Back 20 years ago, Cal Raleigh had a video of an eight-year-old version of him, where he went on to hammer a toy baseball with his toy bat and said that he is the Home Run Derby champ. Alas, that moment would turn out to be a premonition as the Seattle Mariners star became this year’s Home Run Derby champion thanks to his massive performance.

Making history in the premier power-hitting event of the MLB, it does seem that Raleigh was expected to win it all when the video was leaked. The Mariners star joined Ken Griffey Jr. (1994, 1998, 1999) as the only players to ever win the Home Run Derby in franchise history. He is also the first catcher in the league to achieve the said feat.

Raleigh is the league’s leader in power hitting, so it made perfect sense that he was going to be a candidate in the contest despite being a designated catcher to begin with. Still, it was not enough to stop him from fulfilling one of the best performances in the game. Now he’s a historic winner of the Home Run Derby, and that stays forever.

A Promising Finish for Raleigh

Raleigh topped off the MLB with the most home runs nailed before the All-Star Break at 38. That is more than any other player in the history of the sport at that point, save for Barry Bonds, who had 39 back in 2001. That says a lot about how Raleigh has been really good when it comes to putting up an impressive campaign of hitting homers.

“I mean, I don't know where they found that thing in the archives. Yeah, just kind of surreal. You don't think you're going to win it. You don't think you'll ever get invited. Then you get invited. The fact that you win it with your family, super special. Just what a night.”

Raleigh finished the Home Run Derby with 17 homers in the pool round, setting him up as the no. 4 seed among the final four hitters in play. The Mariners star would go on to knock off a homer at 470.62 feet, which ended up with him closely staving off any chances of more tiebreakers to play in the game.

“My goodness gracious, that's close,” Raleigh said. “It’s just crazy. An inch off, and I'm not even in the final four, which is amazing. So I guess I got lucky there. One extra biscuit.”

Cherishing the Moment

The moment of truth with Raleigh finishing with the Home Run Derby title was just a surreal experience not just for him, but also for his family. No one has experienced more nostalgia at this point than his father, Todd Raleigh Sr. – who took the said video of the young Cal.

“When you're a parent, you look at it differently because you want your kids to be happy,” Todd Sr. said. “I can't say how lucky and blessed I am. Everybody that plays baseball, every dad knows, I could have been that guy. Cal could have been that player. To do it as a family has been really special.”

Thankfully, this finish for Raleigh will now set him as one of the legends that the game will remember for years to come. For a catcher to come up with a strong win in the Home Run Derby is a statement as to how flexible his game has become, and how impressive his two-way game has emerged at this point for the Mariners.