Mariners make Cal Raleigh decision after placing him on IL

The Seattle Mariners placed catcher Cal Raleigh on the 10-day injured list with a strained right oblique on Thursday.

Ahead of Friday’s series opener against the San Diego Padres, Seattle general manager Justin Hollander said that Raleigh’s latest MRI results were either similar to or slightly improved from the scans taken earlier this month when the injury first surfaced. Hollander also confirmed that the switch-hitting catcher did not worsen the injury during Wednesday’s game against the Houston Astros, when he re-aggravated the issue.

The Mariners will now shut Raleigh down from all baseball activities for one week before re-evaluating him. He is expected to travel to the club’s spring training complex in Peoria, Arizona, where he will continue rehab work. Hollander added that Raleigh will receive an injection to aid the recovery process, though neither he nor Raleigh specified whether it would be a cortisone or platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injection.

Raleigh acknowledged before the series opener that he likely would have attempted to continue playing if the injury had occurred later in the season. However, with the calendar still in May, the 2025 American League MVP finalist said the better decision was to prioritize recovery.

The injury had bothered Raleigh for around two weeks before the IL move. He missed three games between May 2 and May 4 against the Kansas City Royals and Atlanta Braves, but initially tried to manage the discomfort and remain in the lineup.

Before going on the injured list, Raleigh had been scuffling offensively. The 28-year-old ended an 0-for-38 slump with a two-hit performance against Houston on Tuesday. Through 41 games, he owns a .161 batting average, a .243 on-base percentage, a .317 slugging percentage, a .560 OPS, seven home runs, four doubles, and 18 RBIs.

While Raleigh recovers, veteran catcher Mitch Garver and Jhonny Pereda will handle catching duties for Seattle.

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