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The Blue Jays signed Marcus Semien back in January. We weren’t really sure what we were getting. Would it be the guy who finished third in MVP voting in 2019 or the guy who hit .223/.305/.374 in 2020? As usual, the smart money was somewhere in between.
Then, at the start of the season, he was put into the leadoff spot. We weren’t thrilled, especially when he was hitting below .200 mid-April.
Then came May. A .368/.429/.702 line won him an AL Player of the month award, so we kind up shut up about not liking him in the leadoff spot.
On the season Marcus is hitting .281/.346/.419 with 18 home runs, 45 RBI, 56 runs, and 9 steals. Not bad for a mid-infielder.
Defensively? To me, he looks good at second base. He’s definitely the steadiest of our infielders, though Vlad might argue that. FanGraphs has him at a 4.1 UZR/150, which matches the eye test.
FanGraphs has him at a 3.1 WAR, Baseball-Reference 3.7. Either way, that’s a great mark for a half-season of ball.
He plays every day (and plays the infield every day, he’s only had one game at DH). The other infielders get days at DH. Maybe the Jays feel that they only own him for the one season, they should get all they can out of him.
Marcus seems like a fun guy, seems to get along with his teammates. And we are told he is a leader on the team, which doesn’t hurt his value.
Semien took a chance, signing a one-year deal. At 30 years old, there was some risk to that, but it looks like it will pay off big. He should have teams beating down his door.
Poll
For the first half, I’d give Marcus Semien an
This poll is closed
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79%
A
(1025 votes) -
18%
B+
(242 votes) -
1%
B
(20 votes) -
0%
B-
(3 votes) -
0%
C+
(2 votes) -
0%
C
(0 votes) -
0%
C-
(0 votes) -
0%
D+
(0 votes) -
0%
D
(0 votes) -
0%
D-
(2 votes) -
0%
F
(1 vote)