Oakland Athletics see-saw but Marcus Semien sizzles

The Oakland Athletics are getting offense from a surprising source.

The Oakland Athletics surprised baseball last season, registering a record of 95-­67 and making a trip to the postseason. Ultimately, the 99-­win New York Yankees beat them in the 2018 American League Wild Card Game held at Yankee Stadium, but the foundation was set for the A’s to head into the 2019 season with a chip on their shoulder and their sights set on the Houston Astros and the AL West crown.

Thus far this year, Oakland is off to a less-­than impressive start, currently sitting a game below .500 through 25 games. With a a team ERA of 4.55 and injuries to the starting rotation in the form of Marco Estrada, Sean Manaea and now possibly Brett Anderson, the Athletics are relying upon the offense to pick up their pitching staff more than they’d like. However, Oakland’s team batting average is only .245. That kind of effort isn’t enough to make up for the decrease in pitching support the A’s are facing, which explains their 12-­13 record.

But one guy who’s giving the A’s more production from the batter’s box than anticipated is shortstop Marcus Semien. Semien is a 28 year-­old San Francisco native who spent his first two years in the big leagues in 2013 and 2014 on the South Side of Chicago with the White Sox before being dealt to his hometown Oakland Athletics in the Jeff Samardzija deal, which also netted the A’s current players Chris Bassitt and Josh Phegley.

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Over his first four seasons in Oakland, Semien, who attended both high school and college in Berkeley (St. Mary’s High and UC Berkeley, respectively), hovered around a .250 batting average and .310 on­-base percentage. Notching 155 games played in 2015, 159 in 2016 and 159 again in 2018, Semien, who only played in 85 games in 2017 due to wrist surgery, provided the A’s with a serviceable level of offense. His hitting statistics were far from exciting, but from a young infielder who usually ended the year with about a .970 fielding percentage, the Athletics couldn’t ask for much more from Semien, especially considering most of that was done during the heart of a rebuild.

This year though, Semien emerged from spring training on an offensive tear, posting numbers higher than his career average in several categories. In 25 games thus far, Semien is batting .309, has an OBP of .377, a slugging percentage of .479 and an OPS of .856. In each of those departments, Semien is in personal uncharted waters—in a positive direction.

Depending on the night, A’s manager Bob Melvin oscillates between batting Semien first or second in the order. Due to going 0-4 Monday night in a win against Texas, Semien dropped just below third baseman Matt Chapman for best batting average on the team (.309 vs. .313). Chapman is supposed to be a better hitter than Semien though. As a corner infielder, Oakland fully expects Chapman, along with first baseman Kendrys Morales, to drive balls over the fence and drive baserunners across the plate much more frequently than shortstop Marcus Semien.

But Semien has more RBI than Morales, as well as hits. In fact, as of Tuesday, Semien had more hits than anyone on the team. And in a lineup filled with players who have found plenty of success in the past swinging the bat—I’m looking at you, Chapman, Stephen Piscotty and Khris Davis—to see Marcus Semien putting up totals greater than any he’s ever reached, at a time when his presence on this club is especially valuable, is so awesome.

Oakland Athletics

Offense isn’t the only aspect of Marcus Semien’s game that has improved since the Athletics opened up this 2019 campaign against the Mariners in Japan. A clip from spring training from the NBC Sports Bay Area & California YouTube page talked about how Semien has taken great strides to advance himself on the defensive side of the diamond as well.

According to the video, Semien, with the help of A’s coach and former Rangers manager Ron Washington, has gone from having one of the highest error totals in the game to being a rock at the shortstop position in only a few short seasons. Last year, as mentioned earlier, he posted a .970 fielding percentage on his way to being voted a Gold Glove Award finalist. This year, Semien sits at .989 in that category. Translation: he’s only committed one error all season.

Clearly, whatever Marcus Semien is doing differently on the baseball field right now is working. As a veteran on that Oakland ballclub, he’s going to have to step up and continue to lead by example if he and the Athletics want to build on that taste of playoff baseball they experienced a year ago and advance beyond the wild card round.

Their record may not reflect it at the moment, but the Oakland Athletics are not a team to be messed with in 2019. And if the A’s do once again decide to go dancing in October, you can all-but guarantee that Marcus Semien will most certainly have an awful lot to do with it.