Mariners' Cal Raleigh ‘pretty happy' after first rehab game in Everett
EVERETT - A small entourage escorted Cal Raleigh back to his beginning. A large crowd greeted his return to the Everett AquaSox on Sunday.
The star catcher formally began his return from a right oblique strain, going 1 for 3 with a single in the first game of his rehab assignment with the Mariners' High-A affiliate, drawing a robust ovation each time he appeared from a sold-out crowd of 4,203 at Funko Field.
When it was announced the other day that Raleigh would play in Everett, the remaining tickets for Sunday's game sold out in 94 minutes.
After his magical 60-homer season, Raleigh has indeed become a must-see spectacle, and a couple of hundred fans lined up along a chain-link fence outside the clubhouse a half-hour before the game, hoping to catch a glimpse of him.
On the first pitch of his first at-bat, Raleigh drew a loud roar when he sent a towering fly ball toward the short porch in right field. The ball felt like it hung in the air long enough for Raleigh to jog up the line and touch first base just as the Eugene Emeralds right fielder made a leaping catch at the wall, near the 345-foot sign.
"I thought my timing would be a lot worse than it was today," Raleigh said afterward. "But I thought it was better. Ultimately, I was pretty happy with how the day went overall. It was a good day."
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Raleigh, serving as the designated hitter, exited the game after three at-bats Sunday, as scheduled. He will head to Tacoma to resume his rehab assignment in Triple-A on Tuesday, when he's scheduled to suit up behind the plate.
In his second at-bat Sunday, Raleigh struck out swinging through an elevated 96-mph fastball from Eugene's Hunter Dryden, a 5-foot-9 right-hander from Deer Park, Wash., who starred at Whitworth University.
In his third at-bat against Dryden, Raleigh singled the other way on a ground ball through the left side.
In 2018, Raleigh began his pro career here, playing 38 games with the AquaSox after the Mariners selected him in the third round of the MLB draft that summer.
He hadn't been back until Sunday. For his return he was escorted by Rob Scheidegger, the top administrator on the Mariners' high performance and medical staff, and Paul Simpson, the club's head of security. Two local law enforcement officers tagged along with the group.
Perhaps the most important thing from Sunday, Raleigh said, was his right side felt fine.
"I didn't feel it today," he said. "We're still going to monitor it and hopefully keep progressing up, which I thought today was a step in the right direction."
For the first time in his career, Raleigh landed on the injured list May 14. He spent about two weeks recovering from the oblique strain in Arizona with the Mariners' training staff.
He returned last week to Seattle and took in the Mariners' last homestand. If all goes well this week, he could be activated next week when the Mariners return home from their East Coast trip.
He was asked what he's learned the past few weeks.
"Just that I don't like being on the IL, I guess," he said. "It's been fun seeing the guys the last couple weeks playing really good baseball. And just excited to be back with the team and be a part of it. You realize how much you miss it. So I think from that perspective, it's just excitement to get back … but being smart as well."
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