Did Cal Raleigh really disrespect his Seattle teammate at the World Baseball Classic?

Former FSU standout player Cal Raleigh had a career year with the Seattle Mariners during the 2025 season and got robbed of the Most Valuable Player Award after leading the Mariners to the World Series. He set a new MLB record for a switch-hitting catcher, hitting 60 home runs and had 125 RBI.

He had a teammate in Seattle who was a big part of their success, leftfielder Randy Arozarena, who hit 27 home runs and drove in 76 runs. The two have been at the center of controversy since the USA vs. Mexico matchup in the World Baseball Classic on Monday.

Arozarena offered to shake Raleigh’s hand as he went up to hit during his first at-bat in the game, and Raleigh refused to shake his hand as seen below:

These World Baseball Classic games have been great over the years, with players from each team showing a lot of pride in representing their country. Some people have looked at this situation and surmised that’s the reason Raleigh refused to shake Arozarena’s hand.

It’s not like Cal Raleigh didn’t acknowledge Arozarena when he stepped in the box. They clearly said something to one another. I think Raleigh’s refusal to shake his hand is simply because Arozarena has batting gloves on that are full of pine tar from his bat.

If Raleigh shakes his hand, then he’ll get pine tar all over his hand and transfer that to the ball that the pitcher has to use, which would be illegal.

Arozarena has a history of wanting to shake hands with opposing catchers in the World Baseball Classic.

The fact that Raleigh looked up and said something to him, and Arozarena didn’t react in any way, leads me to believe this is much ado about nothing. They’ll be in the same dugout shortly as the Mariners begin Spring Training.