What USA skipper DeRosa saw from Cal Raleigh at the WBC

Team USA manager Mark DeRosa told Seattle Sports he saw Cal Raleigh grinding through mechanical issues at the 2026 World Baseball Classic—hooking balls, opening his front shoulder, and rolling over his top hand—months before the Mariners slugger's power collapsed in the regular season. DeRosa's firsthand account connects the WBC swing flaws to Raleigh's brutal first half.

Last year, Cal Raleigh led the American League with 60 home runs and finished second in MVP voting. In 2026, the picture looks radically different. DeRosa managed Raleigh on Team USA and watched the same habits analysts have spent months dissecting. His comments frame a then-and-now story: the franchise pillar who carried Seattle in 2025 was already fighting his swing on the sport's biggest international stage.

Key Takeaways

• DeRosa said Raleigh was hooking balls and rolling his top hand at the WBC, pulling Brian McCann into extra cage sessions to "right the ship."
• RotoBaller data shows Raleigh at .169/.271/.310 with hard-hit and barrel rates roughly cut in half from his 2025 season.
• Buster Olney argued disrupted spring-training prep at the WBC hurt Raleigh, who played sporadically before an oblique injury derailed his ramp-up.
• DeRosa believes Raleigh is neither the 60-homer version of 2025 nor as bad as his 2026 line—somewhere in the middle, but still Seattle's stabilizing force.

What Did Mark DeRosa See From Cal Raleigh at the WBC?

When DeRosa joined Curtis Rogers on Seattle Sports' Bump and Stacy show, the question was direct: did anything look off with Raleigh during the tournament? "Yeah," DeRosa answered bluntly. "He was grindin'."

The USA skipper described Raleigh hooking balls, flying open with his front shoulder, and rolling over his top hand. DeRosa added that he expected a player of Raleigh's caliber to shake those habits faster than he has.

DeRosa also noted the WBC's compressed nature—roughly seven or eight games where whoever is hot gets the at-bats. He would have loved Raleigh in the championship game, but Will Smith was swinging it well and earned the spot. Raleigh was competing for playing time while trying to fix a swing that already looked off.

After practices, DeRosa watched Raleigh seek extra work. "When we were done with practice, he was grabbing the Brian McCanns of the world and saying, 'Hey, come here, let's go into the cage and let's right the ship,'" DeRosa recalled. Even so, Raleigh was "rolling the ball over a little more than I was accustomed to seeing." DeRosa noted that Raleigh's 2025 success still came from getting the ball in the air to the pull side from both sides of the plate—the raw ingredients were there, but the timing was wrong.

Why Does Raleigh's Power Collapse Go Beyond Bad Luck?

By the All-Star break, the numbers told a stark story. RotoBaller's Bruno Mulé noted Raleigh was hitting .169/.271/.310 with nine home runs in 65 games. An oblique strain that cost him 33 days and kept him out until a June 16 return explains part of the slump, but Mulé argued the underlying damage runs deeper.

Raleigh's hard-hit rate fell from 49.6% to 32.5%, per RotoBaller. His barrel rate dropped from 19.5% to 11%, and his strikeout rate climbed to 32.5%. Statcast expected stats showed a .179 expected batting average and .356 expected slugging percentage. Seattle kept Raleigh in the heart of the order throughout—the opportunity never disappeared, but the quality of contact did.

That profile aligns with what DeRosa described at the WBC: rolling over balls instead of staying through the zone. DeRosa offered his own calibration: "The game's brutal. I don't think Cal's as good as the 60-homer guy he was last year and he's certainly not as bad as he's going this year. It's kind of somewhere in the middle." RotoBaller warned against paying 2025 prices on a buy-low bet, citing real second-half risk.

How Much Did the World Baseball Classic Hurt the Mariners?

Roundtable.io's Brady Farkas spoke with ESPN MLB insider Buster Olney on the Refuse to Lose Territory podcast. Olney did not hedge: "The more people I talk to, the more that I believe that (the WBC) was a huge factor for the Mariners." He argued hitters are creatures of habit, and the WBC disrupted the gradual spring-training routine that builds timing. "Cal was affected by that. I'm absolutely convinced of that."

Roundtable.io added that the Mariners played deep into October 2025, meaning WBC participants started earlier with less full offseason recovery. Raleigh appeared in only half of Team USA's games, then got hurt while trying to ramp back up with Seattle. He played through the injury, landed on the injured list, and still had not found his footing—hitting .169 with nine homers and a .271 on-base percentage for an OPS+ of 67.

The team-level impact is hard to ignore. Roundtable.io noted the Mariners sat at 48-49, with Raleigh's struggles and injury representing a huge slice of the frustration. Fellow WBC participant Randy Arozarena was hitting .286 with 11 homers and an OPS+ of 140, earning All-Star recognition. The verdict: the WBC affected each Mariner differently, but for Raleigh it "directly led" to the injury that amplified his poor performance.

For more stories where yesterday's milestones meet today's plot twists, browse our Nostalgia: Then & Now archive.

Was the Arozarena Handshake Drama a Real Problem?

During Team USA's win over Mexico, Raleigh did not shake Randy Arozarena's hand—a clip that exploded online. DeRosa dismissed the storm. "No one knew it was coming," he said. "I think if he could go back and do it again, Cal would've given him knucks." He compared it to Will Smith refusing to shake Arozarena's hand during the 2023 WBC—"same exact thing." Roundtable.io similarly suggested any residual resentment from the handshake controversy was secondary to the physical toll of the tournament.

Where Does Cal Raleigh Go From Here?

DeRosa's WBC observations landed as Seattle approached the All-Star break still searching for its 2025 anchor. Raleigh was actively trying to fix his swing in Phoenix—the same proactive approach that defined his rise from third-round pick to AL home run king. The fixes have not stuck at the same speed they once did.

Seattle Sports noted multiple theories for the slump: a busy offseason, heavy 2025 workload behind the plate, the oblique issue, sky-high expectations, and the WBC. DeRosa's testimony adds a credible eyewitness layer to the mechanical piece. He saw the hooks and rollovers before the .169 average and collapsed Statcast profile confirmed them. Whether Raleigh finds the middle ground DeRosa described may define Seattle's second half.

Primary reporting from Seattle Sports.