Jerry Dipoto Heaps Praise Upon Catcher Cal Raleigh in Latest "Wheelhouse" Episode
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Seattle Mariners' President of Baseball Operations Jerry Dipoto heaped massive amounts of praise upon catcher Cal Raleigh in the latest edition of 'The Wheelhouse" podcast.
The podcast is a team-sanctioned podcast in which Dipoto answers questions from the hosts, Aaron Goldsmith and Gary Hill Jr. The podcast comes out about once a month or so.
You can hear the comments about Raleigh below, from the Mariners' "X" account:
"He's a driver on our offense. You know, he's the guy that you would like to see coming up in those big moments. Over the years, he tends to deliver. And the leadership that he provides, with his guidance, of our pitching staff, every year, even month by month, it gets a little bit better..."
Stepping up as a leader.
— Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) May 16, 2024
Jerry Dipoto details the importance of Cal Raleigh both at the plate and behind it, plus more, in the latest Wheelhouse 👉 https://t.co/2x3XcTMnPl pic.twitter.com/ZzZAMzy1i1
Dipoto went onto to say even more about how Raleigh leads the pitching staff and has an understanding of the league as a whole, which helps him in his ability to do that.
Everything that Dipoto says is right: While the M's pitching staff generally gets credit because of its own natural ability, it can't be overstated how important Raleigh is to the group. Furthermore, amid the team's offensive struggles, Raleigh has remained the one guy you constantly feel confident about coming to the plate. He's hitting just .218 but he does have 10 homers and 24 RBI. He has an OPS+ of 120 and has hit 27 homers or more in each of the last two seasons.
The Mariners kick off a 10-game road trip on Friday night against the Baltimore Orioles. You can read out game preview here. The game begins at 4:05 p.m. PT.
