Monday was a night to remember for the Raleigh family.
With his father, Todd, pitching on the mound and his 15-year-old brother, Todd Jr., catching behind the plate, Mariners slugger Cal Raleigh hit 18 homers in the final round—and 54 overall—to take home the 2025 MLB Home Run Derby crown. He became the first catcher and switch hitter to capture the crown.
"It means the world," Raleigh said to Jeff Passan on the ESPN broadcast after the final round. "I could've hit zero home runs and had just as much fun. I just can't believe I won. It's unbelievable!"
BIG DUMPER
— MLB (@MLB) July 15, 2025
BIG WINNER
CAL RALEIGH IS YOUR DERBY CHAMP 😤 pic.twitter.com/D9Jdl7dr3X
Raleigh batted first in the final round and mashed 18 homers from the left side of the plate. The other finalist, Rays infielder Junior Caminero, fell just short with 15 homers.
But "Big Dumper" nearly didn't advance past the first round.
Raleigh hit 17 homers in the opening round, tied with Brent Rooker for fourth place out of eight batters behind Oneil Cruz (21 homers), Caminero (21) and Byron Buxton (20). Raleigh and Rooker went to a tiebreaker to determine who advanced—and MLB announced after the round that the Mariners slugger's longest home run traveled about an inch further than Rooker's longest dinger.
Raleigh's longest homer was measured at 470.617 feet, narrowly defeating Rooker's distance of 470.535 feet.
"You know, maybe if they have it to the decimal point, they should display that during the Derby and not wait till everyone's done to bring out that information that might be helpful," Rooker said to reporters after the Derby.
In the second round, Raleigh cruised past Oneil Cruz with 19 homers to his 13.
Raleigh is the first Mariners player to win the Home Run Derby since Ken Griffey Jr. did it three times in 1994, '98 and '99. And, coincidentally, Griffey was in attendance at Truist Park on Monday night working as a photographer for the event.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Cal Raleigh Defeats Junior Caminero in Final Round to Win 2025 Home Run Derby.
