ESPN's Buster Olney Says Seattle Mariners Catcher is an MVP Candidate
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The Seattle Mariners dropped a tough 6-3 contest at home on Friday night, losing the first game of a weekend series against the Toronto Blue Jays.
The M's are 22-15 after the defeat, but they still lead the American League West by three games entering play on Saturday.
The M's have done a lot of things right over the first 37 games, but perhaps nothing has been more impressive than the play of catcher Cal Raleigh.
The 28-year-old is hitting .248, well above his career average of .221, and he's also got 12 homers, 25 RBIs and four stolen bases. His on-base percentage is up to .368. And this is all in addition to his sterling defense, which won him the Platinum Glove Award in the American League.
It's because of all that that ESPN MLB Insider Buster Olney told the Refuse to Lose podcast this Thursday that Raleigh is a clear MVP candidate thus far.
But all kidding aside, you know, early in the week on the podcast that I do, I had Paul Hembekides, a great researcher at ESPN and a huge baseball guy, and we independently, I texted him ahead of time and I said, 'okay, tell me you're 1, 2 and 3 in the American League.' And we both landed on Cal Raleigh being number two behind Aaron Judge, based on the fact that, you know, with the power and the way that he leads the pitching staff and the fact that the Mariners have done well. He gets on base. I mean, he checks every box.
You can listen to the full interview with Olney in the player below:
The Mariners will play the Blue Jays again on Saturday at 6:40 p.m. PT.
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