Mariners’ Cal Raleigh becomes AL’s first catcher to win Platinum Glove

​SEATTLE – All the hours Cal Raleigh has spent in a crouch with his legs burning, perfecting his framing technique and playing through all those foul tips off various body parts have culminated in baseball’s highest defensive honor.

The Mariners catcher’s performance behind the plate this season didn’t just make him the best defensive catcher in baseball, it earned him one of the highest honors in all of baseball.

During the annual banquet Friday evening celebrating all of the Rawlings Gold Glove award winners in New York, Raleigh was named as the American League winner of the Platinum Glove, which goes to the best of the Gold Glove winners.

The award is chosen by a mixture of sabermetrics data and fan vote. The award started in 2011. No catcher has won the award in the American League. Yadier Molina was a four-time Platinum Glove award winner in the National League.

Raleigh led Major League Baseball in games caught (135) and innings caught (1,122). But his performance was about more than just quantity. He provided an elite level of quality while behind the plate. For the second straight season, he led MLB in catcher caught stealing, throwing out 26 runners on stolen base attempts. Since the stat was tracked, only Raleigh, Jim Sundberg (1975-76) and Hall of Famer Gary Carter (1982-83) have led MLB in back-to-back seasons.

He led the American League in runs saved in FanGraphs defensive runs above average (23.9), catcher framing (13) and MLB Statcast’s fielding run value above 100 (14) while tying for the lead for defensive runs saved (16).