Marcus Semien’s Rebound Should Help Boost the Rangers

Over the past 13 years since Marcus Semien first debuted in the big leagues, he’s gone from simply a power-hitting middle infielder to a prolific slugger at the second base position. He still has one of the best offensive seasons in MLB history as a second baseman that came back in 2021 with the Toronto Blue Jays.

That year turned out to be his only one north of the border, but he made it count. Semien, 30 at the time, hit a record 45 home runs for a second baseman, while driving in 102, posting an .873 OPS and finishing third in the AL MVP voting.

He turned that into a long-term contract with the Texas Rangers. The Rangers inked him to a seven-year, $175 million contract that will keep him in town until the conclusion of the 2028 campaign. To start off his new mega-deal, Semien picked up right where he left off in Toronto. He posted an fWAR of 4.4 in 2022, 6.3 in 2023, and then 4.2 last year.

Unfortunately, the wheels fell off a bit to open the current campaign. Semien was one of baseball’s least productive players, but he’s gradually turned things around. The only thing is, he may be finding his footing too late.

All stats updated prior to games on Monday, July 7

Marcus Semien’s Epic Cold Streak

It took Semien, now 34 years of age, to quite some time to heat up this year. Through the first month of the season, he hit just .182 with a ghastly .504 OPS. No matter which way you slice it, Semien was one of the least productive players in the game.

He had the 15th-lowest average, 18th-lowest OBP, fifth-lowest SLG, sixth-lowest OPS, and 11th-lowest wRC+. In most major offensive categories, there were few players worse than he was through the first calendar month of the year.

While there were some slight improvements through the month of May, Semien remained one of baseball’s least valuable players. He hit just .207 (24th-lowest) with a .272 SLG (eighth-lowest) and .574 OPS (23rd-lowest). His 68 wRC+ had him 32% below league-average in the month of May, and the concern meter was starting to lean further and further into the red.

Long the face of durability, Semien having two well-below average months to start the 2025 season underlined a bigger problem that dated back to the previous year: he hadn’t had a wRC+ north of 100 (league-average) in any months going all the way back to July of 2024.

Even looking back at the past handful of years, Semien’s occasionally had issues with slow starts, but none were quite as slow as the one he had this season. And he’s typically been good for at least one solid month to open his years.

Still Some Gas Left in the Tank

But wait! Semien is beating the “washed” allegations one day at a time, so let’s not write the guy off just yet.

Through the month of June, the three-time All-Star hit .324 through 115 plate appearances. He opened the month by going 2-for-2 with a pair of walks and three runs scored, only to cap off the month by delivering a two-run home run against Trevor Rogers of the Baltimore Orioles.

In all of the time between, Semien boosted his OPS up to .932 and had a cool 148 wRC+ in his 26 games last month. In many major categories, he finished in the top-30 in the game.

On the surface, it doesn’t sound that impressive to rank 14th in OPS in a single month, but you’ve got to try and remember that Juan Soto, Cal Raleigh, Aaron Judge, Byron Buxton, and a handful of others just finished putting together some of the best months in recent memory. Even being in the conversation should be considered a “win” for a player in Semien’s situation.

From March 27 to April 20, Semien was the Rangers’ primary leadoff hitter. Bruce Bochy moved him down to the five-hole for a month before trying him out in the sixth, ninth, and eighth spots. Nothing seemed to be working. However, an early-June move the four-hole (and later games as the third batter) seems to have done the trick.

In nine games batting third and 18 batting fourth, Semien has an identical .796 OPS with SLG in the mid-.400s and batting averages of .263 and .292, respectively. It seems that he needed some time to heat up and a change of routine to find his way.

Too Little, Too Late?

Semien’s full-season numbers still don’t look great, but they look better when you apply a bit of context. He got off to an awful start, but has since started to turn his game around in a big way.

The only problem there is that his cold streak went hand-in-hand with the Rangers running into their own hardships. The club is currently 44-46 and is an uncomfortable 11 games behind the Houston Astros in the AL West division.

Sure, anything can happen between now and September, but it’s incredibly difficult to make up a double-digit deficit in the standings when the team you’re chasing has played as efficiently as the Astros have this season. Despite the fact that they’ve faced “is the dynasty over?” questions for multiple years now, Houston continues to roll. Their +71 run differential entering Monday’s action is third-highest in the AL behind the Detroit Tigers and Toronto Blue Jays.

We’re still a bit too early to close the door on the Rangers this year, but one thing’s clear: they need Semien to keep hitting the ball like he has over the past month-plus. His .303 batting average and 149 wRC+ since June 1 will be crucial in keeping the team’s decent-but-not-great offense in contention for wins on a nightly basis moving forward.

Semien’s worst months saw the team go 13-13 (April) and 13-16 (May) before going 13-13 again in June. To open July, the Rangers are 3-2 with a bad Angels team up next on the docket. The team would benefit immensely from their elderly wise leader getting and keeping his bat going as we get further and further into the second half of the 2025 season.