Mariners’ Cal Raleigh makes history as 1st catcher to win Home Run Derby

Cal Raleigh, the Seattle Mariners slugger who is MLB’s leader in home runs at the All-Star break, is the long ball king in Atlanta. 

And he made history in the process.

Raleigh beat Tampa Bay Rays budding star Junior Caminero, 18-15, in the final round to win the 2025 Home Run Derby at Truist Park on Monday night to kick off All-Star festivities. 

“Big Dumper,” as he’s affectionately known, is the first catcher to ever win the event since it began four decades ago. Raleigh is also the second Mariners player to ever win, as Ken Griffey Jr., the Hall of Famer who was in the dugout watching, was the only one before this performance. 

Raleigh, who has belted 38 homers in what has become his breakout season for the Mariners, was all smiles as he and his father, who pitched to him throughout the contest, celebrated the victory. 

As victor, Raleigh also gets $1 million from MLB, while Caminero, who stood to be the youngest Derby champion of all time at 22 years old, gets $750,000 as runner-up. 

There was a moment in the final round, too, where it appeared there might have been some controversy, as one of the ball boys shagging the non-home run balls in the outfield seemingly robbed a Caminero home run. 

Caminero entered the bonus round needing five home runs to win, but he didn’t get close as he hit too many in play for the Raleigh victory. 

But Raleigh almost didn’t make it out of the first round, as he made it by literally an inch. 

Athletics’ right-handed hitter Brent Rooker and Raleigh both topped out in the first round at 471 feet with their longest home runs. Being that they each had 17 homers, it came down to the exact distance and Raleigh’s longest ball was calculated at 470.63 feet compared to Rooker’s 470.53-foot bomb. 

Other than these two brilliant performances, Pittsburgh Pirates slugger O’Neil Cruz had the most memorable home run of the night. The lefty, who has clocked exit velocities higher than 120 mph in his career, hit a ball 513 feet, putting all of his 6-foot-7 frame into it. 

Atlanta Braves star Matt Olsen was able to have a solid stretch toward the end of his first round, but he wasn’t able to crack into the top four. Instead, the final spot went to Byron Buxton, who had a great bonus round to make it to the semifinals. 

Buxton, though, had just seven homers in the next round, leaving Caminero with just an eight-homer mark he had to reach. He did so with ease and had a good amount of rest while Raleigh and Cruz battled it out head-to-head.

Washington Nationals young star James Wood had a respectable 16 homers in the first round, while New York Yankees infielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. couldn’t find the right stroke with just three homers tallied. 

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