PEORIA, Ariz. -- About a year ago, Luke Raley and his wife welcomed their first child, a baby girl named Reagan, into the world.
Reagan had a medical condition that necessitated wearing a brace on one leg almost around the clock. It was a trying time, to say the least, but now, little Reagan is free of the brace and crawling anywhere and everywhere she can.
“She’s doing great,” Raley said after he smashed a 437-foot home run and later doubled in the Mariners’ 7-3 victory over the Brewers at Peoria Stadium on Wednesday. “She’s not quite walking, but she’s standing up and she’s about to start taking some steps. She’s taken some guided steps just in the last week or so.”
Raley has taken some guided steps of his own this spring, but in the batter’s box. Wednesday’s home run was his second in as many days, and he owns a .316/.409/.632 slash line over 15 games during Cactus League play.
Coming off a season in which he played in only 73 games due to a right oblique injury and a back spasm and was left off the roster for the American League Championship Series, the hulking right fielder is looking to put that behind him and move forward.
Much like Reagan, who Raley said was “kind of stuck in reverse for a couple of months,” Raley was stuck when last season concluded.
“Last season is really hard to judge,” Raley said. “Because, obviously, I struggled, but I didn’t know how much was me struggling or me not being healthy. … It was really hard last year, mentally. So I want to just have more fun this year.”
Raley’s performance this spring has certainly been fun for the Mariners to watch. Seattle has seen what a healthy Raley can do after acquiring him in a trade with the Rays prior to the 2024 campaign and watching him have a career season.
And if Raley recaptures that form, he could provide a huge boost at a position that he and Victor Robles are projected to share this season -- Mariners right fielders posted a .618 OPS in 2025.
“Luke Raley, obviously, is the story today,” manager Dan Wilson said. “Four RBIs, he was driving the ball to all parts of the ballpark. And we’ve seen that the last couple days. … I think he’s been close for a while now. I think it’s just a matter of closing the loop, finally.”
A major factor in getting the loop closed was the club’s senior director of hitting strategy, Edgar Martinez. The Hall of Famer, along with other coaches on staff, helped Raley make some adjustments that have been bearing much fruit in Arizona.
Martinez brought an observation to Raley’s attention, and Raley has been reaping the benefits since. He said that last year, he would “get stuck sometimes” in his stance and would be “launching from a statue kind of position.”
As he worked with Martinez and the staff, that gradually changed.
“I felt like I was struggling with the timing of it for a little bit,” Raley said. “But the last four or five games, it felt really good at the plate.”
Perhaps the only thing sizzling more than Raley’s bat in Peoria on Wednesday was the temperature, which eclipsed 100 degrees under the desert sun.
Not that it bothered Emerson Hancock, a right-hander who is vying for a spot in the Opening Day starting rotation to replace an injured starter for the third consecutive spring.
“I mean, like, it’s a little warm,” said Hancock, who grew up in southern Georgia. “But, I don’t know. I didn’t think it was that bad.”
What was undeniable, though, was that Hancock’s fastball was crackling.
As Hancock was talking to the media, superstar center fielder Julio Rodríguez -- who was back in the lineup after participating in the World Baseball Classic -- walked by with his signature smile and said, “I forgot you threw 97.”
Hancock’s fastball indeed touched 97 mph in his 3 2/3 innings against Milwaukee, over which he yielded three runs on eight hits while walking none and striking out four on 74 pitches (49 strikes).
When asked about Raley’s homer, Hancock had one word to describe it: “Crushed.”
Or, in Reagan’s world, maybe it would be “cruised.” After all, as she has become ever more mobile, her dad is becoming ever more comfortable at the plate following a season of stagnation.
“She did a couple crawls forward,” Raley said. “And then the next day, she’s zooming around the house.”