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Seattle Mariners Catcher Cal Raleigh Earns Incredible Weekly Honor
Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh hits a home run during a game against the Minnesota Twins on June 1 at T-Mobile Park. John Froschauer-Imagn Images

Seattle Mariners star catcher Cal Raleigh capped off an incredible month by earning a weekly honor.

Raleigh was named the co-American League Player of The Week with Tampa Bay Rays infielder Junior Caminero. It's the first weekly honor of Raleigh's career.

Raleigh earned the award for a dominant stretch from May 26-June 1 where he hit .348 (8-for-23) with six runs, six home runs, a steal and 10 RBIs. He had a 1.575 OPS over that stretch.

Raleigh hit a home run in four-of-six games over the past week, including two multi-homer games against the Washington Nationals on May 27 and Minnesota Twins on May 30. Over the last week, he became the first catcher in MLB history to have 20 or more home runs before the end of May and thethird player in Seattle history to accomplish that feat. The other two players were Ken Griffey Jr. (1994, '97, '99) and Alex Rodriguez (1998).

Raleigh became the third Mariners player to win AL Player of The Week honors this season. Utility player Dylan Moore won it for the week of April 14-20 and designated hitter Jorge Polanco won it for his showing from April 21-27.

Raleigh is on pace to have the best season by a catcher ever. He's scored 39 runs and has hit 10 doubles with his major league-leading 23 home runs and 45 RBIs in 58 games entering Tuesday. He's slashed .264/.379/.637 with a 1.016 OPS.

Raleigh has become one of the most valuable players in baseball this season. He's second in baseball in FanGraphs WAR (3.8) and fourth in Baseball reference WAR (3.4), and his latest award is proof more sources are starting to recognize that.

This article first appeared on Seattle Mariners on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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