Mariners Place Cal Raleigh On Injured List

The Mariners have placed catcher Cal Raleigh on the 10-day injured list due to an oblique strain. Fellow catcher Jhonny Pereda has been recalled from Triple-A Tacoma to take his spot on the roster. It’s the first IL placement of Raleigh’s big league career. Seattle also reinstated Jose A. Ferrer from the paternity list and optioned fellow southpaw Josh Simpson to Tacoma.

There’s no immediate timetable for Raleigh’s return. Daniel Kramer of MLB.com notes that he’ll receive a more thorough evaluation tomorrow when the club returns to Seattle. Raleigh has been attempting to play through pain in his oblique for more than two weeks now. He has only two hits in his past 49 trips to the plate, which has tanked his season batting line to .161/.243/.317.

Raleigh’s recent nosedive, coupled with a slow start to the season as well, have contributed to a pedestrian 21-23 record for the Mariners. Seattle had a particularly tough stretch in early April, dropping seven of eight games. They’ve played better since, with a 17-13 record over the past month. They’re currently two games back of the A’s for the division lead (and a half-game behind the Rangers as well).

Raleigh, of course, was the American League MVP runner-up in 2025, when he became the first catcher to ever hit 60 homers in a season. Raleigh’s .247/.359/.589 slash was 61% better than league-average, by measure of wRC+. Last year was his third straight season with 30-plus homers and fourth straight with 27 or more. It’s not clear if he was dealing with any kind of physical issue early in the season, but he clearly hasn’t performed anywhere close to his typical standards.

In his place, the M’s will rely on a light-hitting tandem of Mitch Garver and Pereda. Garver was a potent offensive force from 2018-23, which helped him land a two-year, $24MM deal with thee Mariners ahead of the 2024 season. His bat went south immediately upon signing in Seattle, however. He slashed .187/.290/.341 in 720 plate appearances over the life of that deal. Garver returned on a minor league pact this past offseason, made the club despite a poor spring showing, and has now slashed .167/.344/.188 in 61 trips to the plate.

Pereda, 30, has played in parts of three major league seasons. He’s taken 123 plate appearances and delivered a middling .248/.303/.301 line in that time. Pereda has consistently hit Triple-A pitching, however — this season included. He’s opened the year with a hefty .321/.414/.417 slash in exactly 100 plate appearances with the Rainiers.

We’ll learn more about the severity of Raleigh’s strain in the days ahead, but even Grade 1 strains (the lowest on a scale of one to three) can sideline players for upwards of a month. It’s likely this will require a good bit more than a minimum stint for Raleigh.