Luke Raley is a big, strong man. The Seattle linebacker stands 6-foot-4, weighs 235 pounds, and spent much of his childhood in Ohio chopping down trees with a chainsaw. He’s got a big arm, and has boasted a high 90-percent or higher strikeout rate in three of the last four seasons. Former teammates have called him “a big ball of muscle” and said, “He plays like a monster.” Just last night he launched a home run of the moon that reached a height of 104 meters. However, somehow, if you Google the phrase luke raley feats of strengththis is all that appears:
First, yes, Raley is married. He found out that he traded in Seattle in his spare time, while playing pool volleyball. Second, there’s a good reason Raley’s strengths don’t headline his search results: He’s more than just a cowboy. Raley has finesse. In fact, he is currently tied with Jacob Young for the major league lead with five home runs in base hits. While Young has a 35.7% success rate on his bunts, Raley is the only player so far this decade to have at least five hits in a season while maintaining a 1.000 batting average on those bunt attempts. Want to guess who’s in second place? That would be 2023 Luke Raley, who went 5-for-6 on his bunt attempts. A big, strong man with a big, strong bunt game.
If you go all the way back to 2002, the first year we have information on bunt success rates, only three players did that in a full season. In 2018, Scott Kingery went 5-for-5. In 2019, Matt Olson did the same, and Brandon Belt went 7-for-7. Raley, working his clinic without the help of an infield shift, is on pace for 12 bunt hits this season, but will need just two more to tie the record.
This is extremely exciting for a few reasons, the first of which is that Raley simply doesn’t look like the type of player to lead the league in hitting. Below is a graph showing every player with at least four hits this season. He knows as well as I do which players are supposed to score hits: the little guys with a chip on their shoulder who offset their potential with a combination of speed and grit. And yes, those guys are represented on the graph, but Raley is there too, towering above them. It’s not just that he’s taller than them. That you are just great. In general, the weights listed are not so informative as they can be reviewed in general. However, it is worth consulting them in this case, as Raley outweighs Garrett Hampson, the second player on the list, by more than 50 pounds:
If Raley and Jose Altuve want to watch together — and there’s no reason to believe they don’t — Altuve would need to stuff his pockets with 214 baseballs to balance the weight difference. If Raley and Steven Kwan want to go see-saw together, Kwan can make up the difference by lining his pockets with 39% of Jose Altuve’s.
The second reason Raley might not strike you as a champion is that his running is, well, a little ridiculous. He hits the ground hard and kicks his heels up almost all the way to his hips with each step. The result is a kind of optical illusion; it looks like he’s about to take a big step, then changes his mind and puts his foot down a few inches behind where he picked it up in the first place. John Trupin wrote, “Luke Raley runs like he’s not moving fast, but rather slowing the earth’s rotation with the force and swing of each step.” Raley also puffs out his chest, stretches his arms away from his body to resist the wind, and keeps his elbows active. He can’t seem to stamp his arms too much as he tries to figure out how far behind him the stretch is before something pops in his rotator cuff:
Raley knows all this. He tried more than once to change his running style, but luckily he didn’t succeed. “I mean, I can see it,” he told reporters. “Trust me. I’ve seen a lot of my videos play, and I’m like, ‘Wow, that looks really bad.'” But here’s the thing: It works. Raley is undeniably fast. His sprint speed of 28.8 mph puts him in the 86th percentile, and makes him not only the third-fastest player on the Mariners, but the third-fastest 29-year-old in baseball. He may not look like someone who should be serious about hitting the road, but the success rate doesn’t lie.
To check out Raley’s bunts, you can head over to Baseball Savant’s search page and check out the biggest, most numerous boxes available:
There is something strange about the speech Is Bunt. Not that it is alone – there are many good options here. Is the Blast it definitely has its charms; it sounds like a little thing from the 1960s would ask you if you were trying to explain what a Slip ‘N Slide was. The Last Voice It’s fun, too, because it sounds like a vague threat from a shooting instructor who doubles as a mob watcher. But Is Bunt it is the best. It sounds like the scream of the play-by-play announcer in the bottom of the ninth inning when they are so scared of a suicidal jam that all grammar and syntax flies out the window.
