The Big Dumper just left the yard again!

In what has become a regular occurrence during Cal Raleigh‘s incredible 2025 season, the Seattle Mariners catcher added two more home runs to his historic total Tuesday — and passed another MLB legend in the process.

Raleigh has already surpassed the record for home runs by a catcher and by a switch-hitter and joined the prestigious 50-homer club, and who could forget his Home Run Derby triumph earlier this summer?

What record could Raleigh set next, how many home runs will he finish with and just how impressive is his season? We’ve got it all covered.

Raleigh must-reads: Raleigh’s road to homer history | Surprising 50-HR seasons | Best power half-seasons in MLB history

Raleigh’s current pace

Raleigh is now at 56 home runs and on pace for 60 with 11 games left.

The American League record is 62, set by Aaron Judge in 2022, and there have been only nine 60-home run seasons in MLB history.

Who Raleigh passed with his latest home run

With his 55th and 56th home runs Tuesday, Raleigh passed Mickey Mantle (yes, you read that right: The Mick himself) for the most in a season by a switch-hitter.

Raleigh and Mantle (who reached the mark twice) are the only switch-hitters in MLB history with 50 long balls in a single season — well ahead of Lance Berkman and Chipper Jones, who each hit 45 in their most prolific home run season.

Who Raleigh can catch with his next home run

The next milestone up for Raleigh is passing Ken Griffey Jr.’s Mariners franchise record of 56, which Raleigh tied with his two-homer effort Tuesday. That’s a number Griffey reached twice — in the 1997 and 1998 seasons.

Raleigh has already joined Griffey as the only Mariners with 50 home runs (or even 45) in a season. Raleigh is also the first Seattle slugger with 40 homers in a season since Nelson Cruz in 2016.

Raleigh’s 5 most impressive feats of 2025

Most home runs in a season by a switch-hitter

With his 55th home run, Raleigh knocked Mickey Mantle, who hit 54 in 1961, from the top spot. Breaking Salvador Perez‘s record of 48 home runs by a primary catcher understandably got a lot of attention, but beating Mantle’s mark is arguably more impressive given how long the record stood and the Hall of Famer’s stature.

One of the best months ever for a catcher

In May, Raleigh hit .304/.430/.739 with 12 home runs and 26 RBIs. Only four catchers have hit more home runs in a calendar month and only eight with at least 100 plate appearances produced a higher slugging percentage. Raleigh was almost as good in June, hitting .300/.398/.690 with 11 home runs and 27 RBIs, giving him two-month totals of .302/.414/.714 with 23 home runs and 53 RBIs. In one blazing 24-game stretch from May 12 to June 7, Raleigh hit .319 with 14 home runs.

Reaching 100 runs and 100 RBIs

Raleigh is sitting on 101 runs scored while leading the American League with 115 RBIs. Only eight other primary catchers have reached 100 in both categories in the same season — Mike Piazza did it twice, in 1997 and 1999, and he and Ivan Rodriguez were the last catchers to do it in ’99. Of the other catchers, seven are in the Hall of Fame (Piazza, Rodriguez, Mickey Cochrane, Yogi Berra, Roy Campanella, Johnny Bench and Carlton Fisk). The lone exception is Darrell Porter, who reached the milestone with the Royals in 1979.

Tying Ken Griffey Jr.’s club record for home runs

Griffey hit 56 home runs for the Mariners in 1997 and 1998, leading the AL both seasons and winning the MVP Award in 1997 (he and Ichiro Suzuki in 2001 are Seattle’s two MVP winners). Griffey had the advantage of playing in the cozy confines of the Kingdome in those years, although his home/road splits were fairly even. Raleigh, however, has had to play in a tough park to hit in, with 30 of his 56 home runs coming on the road, where his OPS is about 100 points higher. That marks only the 19th time a player has reached 30 road homers (by contrast, 30 homers at home has been accomplished 37 times).

An outside shot at most total bases by a catcher

With 317 total bases, Raleigh’s 2025 campaign is already one of only 20 catcher seasons with 300 total bases (yes, time at DH has helped him here). The record is 355, shared by Piazza in 1997 and Bench in 1970 (both played 150-plus games in those seasons). Raleigh would need a strong finish to get there but could at least move into third place ahead of Perez’s 337 total bases in 2021. Not counted in Raleigh’s total bases: his 14 stolen bases!

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Cal Raleigh broke Mickey Mantle’s record for homers by a switch-hitter and tied the Mariners record set by Ken Griffey Jr. when the Seattle star hit his 55th and 56th of the season in consecutive at-bats in a 12-5 win over the Royals on Tuesday night.

Raleigh doubled in his first at-bat on a hot, humid night in Kansas City. He came up again in the third inning and, batting left-handed against Michael Wacha, fouled off a changeup and took a sinker for a ball before Raleigh sent a hanging curveball 419 feet over the right-field fence for his 55th home run of the season.

That broke the switch-hitter mark set by the Yankees star in 1961, which Raleigh had tied against the Angels on Sunday.

BIG DUMPER TWO HOME RUN NIGHT!

Cal Raleigh ties Ken Griffey Jr. for the most home runs in a single season in franchise history 😳

(via @MLB) pic.twitter.com/Wpz7lk7W4n

— ESPN (@espn) September 17, 2025

The All-Star catcher was back up in the fourth inning Tuesday night. This time, batting right-handed against left-hander Daniel Lynch IV, Raleigh sent the first pitch he saw 425 feet to straightaway center for his 56th homer.

Griffey set the Mariners record when he hit 56 homers during the 1997 season and matched the mark the following year.

After both home runs, Raleigh got a standing ovation from a small group of Mariners fans behind the visiting dugout at Kauffman Stadium. Many Royals fans, who had turned out to watch a club fading from playoff contention, also applauded the home runs. It was Raleigh’s 20th career multihomer game and his 10th this season, the most in a single season by a catcher in MLB history.

There have only been nine 60-homer seasons in the majors. Aaron Judge had the last when he hit 62 for the Yankees in 2022, an American League record. Raleigh would need to hit six more home runs over the next 11 games to tie Judge’s record.

The Associated Press and ESPN Research contributed to this report.

MINNEAPOLIS — Anthony Volpe returned to the New York Yankees‘ starting lineup on Tuesday, making his first start since getting a cortisone shot in his left shoulder.

Volpe entered the game against Minnesota hitting .206 with 19 homers in 142 games this season, playing through a small tear in his labrum for more than four months. He had a cortisone shot last week, his second this season, and returned to action as a defensive replacement in the eighth inning of New York’s 7-0 loss Monday. He did not have a plate appearance and was in Tuesday’s lineup at shortstop and batting eighth.

“I feel like he’s in a good place physically,” New York manager Aaron Boone said. “With that being said, that’s been the case most of the year. So, he’s just got to focus on what he does up at the plate and put himself in position to make good swing decisions, and hopefully click for him right away.”

Volpe aggravated the injury on Sept. 7 when he made a diving stop in a game against AL East-leading Toronto. He originally injured the shoulder in May and had a cortisone shot during the All-Star break.