Passan Awards celebrate enjoyable and unconventional honors beyond traditional MVPs, Cy Youngs and Rookies. Cal Raleigh won Badonkadonk of the Year after an age-28 breakout that combined elite catching, switch-hitting power and rare durability. Raleigh matched or surpassed historic sluggers in record books and kept pace with premier hitters in the American League MVP conversation while threatening a 60-home-run season. He missed only three games, refined his weaker right-handed stroke into a potent weapon and helped propel the Seattle Mariners toward their first AL West title since 2001.
"Ball knowers understood who Raleigh was entering the 2025 season: the best catcher in MLB, a switch-hitting, Platinum Glove-winning, home-run-punishing hero with the most appropriate (and inappropriate) nickname in baseball -- the Big Dumper, for his lower half putting the maximus in gluteus. This, though? A superstar turn in which the Seattle Mariners' best player passes Hall of Famers such as Mickey Mantle and Ken Griffey Jr. in the record books?"
"A season-long run in which he keeps pace with Aaron Judge, the best hitter in the world still at the peak of his powers, in the American League MVP race? A legitimate shot at becoming only the seventh player in MLB history to hit 60 or more home runs in a season. Look hard enough and it makes sense. A season like Raleigh's 2025 necessitates playing every day, which, at a position where 120 games is the norm, is almost impossible."
Read at ESPN.com
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