Texas Rangers: Marcus Semien swinging a hot bat

As the heat in Texas is rising, so is Marcus Semien’s offensive presence.

The heralded free agent acquisition had a rough start to his time with the Texas Rangers. Through his first 34 games with the new club, Semien had a dismal .157/.223/.209 slash line to go along with 0 homers and only 7 extra base hits. In the same time period, he scored 13 runs, had only 8 RBI, and stole 2 bases against 1 caught stealing. The Rangers had a record of 15-19 in his first 34 games.

With any veteran ball player that has a track record of success, slow starts tend to regress back to the mean over time. Semien’s numbers and results are no exception. From May 18th through June 14th, Semien has been on a heater. His slash line for that stretch of 26 games was .315/.375/.528 for an OPS of .903. Semien has scored 18 runs, had 17 RBI, stolen 9 bags, and has not been caught over the last 26 games.

Marcus Semien looking like player Texas Rangers hoped for

All of Semien’s at-bats have come from the leadoff spot (33) or the two-hole (27). While not hitting his first home run of the year until his 44th game of the season, Semien hit 6 bombs in an 11-game stretch from May 28th to June 7th. Texas boasts a 13-13 record over Semien’s 26 game turnaround.

Why did Semien struggle early for the Rangers? There are no clearcut answers to this question. Coming in on a very lucrative contract sometimes makes even the most seasoned athlete press a bit harder than they have in the past. Some people scoff at the idea of the poor baseball player that is guaranteed millions of dollars ($175 million in Semien’s case) feeling pressure to perform. Yet, anyone that has ever had expectations put on them, knows that they want to live up to the billing and not let themselves or anyone else down.

Additionally, baseball is flat out hard, and can be one of the streakiest of all sports. Plus, the Rangers offense lineup isn’t the 2021 Toronto Blue Jays that Semien put up career numbers with last year. The Rangers are much improved, but there aren’t the bats up and down the order that Semien played with north of the border to allow him to get the pitches that he can drive, or consistently have men on base when he is batting at the top of the order.

Some fans in Arlington were probably upset with Semien’s early performance, but he has turned things around and is playing at a high level yet again. He was the first big signing of the Rangers as they start to make their push to be relevant and playoff contenders. Not only is Semien going to be a key contributor to good things in Texas, but he has already paved the way for the club to sign additional marquee free agents.

Both the Texas Rangers and Marcus Semien hope that his recent success continues, not only this year, but for many years to come.