Every once in awhile, Stephanie Raleigh has just had her fill of the baseball talk.
“Not too much,” said husband Todd of life in the family’s Cullowhee home. “We try to kind of leave it in the (batting) cage—we’ve got a cage at home, in a separate building—or on the car ride home. We did a lot of baseball growing up and a lot of talk, and it’s on TV every night. So, there’s probably been a few times when she says, ‘Yeah. That’s enough.’”
“You know,” he added unnecessarily, “baseball is a passion for us.”
It’s also the family business in the Raleigh household and has been for decades.
Todd spent eight years as a college assistant coach, including stints at his alma mater, Western Carolina, as well as Belmont Abbey and East Carolina. He was then hired as head coach at Western, leading the team to two NCAA berths in eight years.
Then there are the Raleigh boys. While sisters Emma Grace and Carley both played volleyball in college, the men in the family gravitated to the national pastime. The three of them—older brother Cal, younger brother Todd Jr., and papa Todd—combined for a successful run through the 2025 All-Star Game Home Run Derby. Dad pitched, TJ caught and Cal sent a total of 54 balls over the Truist Park wall, beating former Durham Bull Junior Caminero in the finals, 18-15.
It’s the latest accomplishment in what has been a remarkable year for Cal Raleigh. The Mariners’ catcher set records for most first-half homers by a catcher and a switch hitter—he was also the first Home Run Derby winner from either of those groups—and leads MLB in home runs, while firmly establishing himself as a candidate for American League MVP, a race that was all but called for the Yankees’ Aaron Judge a couple months earlier.
Raleigh credits his father with helping him to reach his current level.
“I mean, it goes all the way back to him coming home and me forcing him to throw me a ball and hit it and in the backyard or in the house, which was something we probably shouldn’t be doing. And then it goes back to his coaching days, when he was coaching in college, and straight after school, I was straight to the field, and I’d help in with the guys. I’d hang out, do some drills, sometimes hit in the cage, just be part of it, and just be able to play baseball and hang around the guys and kind of where I felt well in baseball.”
His dad also made him a switch hitter.
“I did it from the first day,” Todd said. “I mean, when he was in diapers, literally. And I would take that big ball. He had a big red bat, and I would throw slow, and he’d hit it. And then I’d say, ‘Stay there,’ and I’d go pick him up, turn around, switch his hands, and do it again. I just knew—I was a catcher, and, you know, I played a little bit, and I just knew what a premium (switch hitting) was. So, I put in the time. I don’t recommend, if you have two kids, that they’re both switch hitters, or you want to save your arm, because that’s a lot of throwing. They both picked it up very early.”
Cal is still a coach’s kid, looking for every opportunity to hone his craft. When Seattle played at San Francisco recently, he sought out Giants general manager Buster Posey, a former catcher who won an MVP award and multiple World Series. He also made sure to sit next to Hall of Fame catcher Johnny Bench at the Gold Glove banquet this past offseason.
“You always cling on the ones that are really good, and the ones you want to kind of be like,” he said. “You try and take things they do, catching styles, and you try to apply them to your game. Just get to talk to them, talk to baseball, talk shop, was great, super smart. Just try to pick as great, as much as I can.”
“I was always the guy asking questions,” he continued. “And I’m the same way. I still ask questions. I still, you know, I’m curious. And I think any player, you know, for as long as they play, any good player, is going to be curious, gonna want to get better, ask questions. Going to talk to guys just about baseball in general, and it’s a really big deal.”
Meanwhile, younger brother TJ provided encouragement from behind the plate while catching pitches from dad—the ones Cal didn’t launch skyward, anyway. Afterward, the 15-year-old still seemed overwhelmed by the experience, boasting that he gets to keep the All-Star jersey and the other merch he was given.
“He got to meet (gymnast, internet influencer and girlfriend of All Star starting pitcher Paul Skenes) Livvy Dunne today, so he’s pretty jacked up,” Cal joked. “He said that was the best part of the day. Hopefully this (Cal winning) will get close.”
There was no question what was the best part of the day for the patriarch of baseball’s first family.
“I just, I can’t put in words,” Todd said. “Because, you know, this Derby was huge when we heard about it, but when we involved the family, the complexion of it changed. It was all a family thing. And I thought, ‘You know what? He doesn’t any home runs. We’re still going to be good.”
