Marcus Andrew Semien (born September 17, 1990) is an American professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball or softball fielding position between second and third base, which is considered to be among the most demanding defensive positions. Historically the position was assigned to defensive specialists who ...

and second baseman for the Texas Rangers of

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB). He previously played in MLB for the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and p ...

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The te ...

and

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...

Amateur career

Semien grew up pitching and playing infield in El Cerrito Youth Baseball, across the bay from

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, and was a member of the area's All-Star teams. He went on to attend St. Mary's College High School in

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...

. At St. Mary's, he hit .471 as a junior, .371 as a senior, and was named all-league three times where he was drafted by the

in the 34th round of the

2008 MLB draft The 2008 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft continued Major League Baseball's annual amateur draft of high school and college baseball players, and was held on June 5 and 6, 2008. First round selections ;Key Supplemental first rou ...

. Semien chose not to sign and instead enrolled at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

, where he played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

for the

California Golden Bears The California Golden Bears are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Berkeley. Referred to in athletic competition as ''California'' or ''Cal'', the university fields 30 varsity athletic programs and various club te ...

. After struggling as a freshman, Semien improved as a sophomore, hitting .328. As a junior, Semien was the starting

for the team, but hit .275, hurting his stock for the MLB Draft.

Professional career

Chicago White Sox

The White Sox selected Semien the sixth round of the

2011 MLB draft The 2011 Major League Baseball draft was held from June 6 through June 8, 2011, from Studio 42 of the MLB Network in Secaucus, New Jersey. The Pittsburgh Pirates selected Gerrit Cole out of the University of California, Los Angeles, with the first ...

. He started his career in 2011 with the Class A

Kannapolis Intimidators Kannapolis () is a city in Cabarrus County, North Carolina, Cabarrus and Rowan County, North Carolina, Rowan counties, in the U.S. state of North Carolina, northwest of Concord, North Carolina, Concord and northeast of Charlotte, North Carolina, ...

. He finished the 2011 season hitting .253 in 229 at-bats with, 15 doubles, two triples, three

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

s, 26

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the bat ...

(RBIs) and three

stolen base In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base to which they are not entitled and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe or ...

s. Semien was moved up to

Class A-Advanced High-A (officially Class High-A, formerly known as Class A-Advanced, and sometimes abbreviated "A+" in writing) is the third-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States and Canada, below Triple-A and Double-A, and abov ...

Winston-Salem Dash The Winston-Salem Dash are a Minor League Baseball team in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. They are a High-A team in the South Atlantic League and have been a farm team of the Chicago White Sox since 1997. The Dash began playing their home games at ...

for the 2012 season. There, he hit .273 in 418 at-bats with 31 doubles, five triples, 14 home runs, 59 RBIs and 11 stolen bases. For the 2013 season, Semien was ranked the White Sox #8 prospect. The White Sox selected Semien's contract from the Triple-A

Charlotte Knights The Charlotte Knights are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox. They are located in Charlotte, North Carolina, and play their home games at Truist Field, which opened in 20 ...

on September 3, 2013. He debuted against the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

on September 4, and recorded his first hit, a single, in his first at bat against

CC Sabathia Carsten Charles Sabathia Jr. (born July 21, 1980) is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played 19 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), primarily with the New York Yankees. He also played for the Cleveland Indians and Milwauke ...

. He hit his first major league home run against

J. A. Happ James Anthony Happ (born October 19, 1982) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Phillies, Houston Astros, Toronto Blue Jays, Seattle Mariners, Pittsburgh Pirates, New Y ...

of the

on September 23.

Oakland Athletics

After the 2014 season, the White Sox traded Semien,

Chris Bassitt Christopher M. Bassitt (born February 22, 1989) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball (MLB). He made his MLB debut with the Chicago White Sox in 2014 and played for the Oakland Athletics ...

Rangel Ravelo Rangel Ravelo (born April 24, 1992) is a Cuban professional baseball first baseman and outfielder who is currently a free agent. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the St. Louis Cardinals and in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) fo ...

, and

Josh Phegley Joshua Aaron Phegley (born February 12, 1988) is an American former professional baseball catcher and current director of player development for Michigan. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Chicago White Sox, Oakland Athletics, and C ...

to the

in exchange for

Jeff Samardzija Jeffrey Alan Samardzija (; born January 23, 1985), nicknamed "Shark", is an American professional former baseball pitcher. He played college baseball and football for the University of Notre Dame, and was recognized as a two-time All-American w ...

and

Michael Ynoa Michael Jose Ynoa Ventura ( Michel; born September 24, 1991) is a Dominican professional baseball pitcher who is a free agent. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Chicago White Sox. Career Oakland Athletics Ynoa signed with t ...

