👀How the Mariners' Logan Gilbert and Cal Raleigh developed alongside each other into foundational 👀

how the Mariners Logan Gilbert and Cal  Ry developed alongside each other into   foundational P not long after he hit one of the  biggest home runs in Mariners history the walk-off   winner against Oakland that ended Seattle's  Infamous playoff drought in September 20122   Cal ry's teammate responsibilities extended into  the off season that fall he was a groomsman for   one of his closest friends Logan Gilbert the two  had grown close since being drafted in 2018 as   they climbed the minor league ladder together  before debuting in 2021 and quickly cementing   themselves as core members of Seattle's roster  but even though Raleigh wasn't the only Mariner   in attendance Gilbert's wedding represented  something of an awkward if amusing reunion for   his battery mate because long before Gilbert  and Raleigh became big league teammates they   occupied opposing dugouts during a series of  sunshine state showdowns between ry's Florida   state seals and Gilbert STS and Hatters much to  Gilbert's Chagrin Raleigh made a strong impression   during those games I'm pretty sure he hit a home  run against three of the other groomsmen at least   two of those guys Gilbert told Yahoo sports he  hit so well against us I account for one of them   confirmed left-hander Ben onishko one of Gilbert's  teammates at Stetson who was also selected by the   Mariners in the 20 2018 draft and pitched in  the organization for six seasons they'd hit so   many homers it was kind of demoralizing because we  played good games against other instate teams like   Miami or UCF we'd go to Florida State and just  get rocked every single time as the Ace of STS   and staff who threw almost exclusively on Friday  nights Gilbert did not Pitch against Raleigh   and the seol in any of the midweek contests the  teams played across their three years in school   instead Gilbert's peers were left to deal with  the slugging catcher and it didn't go great in   seven games Raleigh hit 350 with four home runs  one as a freshman one as a sophomore and two as a   junior and was walked 10 times the seol outscored  the Hatters 56-29 over the first six games before   ston finally eak out a 5 to3 win toward the  end of Ry and Gilbert's junior year how did   Gilbert and onesko choose to handle their former  Nemesis becoming their teammate after they were   all drafted by Seattle in 2018 it was something  we probably didn't bring up a ton because we knew   how it went Gilbert said so we were kind of just  hoping he forgot about it they weren't so lucky I   remember the games Raleigh said and I always give  Logan a hard time we weren't ever going to live   that down as a group Gilbert added now in their  fourth Big League season it's much easier for the   duo to look back and laugh at their lobster cited  Collegiate history those matchups as amateurs have   become funny footnotes in the evolution of Gilbert  and Raleigh as players and people on their journey   to becoming fixtures in the Mariners organization  as Seattle ascended out of a rebuild that saw   dramatic roster turnover in 2019 and 2020 a new  era of Mariners baseball defined by homegrown   pitching began to take shape with Gilbert a  prototypical Workhorse starter with an intense   desire to improve and Raleigh a power hitting  Field General task with managing and supporting   the next wave of Seattle hurlers at the Forefront  it's difficult to imagine where the Mariners would   be at this point if they hadn't secured both  foundational pieces in the same draft 6 years   ago so it's good news that they did the son of  Todd Raley who spent 12 Seasons as a head coach at   Western Carolina and Tennessee Cal Raleigh was one  of the top high school players in North Carolina   in the class of 2015 he was originally committed  to play Third Base and catcher at Clemson but a   coaching change at Clemson shortly after Raleigh  graduated high school prompted a late switch to   Florida State a lack of catching depth for the  seol soon resulted in a full-time move behind   the plate for Raleigh he made an immediate impact  earning freshman all- America honors and regard   as one of the most promising catchers in college  baseball then a disappointing sophomore season   dropped his Prospect stock entering his draft year  in 2018 he bounced back back with a strong year   offensively as a junior but evaluators still  had concerns about his offensive track record   and questions about his defensive abilities  behind the dish he was down on the national   lists Mariners president of baseball operations  Jerry diot said he wasn't popping as an industry   High pick even so during Seattle's pre-draft  meetings proponents of Raleigh's potential   began to speak up one such voice was Frankie  pilera now Miami's director of amateur scouting   Frankie held up his hand and said I know that  he's going to show up a little further down the   model but the guy we can't forget here is caly  di recalled multiple Scouts and cross Checkers   followed suit with their praise he started  crawling up our board di said Cal just kept   getting voted up to the point where he went from a  guy we probably didn't introduce to our discussion   until somewhere well into the first week of our  national meetings to hey is this guy the best   catcher in the draft Raleigh ultimately lasted  until the third round when Seattle scooped him up   with the 90th overall pick fast forward to today  and despite being the seventh back stop selected   Raleigh leads all catchers from the 2018 draft  in both games played and War while Raleigh was   in Tallahassee playing for a perennial Powerhouse  at STS and Gilbert matriculated at a strong mid   major program known for producing two Sai Young  Award winners in Corey clubber and Jacob deg gram   a skinny kid from just outside Orlando with a fast  ball touching 90 mph on occasion Gilbert was one   of countless raw but projectable prep pitchers  in search of another gear at the college level   it didn't take long for him to find one he was  that tall lanky kid that's like if everything   clicks this guy could get drafted he could be  pretty good onishko said and then his sophomore   year he absolutely took off Gilbert pitched  primarily out of the bullpen as a freshman   before securing during a weekend rotation roll  early in his second season the best start of his   college career came that April against Florida  Gulf Coast when Gilbert carried a perfect game   into the eighth inning and navigated around  two nth inning base runners to secure a 1 to   zero Victory his ey popping final line two hits  allowed across nine shutout Innings with zero   walks and 18 strikeouts on 135 pitches that was  when it was like holy s this guy is really good h   Co said Gilbert followed his Splendid sophomore  spring with another Seven Fantastic starts in the   Cape Cod League spiking his draft stock further  with Seattle slated to pick 14th in the following   Summer's draft it didn't seem realistic to invest  too much time in scouting Gilbert as his Junior   season commenced coming off of his summer on the  capit was pretty consistent among our scouting   leadership group that we thought he was in the  discussion for the first overall pick da said   frankly we were focused on other areas early  on because we assumed he would be off the board   but while Gilbert continued to dominate in his  Junior season leading all division ey pitchers   in strikeouts with 163 and 112 and 13 Innings  his velocity was notably down in the 90 to 92   Range rather than the mid90s heat he demonstrated  the year prior suddenly a top five or even top 10   selection wasn't a certainty so when Gilbert was  still on the board at pick number 14 atle's draft   room was ecstatic when it became more evident as  our national meetings went along that he might   get to us it was an easy yes di said we had a  particularly high opinion of Logan as a person as   a fit for our organization and his curiosity his  intelligence his adaptability so we had a pretty   good feel for who he was and when he showed up it  took only a minute to recognize that our guys got   it right assistant general manager Andy McKay who  previously served as the club's director of Player   Development echoed that sentiment when reflecting  on his earliest interactions with both Gilbert   and Raleigh after they joined the organization it  became abundantly clear quickly that they checked   every box he said what you learn by going through  this you can go Scout players you can watch them   play you can do in home visits but you know that  player better four or five days after signing them   than you could have ever known beforehand  and especially with these two it was just   immediate these guys were here to work the work  and the camaraderie began in Earnest when Gilbert   and Raley were roommates at Seattle's offseason  high performance Camp following the 2018 season   it was just lifting running conditioning meetings  mental skills stuff Raleigh explained that's kind   of where I got to know him a little bit and kind  of built the Friendship because we weren't really   doing anything baseball related Mariners manager  Scott survey a former Big League back stop himself   remers seeing Raleigh for the first time during  2019 spring training I was just kind of shocked   how physically mature he was it doesn't really fit  the mold of the durable catcher that's going to   be able to stay back there and catch 115 to 120  gam survey said hinting at the skepticism that   appeared in scouting reports from Raley's amateur  days it's like wow this is a pretty big dude how   flexible is he going to be and and I started  watching him catch like oh this is interesting   because when he started getting in different  setups he was super flexible really athletic   for a big guy and that was even before I ever saw  him swing a bat the bat translated quickly Raleigh   homered in his first at bat of the 2019 season and  across 121 games 28 more homers followed more than   any other catcher in the minor leagues hit that  year even more encouraging for the Mariners was   was how Raleigh attacked his development  on defense mastering the intricacies and   responsibilities of catching at the professional  level a lot of that learning took place alongside   Gilbert who was Raley's teammate with hay Modesto  for two months before the two were promoted to daa   simultaneously in mid July diotto recalls visiting  Modesto and witnessing the early stages of Raleigh   and Gilbert getting in syn I remember walking