Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh deservedly wins Silver Slugger Award

Cal Raleigh claims the first Silver Slugger Award of his career, but Jorge Polanco and Julio Rodríguez both miss out for the Seattle Mariners.

As unpredictable as this past season was for the Seattle Mariners, one of the few certainties was that Cal Raleigh was the best overall catcher in baseball. As such, the expected became official on Friday, as he was named an American League Silver Slugger Award winner.

This was the fourth consecutive year Raleigh was nominated as a Silver Slugger finalist and represents the first such award of his Major League career. He’s the first catcher in Mariners franchise history to win the award and eighth overall, joining the likes of Ken Griffey Jr., Edgar Martínez and Ichiro Suzuki.

The 2025 season was a career one for Raleigh, who became just the seventh player in Major League history to hit 60 home runs in a season. Along the way he surpassed previous single season home run records held by Salvador Perez (catcher), Mickey Mantle (switch-hitter) and Griffey (Mariners).

There was so much more to Raleigh’s game though, as he finished first in the AL in RBI, second in walks, slugging and runs, as well as third in OPS. He also finished second overall in the AL in bWAR to Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees, and next Thursday we will find out which of the two superstars will be named AL MVP.

Julio Rodríguez should have also won Silver Slugger Award

Aside from Raleigh, Jorge Polanco and Julio Rodríguez were the other two Mariners named as finalists for the Silver Slugger Award, at second base and in the outfield respectively. Both missed out, but of the two we would contend Rodríguez was the more unfortunate not to win.

Rodríguez already has quite the resume as the only Major League player to win the Silver Slugger award in each of his first two career seasons, since it was first given out in 1980. He seemed all but certain to win a third time after leading all center fielders in batting average, hits, runs scored and stolen bases, while finishing second in RBI, doubles and triples.

Regardless, 2025 was a tremendous season for the 24-year-old, who finished fourth in the AL with a new career-high 6.8 bWAR, earned his third All-Star selection and became the first player to begin his Major League career with four consecutive 20–20 seasons. He also became the first player in Mariners history to record multiple 30+ home run and 30+ stolen base seasons and joined Bobby Witt Jr-KC as the only players in Major League history to accomplish this feat at age 24-or-younger.

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As for Polanco, this was his first nomination as a finalist since 2021 and he still waits to win his first Silver Slugger Award. He can consider himself unfortunate as well, after ranking second among all qualifying second basemen this season in slugging (.495), OPS (.821) and wRC+ (132).

This was a season of true redemption for Polanco, after the Mariners were criticized for re-signing a player coming off the worst season of his 12 years in the majors. Whether he returns to Seattle in 2026 remains to be seen, after declining his $6 million player option and not receiving a qualifying offer from the M’s.

Finally, the Mariners missed out on winning the team AL Silver Slugger award, with the honor instead going to the Yankees. The M’s finished second in the AL in home runs (238), walks (544) and stolen bases (161), as well as fourth in runs scored (766) and OBP (.320).

Photos court​‌esy of Tim Rogers Photography

Do you agree that Rodríguez was unlucky to miss out on a Silver Slugger Award of his own? As for Raleigh, how confident are you he will be named AL MVP next Thursday? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.