Cal Raleigh should be favorite to win AL Gold Glove as catcher

The 2024 Gold Glove Award finalists have been announced and it will be unjust if Cal Raleigh doesn’t win his first Gold Glove.

During the final homestand of the 2024 regular season, another member of the media wondered out aloud why Cal Raleigh still wasn’t getting his due recognition as one of the best catchers in the Majors? I suggested the age-old issue of East Coast bias in the sports world as one possibility, with Seattle nestled away in the Pacific North West and effectively referred to as South Alaska.

Raleigh would subsequently go on to end the season on a high in the final game of the Mariners’ campaign, as he became the first catcher in team history to reach 100 RBI in a season. Even more significantly, his 34th home run of the season was his 93rd overall in the Majors, taking him past Hall of Famer Mike Piazza for the most in MLB history by a catcher in their first four seasons.

This caused the same member of the media to ask how Raleigh was going to be overlooked this time, as one of the very best in the game at his position?!?! Well, we’re going to find out soon enough if it happens again, albeit not necessarily because of his hitting.

A finalist to win a Gold Glove

As confirmed on Tuesday by Thomas Harrigan and Theo DeRosa of MLB.com, the 2024 Rawlings Gold Glove Award finalists have been announced. And right there among the American League finalists is Raleigh. (Dylan Moore was the only other Mariner named as a finalist.)

In both leagues, three finalists are named at each of the nine positions. Along with Raleigh, the other two AL catchers announced, were Jake Rogers of the Detroit Tigers and Freddy Fermin of the Kansas City Royals.

Now there’s no denying that Rogers and Fermin are both worthy candidates in their own right. However, this is a case where Raleigh clearly deserves to win the first Gold Glove of his Major League Career.

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Why Cal Raleigh deserves to win

Don’t believe us? Well, consider to begin with, that the 27-year-old led all Major League catchers with 26 catcher caught stealing and 1122.0 innings caught.

Raleigh also led his pitching staff to a 3.30 ERA while he was behind the plate, which was again best in the Majors. In respect of the American League, he led all catchers with 13 framing runs and was tied with Fermin for most Defensive Runs Saved, at 16.

The case is clear that the 2018 third round draft pick deserves to win the Gold Glove Award as AL catcher. This is the second time he has been announced as a finalist for the award, so at least he’s getting some recognition.

However, whether this recognition extends to actually winning the award this time around, remains to be seen. The winners will be unveiled on ESPN’s “Baseball Tonight” on Nov. 3 at 5:30 p.m. PT, voted for by the 30 MLB managers and up to six coaches from each club. (No one is allowed to vote for players on their own club.)

Raleigh should be favorite to win at his position in the AL, and again, he clearly deserves to claim that first Gold Glove Award. If not, then my fellow media member will have even more justification to ask why the Mariners catcher isn’t getting his due recognition?

How convinced are you as a Mariners fan, that Cal Raleigh will win a Gold Glove? Are you confident or sceptical that he will get the award, which is more than deserved all things considered? Let us know in the comments section below.