Struggling Marcus Semien Gets a Rare Day Off From Texas Rangers

The former Cal star, who played all 162 games last season, was batting just 2-for-36 in recent weeks.

Marcus Semiem / Stephen Brashear-USA TODAY Sports

Perhaps no major leaguer in recent years has appeared in his team’s starting lineup more consistently than former Cal star Marcus Semien.

But Semien is struggling — just two hits in his past 36 at-bats — so the Texas Rangers gave their 32-year-old second baseman a holiday on the Fourth of July.

“I think it’s a good time to give him a day, a little break,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said before the Rangers’ 3-1 home loss to the San Diego Padres. 

“This guy, you look at what he did last year, broke the record for number of at bats, what he did for us last year. It’s tough in this game when you go through some difficult streaks, and I just think it’s a good time to give him a mental break.”

Semien played in all 162 regular-season games and set an MLB record with 835 plate appearances last season while helping the Rangers win their first World Series title. 

He had missed just one of 486 games the previous three seasons and played in 161 games or more four times since 2019, his final year with the Oakland A’s.

When he sat out the Rangers’ game on May 29 to rest a compressed nerve in his neck, it was his first day off since May 12, 2022.

The Dallas News noted that in 38 games since colliding with right fielder Adolis Garcia in the outfield on May that Semien has slashed .179/.262/.258. In 49 games prior to that, Semien’s stat line was 270/.319/.465 with nine home runs.

Bochy said he has seen no indication of lingering physical effects from the collision.

“He hasn’t said anything about it, we did talk about it last night,” Bochy said. “I don’t know, I don’t know. Marcus is never going to talk about anything that’s really bothering him, he just comes out here and plays every day. That’s who he is, so I don’t know.”

A year ago, Semien batted .276 with league-leading totals of 185 hits and 122 runs, hit 40 doubles, 29 home runs and drove in 100 runs on the way to finishing third in the AL Most Valuable Player voting.

He is hitting just .231 this season with 11 home runs and 45 RBIs. His slugging percentage has slipped more than 100 points — from .478 last season to .376.

The Rangers fell to 39-48 on Thursday, leaving them 7.5 games behind the AL West-leading Seattle Mariners.