. He began the 2015 season as the team's starting shortstop. Semien struggled defensively throughout the season, committing a major-league-worst 35 errors, including a major-league-league-leading 18 throwing errors. He finished the 2015 season with a .257 AVG and fifteen home runs and eleven stolen bases. After the season, the Athletics hired

Ron Washington Ronald Louis Washington (born April 29, 1952) is an American former professional baseball shortstop. He played Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Minnesota Twins, Baltimore Orioles, Cleveland Indians, and Houston Astros. W ...

to work with Semien on his defense. Semien showed improvement the following season, in 2016, committing only 21 errors. He led the major leagues in assists, with 477. He showed power at the plate, finishing second on the team in home runs with 27, as he batted .238 with ten stolen bases. On April 17, 2017, Semien was placed on the 10-day disabled list due to a right wrist fracture, which also required surgery. For the 2017 season, he batted .249 with ten home runs and twelve stolen bases. In 2018, he batted .255 with fifteen home runs and fourteen stolen bases. On defense he led the major leagues in assists, with 459. He was one of three finalists for a

Gold Glove The Rawlings Gold Glove Award, usually referred to as simply the Gold Glove, is the award given annually to the Major League Baseball (MLB) players judged to have exhibited superior individual fielding performances at each fielding position in bo ...

at shortstop in the American League, marking drastic defensive improvement from his previous seasons. In 2019, he batted .285/.369/.522 with 33 home runs, and led the major leagues with 747 plate appearances. His performance improvements garnered him even more attention from postseason awards voters as he was named to the inaugural All-MLB second team at shortstop, finished third in voting for the

American League MVP The Major League Baseball Most Valuable Player Award (MVP) is an annual Major League Baseball (MLB) award given to one outstanding player in the American League and one in the National League. Since 1931, it has been awarded by the Baseball Writers' ...

, and was again named one of three finalists for the

. In 53 games for the Athletics in 2020, Semien slashed .223/.305/.374 with seven home runs, nine doubles and 23 RBIs.

Toronto Blue Jays

On January 30, 2021, Semien signed a one-year, $18 million contract with the

. On July 1, Semien was named an All-Star for the first time in his career and was named to be the starting second baseman for the AL in the 2021 All-Star Game. On September 29, Semien hit his 44th home run of the 2021 season, breaking Davey Johnson’s MLB record for the most home runs in a season by a primary second baseman. Semien finished the 2021 season hitting .265/.334/.538 with 45 home runs, 102 RBIs and an MLB-leading 86 extra-base hits. He finished third in

voting, behind only

Shohei Ohtani , nicknamed "Shotime", is a Japanese professional baseball pitcher, designated hitter and outfielder for the Los Angeles Angels of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters of Nippon Professional B ...

and teammate

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Vladimir Guerrero Ramos Jr. (born March 16, 1999) is a Canadian-Dominican professional baseball first baseman and designated hitter for the Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball (MLB). He is the son of former MLB player and Hall of Famer ...

Texas Rangers

On December 1, 2021, Semien agreed to a seven-year, $175 million contract with the Texas Rangers. In 2022, Semien led the major leagues in plate appearances (724) for the second straight year and at bats (657) and sacrifice flies (10; tied with Alex Bregman and

Alec Bohm Alec Daniel Bohm (born August 3, 1996) is an American professional baseball third baseman for the Philadelphia Phillies of Major League Baseball (MLB). Born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska, Bohm was a standout hitter for Roncalli Catholic High Sc ...

), and hit .248/.304/.429 with 26 home runs and 83 RBIs. He reached on an error 12 times, tops in the majors.

Personal life

Semien's mother and father also attended the

, where Semien's father, Damien, played

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

. Semien and his wife have two sons together.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Semien, Marcus 1990 births Living people American League All-Stars African-American baseball players Chicago White Sox players Oakland Athletics players Toronto Blue Jays players Texas Rangers players Gold Glove Award winners Silver Slugger Award winners California Golden Bears baseball players Kannapolis Intimidators players Winston-Salem Dash players Birmingham Barons players Charlotte Knights players Glendale Desert Dogs players Major League Baseball infielders Baseball players from San Francisco Stockton Ports players Nashville Sounds players 21st-century African-American sportspeople