Mariners place Cal Raleigh on 10-day IL, recall Jhonny Pereda from Tacoma

Cal Raleigh’s oblique strain finally forced Seattle’s hand, and Tacoma paid for it fast. The Mariners put their 29-year-old catcher on the 10-day injured list Thursday, recalled Jhonny Pereda from Triple-A Tacoma and optioned left-hander Josh Simpson, turning a big-league injury into an immediate Rainiers ripple.

Pereda, pronounced per-AY-duh, was the clear next man up because he had already shown Seattle he could cover the position without looking overmatched. The 30-year-old is in his second stint on the Mariners active roster this month after being recalled May 2 and optioned back May 8. In two major league games this season, he went 2-for-5 with a run scored. In Tacoma, he hit .321 with 15 runs, two homers and eight RBI in 25 games, production that made the call less about prospect theory and more about the simplest answer available.

That answer matters because Tacoma loses one of its most productive bats and one of its more established catching options. The Rainiers are now without a catcher who had been bringing real offensive value, not just innings behind the plate, and that forces the rotation in Triple-A to absorb the loss immediately. Seattle is also already carrying all three of its catchers on the 40-man roster, so the club did not need a second scramble just to stabilize the position after Raleigh went down.

Raleigh’s injury is the bigger story, of course. He first felt right-side soreness on May 1 against Kansas City, missed three games, returned as a designated hitter on May 5, and got back behind the plate before the issue worsened again in Houston. Seattle said the injury first surfaced nearly two weeks ago and was aggravated in the eighth inning of Wednesday’s walk-off loss before Raleigh exited in the ninth inning. Manager Dan Wilson said Raleigh will be evaluated further in Seattle and there is no firm timeline for his return.

The timing stings because Raleigh had just come off a season that looked almost unreal: 60 home runs, 125 RBI, a Silver Slugger, a Home Run Derby title, an All-Star start and a second-place finish in AL MVP voting behind Aaron Judge. This year has been murkier, with Raleigh batting .161 in 41 games, though he still has seven homers and 18 RBI. For now, Pereda and Mitch Garver will split the catching load in Seattle, and Tacoma has to patch over a vacancy left by a player who was there because the Mariners needed his bat, then needed his glove, and then needed both a little too much.