Cal Baseball: Marcus Semien Leaving A's to Sign $18 Million Deal with Toronto

Semien played at Cal after his father was a wide receiver for the Bears in the 1990s

Marcus Semien is leaving home.

The Oakland A’s shortstop, with deep roots to Cal, is prepared to sign a one-year, free-agent contract with the Toronto Blue Jays that will pay him $18 million this season.

Semien, 30, who was third in the American League MVP voting in 2019, played for Cal from 2009 through ’11 before being selected in the sixth round by the Chicago White Sox in the 2011 MLB draft.

He has been the A’s regular shortstop the past six seasons.

His father, Damien Semien, played wide receiver for the Cal football team from 1990 through ’93, catching 73 passes for 1,028 yards and seven touchdowns in his four-year college carer.

Marcus Semien was raised in the East Bay, attending St. Mary’s High School in Berkeley. An all-league player three times, he was selected in the 34th round of the 2008 MLB draft by the Chicago White Sox but opted instead to follow his dad’s footsteps to Cal.

With the Bears, Semien batted .328 with four home runs and 34 RBI as a sophomore in 2010, then dipped to .275 in 2011. Even so, he was taken by the White Sox in the sixth round of the 2011 MLB draft.

A late-season call-up to the majors by the White Sox in 2013, Semien was traded to the A’s after the 2014 campaign.

He struggled defensively at shortstop and in 2015 committed a major league-worst 35 errors, including 17 throwing errors. The A’s hired Ron Washington to work with Semien on his defense and in 2016 he reduced his errors to 21.

He also enjoyed his best season at the plate to that point, hitting 27 home runs with 75 RBI in 2016. He couldn’t match that production in either 2017 or ’18, but in 2019 batted .285 with 43 doubles, 34 homers and 92 RBI.

Semien made the All-MLB second team that season and finished behind only Mike Trout and Alex Bregman in the MVP voting. The big year allowed him to sign a one-year $13 million deal with Oakland for 2020.

But Semien slumped during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, batting just .223 with seven home runs and 23 RBI. He struck out on 21 percent of his plate appearances.

According to ESPN, Semien’s 152 runs scored since the start of the 2019 season rank second among AL players and his 100 extra-base hits are fifth-most.

Semien is the latest big-name player signs this offseason by the Blue Jays, who gave outfielder George Springer a six-year, $150 million deal.

.

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo