ESPN's Buster Olney Says Seattle Mariners Catcher is an MVP Candidate

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.