Mariners' Luke Raley leads MLB in key stat ahead of Aaron Judge, Mike Trout

Luke Raley has started the season, by one measure, better than any other hitter in baseball.

The Seattle Mariners' powerful left-handed hitter leads even Aaron Judge and Mike Trout in a crucial stat: barrels.

Raley has four barrels through Saturday's action. That's more than anyone in MLB. Judge and Trout both have three.

Barrels are essentially hard contact hit at an ideal launch angle to do damage. Raley is doing damage.

Raley has three hits this season. They're all home runs.

He's 3-for-9, and that fourth barrel turned into an out in an unlucky moment for Raley.

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This is a 31-year old lefty with 51 career home runs in 1,080 MLB at bats. While known for being able to do some damage against right-handed pitching, he's never had a stretch like this, no matter how short it may be.

Last season for the Mariners, Raley hit just four homers in 73 games. He had hit 19 home runs for the Rays in 2023 and 22 for the Mariners in 2024, so 2025 was a bit of a setback.

Now, it seems Raley may have found himself again.

He's an awesome story -- he played college baseball at Division II Lake Erie College in Ohio before the Dodgers took him in the 2016 seventh round.

Now, he's started the new season, 10 years after being drafted, on fire. Seattle would love if he keeps this up.

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