in  there the day that Logan was going to start and   Cal is sitting down there with him with the line  up and they're going through the lineup card he   said and Kell wasn't catching that day but he was  sitting with Logan going through his progression   like the way he should go through this lineup and  then I watched as Cal sat on a ball bucket on a   step in The Dugout with the chart in his hand and  he was charting Logan's game and then when Logan   would come back to the Dugout Logan would sit down  with Kell and as I recall he had a little notebook   and he would jot down notes I thought that was  remarkable for a young guy because I don't think   it's something we asked him to do although the  2020 Minor League season was cancelled Gilbert   and Raleigh continued to develop together at the  team's alternate site it was an interesting point   for me because I already kind of had the pieces  that I was going to use in my debut Gilbert said   obviously I've changed a lot since then but it  was close enough to a finished product that we   knew what it was going to look like and Kell was  helping me put the final touches on that seeing   what would work what didn't putting an entire  AR personal together if meticulous preparation   to find ry's climb through the minor leagues  and continues to exemplify what makes him a   great big leager Gilbert's rise and subsequent  success are best understood through his intense   competitiveness and unwavering commitment to  Improvement that competitive fire exists in stark   contrast to the Mellow Ultra kind personality  that he displays off the field he's one of the   nicest humans you'll ever meet McKay said but  on the mound it's a different story even in an   empty ballpark during scrimmages leading up to  the shortened 2020 season Gilbert's passion was   on full display McKay recalls umpiring one such  scrimmage between big Leaguers and Prospects and   which player it was who took issue with his calls  yelling at him from the mound it wasn't one of the   established big Leaguers it was Logan he said and  I just love that about him because he can be the   nicest guy in the world and then he's the ultimate  competitor that drive and curiosity about his C   fueled Gilbert to continue adjusting his  repertoire even after he established himself   as a big league starter before it was big shapes  on a lot of pitches and different arm slots Raley   said of Gilbert's offerings early on and I think  when he got to the big leagues he learned really   quick that it wasn't going to fly because big  Leaguers pick up on stuff like that and he had   to learn to Tunnel his pitches the correct  way he went from there and has evolved into   what he is now as a rookie in 2020 one Gilbert  threw his four seam fast ball 61% of the time   with his slider 24% the primary secondary weapon  followed by a curveball and traditional change up   that appeared occasionally since then Gilbert's  for seam usage has steadily declined to the point   that he now throws it almost exactly as often  31.5% as his slider 31.2% and he has ditched   the change up in favor of a nasty splitter and  added a cutter to help again left-handers after   3 years of Dependable production this revised  Arsenal has enabled consistent dominance more   in line with that of a legitimate Ace which in  turn earned Gilbert his first career Allstar not   in July Logan was at the Forefront of the rise of  our pitching group and now he's obviously Central   to it di said he in so many ways embodied what we  wanted in our pictures Raley's transition to the   big leagues was not quite as smooth while Gilbert  quickly settled into his role in the rotation   Raleigh floundered at the plate in 2021 failing  to even remotely replicate the Gody numbers   he produced in triaa although he stayed in the  majors through the end of the season his playing   time waned in September in favor of Veteran Tom  Murphy and Raley finished the year with a pul   tre1 180223 sl309 line in 148 plate appearances  a return to Tacoma seemed plausible to open 2022   instead Raleigh made the team out of spring  training only to succumb to a late April demotion   after he scuffled at the plate early in the season  a longer triple a stint to iron out his offensive   wo seemed to be in order but then Murphy suffered  a shoulder injury prompting a recall of Ry just a   week later development be damned it was suddenly  sink or swim in the big leagues Murphy gets hurt   and now they have no choice but to recall him  Mariners broadcaster Aaron Goldsmith recalled   there's no way in that period of time he has fixed  the flaws that got him demoted to AAA they're just   like hey you're our only option come on back sorry  figure it out and he did gold smith looks Back At   One Singular swing as the moment it all started to  click the turning point for him in every facet was   his home run at the Mets he said that City Field  home run is the absolute line of demarcation in   Cal's career about a week after after returning  to the big leagues Raleigh strolled to the plate   in the sixth inning of a tie game with a batting  average of 061 to his name with two outs and a   runner on first he cranked a Titanic go-ahead  blast that nearly reached the Shea bridge in   right center field you look at Cal Ry before  