Raley has two fumbles this season, making seven total attempts. His method is the same in all seven. He doesn’t drag up the starting line, and he doesn’t rush out of the box and try to bring the ball down in any way. He throws all the way in an instant on the pitcher’s delivery and pushes the ball firmly between the mound and the third base line. If you pause the video at that point and see Raley crouched, body facing third base, legs spread, feet flat, you can totally guess he’s trying to make a sacrifice (or maybe sneak up on Scooby-Doo and his squishy human friends):
But then two things happened. First, the bunt lands in the right spot: far enough down the third base line that it doesn’t risk fouling, tight enough to get past the pitcher, and weak enough that the third baseman has to charge hard. Second, Raley starts running.
His first two legal hits came simply because the third baseman was shadowing the shortstop. No one ever threw, and the second one was so well placed that third baseman Eugenio Suárez, without playing, decided to kick it into foul territory:
Raley’s third hit came with no outs and a runner on second base. The Mariners were leading, 6-5, in the ninth inning, making it an understandable time for the sacrifice. Although Raley would no doubt have settled for moving the runner, he was after something else. Third baseman Ildemaro Vargas refused to give up the ball, but made a fast, hard throw. It wasn’t quick enough to catch the speeding Raley, who was called out at first, but was shown to have hit the best in the review. It was not a surprise. It was not to take advantage of the security hole. It was a 6-foot-4, 235-pound man hitting a bunt in an obvious bunt situation:
Raley’s fourth hit last Wednesday. This time, he challenged Maikel Garcia, who has a strong case for being the best third baseman in all of baseball. Garcia was playing deep, but not necessarily out of position, and Raley’s bunt forced him to make a do-or-die play without a hand. A quick throw would have defeated Raley if he had hit a hit, but he ended up going to the Dugout Suite. (Dugout Suites are simulated dugouts located next to the real dugouts at Kauffman Stadium. They feature real dugout seating, as well as an air-conditioned interior, if you want to experience the game as a player, except when it’s warm. . They are available for team rentals grand for just $4,375, unless you want food or drinks, which cost extra.):
Raley’s last hit was certainly very exciting. It came with the Mariners down by a run in the bottom of the eighth inning. With two outs and runners on first and third, it was surprising that play-by-play announcer Dave Sims was just seconds away from yelling, “It’s a bunt! It’s delicious!” Instead, he shouted, “Bunt! Oh, that will work!” He put B in the middle bunt so much so that you have to feel sorry for the poor sound engineer whose eardrums were ripped by the phone:
Raley hit two balls over 105 mph in the game, yet managed to put down a bunch on a 99.1-mph fastball up and inside. With two outs, it was an incredibly bold move. For the third time this season, the third baseman had no choice but to eat the ball, and the Mariners would complete the comeback in the ninth on Cal Raleigh’s grand slam. No one has claimed a base hit or a sacrifice bunt by a fastball this season, and Raley’s bunt increased Seattle’s chances to win by 30%, making it the game’s most consecutive run. Raley, who is second on the team with seven home runs, seemed to be looking for a chance to break through. “The first two pitches, the third baseman was there and the route wasn’t there,” he told Shannon Drayer. “And after the second pitch, he backed up and I decided to just take my shot… It’s hard, but it’s one of those things. You have to be patient, bunt down, and run as hard as you can.”
The funny thing about all of this is that Raley’s strength and stature must be part of the reason for his success as a belter. You have to think that since he scored 10 out of 11 hits since the start of the last season, he has been the target of reports. Still, if you’re a third baseman who just saw him blast a 110 mph liner off the wall and then log around the bases a few innings ago, it might be hard to believe you shouldn’t play deeper and plate more. near the pit. It won’t be until it’s too late, until you pass, pick up a well-placed ball, and put it in your pocket that you finally accept the truth: Luke Raley Is Bunt.
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