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Mariners’ Cal Raleigh Home Run Derby ball smashes reporter’s laptop
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- Mariners’ Cal Raleigh Home Run Derby ball smashes reporter’s laptop
The post Mariners' Cal Raleigh Home Run Derby ball smashes reporter's laptop appeared first on ClutchPoints .
Only one Seattle Mariners player had won the MLB Home Run Derby — until Monday arrived.
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Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh flexed his muscles and bested the rest of the competition at Truist Park in Atlanta , as he achieved the same feat Seattle legend Ken Griffey Jr. did in 1999.
"It's kind of surreal," Raleigh said after topping the field and becoming just the second Mariners player ever to win the Home Run Derby (h/t Rowan Kavner of Fox Sports). "You don't think you're going to be invited, and then you get invited, and the fact that you win it with your family, super special. What a night."
Raleigh was the biggest nightmare of baseballs during the event, with the Mariners catcher racking up a total of 54 home runs in the event. And one of those blasts came at the expense of a reporter's laptop, particularly that of DLLS Sports' Abby Jones.
"Might need a new computer, but I'm honored to have a home run ball hit by Cal Raleigh during this historic season," Jones wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter) that also showed her damaged MacBook and the ball that hit it.
Following the event, Jones returned the ball to Raleigh and posed for a photo with the slugger — along with the MacBook, which had a dinged top cover.
The 28-year-old Raleigh barely advanced past the first round of the tournament, as he broke a 17-17 tie with Athletics star Brent Rooker . He started to get it going in the semifinals against Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Oneil Cruz , smashing 19 home runs to Cruz's 13. In the finals, Raleigh edged Tampa Bay Rays star Junior Caminero via an 18-15 score.
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It has been quite a season thus far for Raleigh, who earned his first career MLB All-Star nod on the strength of his, well, strength. He entered the tournament having finished the first half of the 2025 MLB regular season as the overall leader in home runs with 38 after not hitting more than 34 in a single campaign. New York Yankees star Aaron Judge is second with 35, while Los Angeles Dodgers two-way star Shohei Ohtani is third with 32.
Related: Mariners' Cal Raleigh has no answers for Jacob Wilson
Related: Mariners star Cal Raleigh's dad, brother react to Home Run Derby triumph
