It’s Looking Like This Is the New ‘Normal’ For Marcus Semien

The struggles of the New York Mets are so incomprehensible that it’s hard to fathom how a team with this much star talent has managed to lose 11 games in a row.

The team’s issues can be traced to several different areas. Most notably, Francisco Lindor and Bo Bichette have underperformed significantly, and Juan Soto has missed time with an injury.

But one player who has flown under the radar in all of this chaos is Marcus Semien.

Semien was acquired from the Texas Rangers early in the offseason in exchange for longtime Met Brandon Nimmo. While many knew Semien was no longer the player he once was, there were still high hopes he could bounce back this year.

However, 22 games into the season, Semien has shown no signs of returning to his former All-Star form.

So it raises the question: Is this the new version of Marcus Semien that Mets fans should grow accustomed to? Let’s take a deeper look.

All stats from this article were updated prior to play on April 21.

Breaking Down the ‘New’ Marcus Semien

Just three years ago, Marcus Semien was widely regarded as one of the best players in baseball. He posted a 7.7 bWAR in 2023 and helped the Texas Rangers secure their first-ever World Series title.

Semien’s numbers that season included a .276 batting average, a .348 OBP, and a 126 OPS+, along with 29 home runs and 100 runs driven in. Those numbers helped him finish third in the American League MVP race.

It looked like the multi-Silver Slugger was only getting better in his 11th season. But then in 2024, things began to take a turn.

Semien’s batting average dropped 39 points to .237, and his slugging percentage fell 87 points to .391. All things considered, it wasn’t a bad year, as Semien still posted a 4.5 bWAR, but it was more underwhelming compared to what he showed just a season prior.

It left many thinking it was simply a down year and that he would rebound in 2025. But he didn’t. His production remained around the same, as his season was cut short in August due to a fractured foot.

To put this into context, Semien went from a batting run value of 28 in 2023 to a combined -8 over the past two seasons. Statcast batting run value measures the pitches a batter sees throughout the season and how many runs he creates from them.

Simply put, Semien went from one of the best run producers in MLB to below league average in a flash.

And so, that brings us to this season and how he’s looked so far with the Mets. Through 22 games, it appears this new version of Semien is here to stay.

Marcus Semien's career OPS by month:

March/April: .689
May: .744
June: .751
July: .755
August: .763
Sept/Oct: .815

This year, Marcus Semien is sporting a .526 OPS through 19 games. #LGM pic.twitter.com/VucwO0Ikmg

— Locked On Mets (@LockedOnMets) April 16, 2026

His season numbers have continued the trend from the past two years, posting a .234 batting average, a .294 on-base percentage, and a .606 OPS.

The former All-Star has struggled to make much of an impact. Semien’s only standout performance came on April 3, when he had three hits and drove in three runs, including his lone home run of the season.

Much of his struggles can be traced to his swing decisions. Semien has been extremely aggressive at the plate, posting a 51.2% swing rate, which is 4.1% higher than it was in 2023.

The bigger concern is how often he’s chasing pitches out of the zone. His chase rate sits at 28%, up 6.6% from 2023, which helps explain the drop in his production. As a result, he’s striking out more and walking less, with a 19.8% strikeout rate and a measly six walks on the season (7.0% BB%).

This issue appears to extend beyond Semien and across the Mets lineup as a whole. As a team, the Mets have a 32.3% chase rate, which is the fourth-highest mark in baseball.

Although Semien’s bat speed has never been anything special, it’s also worth noting that it has dropped this season, averaging 67.8 mph, down from 68.8 in 2023. On top of that, his quality of contact has taken a hit, with a career-high 9.7% weak contact rate.

But perhaps the biggest issue for Semien has been his struggles against breaking pitches. In 99 pitches seen, Semien is hitting just .083 with a .083 slugging percentage.

It’s a trend that has continued since his decline in 2024. Over the past two seasons, he has batted below .220 against breaking balls.

The hope of Semien rebounding to his former All-Star self has looked bleak this far into the season. However, in the Mets’ latest series in Chicago, Semien went 5-for-10 with a double that had a season-high exit velocity of 107.5 mph. Mets fans everywhere are hoping that was the spark to get him going.

Marcus Semien is first-pitch swinging and drives an RBI double to get the Mets on the board pic.twitter.com/qikwbEUcij

— SNY (@SNYtv) April 17, 2026

With all of this said, this isn’t far off from what the Mets expected when they acquired the 35-year-old this offseason. Multiple reports have suggested the trade was made to dump Brandon Nimmo’s contract and shore up the defense.

Maybe New York expected Semien not to be the MVP-caliber player he once was. The rest of the team, however, is a different story. The Mets have averaged just 3.27 runs per game, the second-worst in all of baseball.

Although New York needs just about anyone in their lineup to catch fire to escape this early-season nightmare, Semien doesn’t have to be the MVP-caliber player he once was. After all, Semien is still an excellent fielder, winning his second Gold Glove last year.

What the Mets need from Semien is to be a veteran at the bottom of the order who knows how to handle every situation. That means putting the ball in play with a runner on third or working counts to give the hitters behind him a better look.

The “new” Marcus Semien may not be what fans had hoped for, but he can still be a key piece in turning this disastrous season around.

The post It’s Looking Like This Is the New ‘Normal’ For Marcus Semien appeared first on Just Baseball.