that home run and Cal righ after that home run   it's two different people gold smith said since  that decisive swing in Queens Raleigh and his 82   home runs lead all catchers by a massive margin  Salvador porz is second with 61 in that span all   the while Raleigh has managed a pitching staff  that has developed into one of the game's best   playing through numerous bumps and bruises to  a massive staggering workload for a catcher   of his offensive prowess only JT real mudo has  caught more Innings over the past three regular   seasons and with a sterling ability to frame  pitches and control the running game the sum   of Raley's contributions has been nearly unmatched  among back stops across the league since since his   recall in May 2022 he ranks second among catchers  in FW behind only adley rushman in retrospect gold   smith considers that sequence early in Raley's  career to be an awfully intriguing sliding doors   moment if not for Tom Murphy's injury who knows  how that season goes for Cal how long is he down   in tripa for the Mariners such an alternate  timeline is best left to harmless pondering   what matters is what really happened Raleigh  seized the opportunity and never looked back   in his development into one of baseball's best  all-around catchers has been pivotal to Seattle's   Collective success this year not only is he on  track to lead all Major League catchers in home   runs for the third season in a row but he also  leads all catchers in FW AR in 2024 and his two   homers against the Mets on Sunday night baseball  made him the first catcher since Mike Patza with   25 plus home runs in three consecutive Seasons  having a catcher contributes significantly on   offense is something of a luxury considering the  low bar for hitters at the position but the value   Raleigh brings to the club defensively on a daily  basis cannot be overstated especially for a team   so reliant on its pitching staff to win games this  team is not even close to what we are without him   Gilbert said when you think about a catcher he's  kind of your defensive coordinator McKay said he's   putting the fingers down about 150 times a night  and so his involvement in winning and losing is   Paramount learning the art of pitch calling and  the confidence to apply it in Big League games   with a wide range of pitchers is no small task  and while Raleigh had worked with Gilbert since   AB ball he started from square one building  trust with the rest of the Mariners rotation   I don't really know any catchers that are  going to walk right in on day one and start   telling veteran pitchers here's what you need to  do more of survey said I think Kell went about it   the right way by now Raleigh is so in tune with  each pitcher strengths and weaknesses that the   staff rarely deviates from his plans throughout  a game plus Raleigh has devised creative ways to   ensure that his pitchers don't go off script the  biggest problem is the pitch clock because you   can't shake through everything Gilbert explained  we give Cal some flak sometimes because he might   think about the pitch for 10 seconds and then  give it to us with 5 seconds left on the clock   and I'll joke around with him that he does that  because now we don't have an option to shake the   them off we have to throw exactly what he wants  us to in his Defense Raleigh tends to have the   right pitch in mind Gilbert was reminded of that  in his most recent start when he allowed a sharp   single to Francisco Linder the one time he shook  off his catcher in a brilliant outing Saturday   against the Mets it was Gilbert's fifth start  of the season in which he went seven scoreless   Innings the most such starts of any MLB pitcher  Gilbert accounts for 19 of Seattle's MLB leading   71 quality starts the season which ties him with  Corbin Burns for the most in baseball after he   allowed just three hits and one walk vs New  York Gilbert's whip dropped to 0.873 best among   qualified starters and yet I still don't think  Logan has reached his ceiling survey said I think   Logan is kind of the epitome of what I talk about  all the time with our team it doesn't matter just   get better yeah Logan's really good but to him  it doesn't matter he's just going to focus on   getting better HEK the poster child for it for  me said McKay these two are going to continue   to evolve their game and that's where so much of  their confidence comes from they know they put   in the work they know how prepared they are and  it makes us confident in them although they're   still just 27 years old Gilbert and Raleigh 2 of  Seattle's longest tenured homegrown players have   already accomplished a lot alongside each other  and ending the dreaded postseason drought was   quite an achievement so early in their careers  but the Duos still have lofty expectations for   what's ahead the same Drive they exhibited while  winning California League games 5 years ago is   now on display at the highest level and with  far greater Stakes the Mariners remain neck   and neck with Houston at top the AL West as  Seattle seeks its first division title since   2001 having been around a lot of players through  the years and played with a lot of guys you run   across teammates who just trust each other and  Belong Together di said and that's these two guys