field at Globe Life Field on April 6. The swing gave Seattle a 1-0 lead before many fans had settled in. (mlb.com 1) (mlb.com 2) That detail matters because deGrom is not the kind of pitcher hitters usually use to get comfortable. The Texas Rangers right-hander won two Cy Young Awards, and the pitch Raleigh drove out was a 99.1 mile-per-hour four-seam fastball. (mlb.com 1) (mlb.com 2) Raleigh is not a surprise power source in the big picture, even if this was his first homer of the new season. The Seattle catcher led Major League Baseball with 60 home runs in 2025, so the drought was more about timing than doubt over whether the power would show up. (espn.com) (usnews.com) Early April numbers can look strange because a baseball season is so long that one hot week or one cold week can distort everything. A player can go from zero home runs to feeling back on track with one clean swing, especially when it comes after a long at-bat against an ace. (mlb.com) This one was not a cheap homer sneaking over a short wall. Major League Baseball’s tracking data measured it at 107.8 miles per hour off the bat, with a 29-degree launch angle, which is the kind of contact hitters are trying to produce when they talk about getting the ball in the air with authority. (mlb.com) The at-bat itself may have been as encouraging as the result. Raleigh saw 12 pitches from deGrom before connecting, which told Seattle two things at once: his timing was good enough to stay alive, and his strength was good enough to punish a mistake late in the battle. (mlb.com) (mlb.com) Seattle needed that kind of sign because the club opened 2026 unevenly. ESPN’s game log showed the Mariners at 4-7 after the April 6 loss in Texas, and Raleigh’s homer stood out in a game Seattle still lost 2-1. (espn.com) That last part is why the homer landed as both good news and incomplete news. One swing from Raleigh gave the Mariners an early edge, but the rest of the night reinforced that Seattle still needs more than one middle-of-the-order bat to wake up if it wants to climb quickly in the American League West. (mlb.com) (espn.com) There was also a small bit of recent history behind the moment. Two days earlier, on April 4 against the Los Angeles Angels, right fielder Jo Adell robbed Raleigh of what would have been his first homer, one of three potential Seattle home runs Adell helped erase in that game. (espn.com) So the blast in Arlington felt less like a breakthrough from nowhere and more like a correction. The power had been close, the contact had been loud, and then one of the league’s best power-hitting catchers finally got a ball far enough and high enough that nobody could bring it back. (espn.com) (mlb.com) For Mariners fans, the useful takeaway is not that one home run fixes April. It is that Seattle got a reminder, on April 6 in Texas, that Raleigh’s power still changes a game instantly, even on a night when the lineup around him is still trying to settle. (mlb.com) (espn.com)