For the first time in his career, Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh has been placed on the injured list. After resting and attempting to play through some side discomfort, the Big Dumper seemed to aggravate his side discomfort in Wednesday’s game. He was eventually replaced by Mitch Garver behind the dish, and now the club will be without their superstar backstop for at least 10 days with an oblique strain, with C Jhonny Pereda recalled in his place. The news is unsurprising, but troubling, as Raleigh now faces
the uncommon challenge of rehabbing an oblique injury as a switch-hitter, an issue noted by Daniel Kramer of MLB.com as one of the factors that may complicate his recovery timeline. Raleigh will receive imaging on Friday when Seattle begins the second leg of the Vedder Cup as they play host to the San Diego Padres.
While Raleigh has struggled immensely in 2026, and it is some small relief to see him receive the time to effectively heal, that’s a bronze lining at best. Cal’s absence puts serious strain on a catching corps that has not demonstrated strength. Mitch Garver signed to a minor league deal this winter after the club soured swiftly on their initial backup plan of Andrew Knizner, who was released before Opening Day despite signing a big league deal. He’ll be expected to take on the primary role in the interim.
Garver, of course, originally came to the Mariners in 2024 with the intention of full-time DH work, as he’d done overwhelmingly in his time with the Texas Rangers. While Garver’s 2024-25 were disappointments, and saw him relegated into a backup role again, he’s been a fairly stalwart, but a major reason for Garver’s DH shift was durability issues, which saw him placed on the IL at least once a year from 2019-2023. Garver has not missed time with the M’s, but it’s a concern point now to see the 35 year old pushed into more serious duty.
That may mean a more even split of time with Pereda, who has fewer big league games under his belt than Garver has played in seven different seasons. Pereda is no Alejandro Kirk, but he does bring a more contact-focused approach at the plate than Garver. The 30 year old is in his eighth MLB organization, and faces primarily a titanic task of filling the shoes and sliding shorts of the Big Dumper for an indefinite period of time. Pereda has hit well in Triple-A Tacoma (his seventh different Triple-A club), running a .321/.414/.417 line in 100 plate appearances, and has historically performed well at the top level of the minors regardless of whether it’s earned him big league opportunities. This will likely be his most significant stretch of play in his career, though it’s possible Seattle looks externally for another option.
