Marcus Semien had a bad first half two months of the season. On May 28, he was batting .173 and had been dropped to the bottom of the order. Then, out of the blue, on May 30, he went 4-for-4. He had another four-hit game on July 10, going 4-for-5.

In between those two four-hit games, Marcus Semien’s offense was elite. In thirty-seven games, he hit seven home runs, drove in twenty-nine runs, batted .329 with an on-base of .396, and an OPS of .956. There were even murmurs that he might have clawed his way back onto All-Star consideration.

Then, just like that, it all went downhill again.

In his last twenty-eight games, Marcus Semien is batting .171, with an on-base percentage of just .234 and a dismal OPS of .522. He’s not getting hits, he’s not driving in runs, he’s not contributing anything but outs. Yet, he’s also not been moved out of the third slot in the lineup. 

Maybe the light switch comes back on like it did in June and he has another crazy six-week stretch. The Rangers need it. With six weeks left in the season, it would be nice for Semien to end on a positive note. 

His inability to produce for most of the season is one of the main reasons this team has the third-worst offense in baseball, only better than the dreadful Rockies and the dreadful Pirates, and one of the biggest contributors to this being a dismal, disappointing offensive season for a Rangers team that was expected to contend.

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