ARLINGTON, Texas — Bruce Bochy saw Marcus Semien slumping right along with his team in late August. The Rangers showed up at Citi Field having lost nine of 10 to fall into second place and Semien had hit a rather lifeless .225 during that span.
The veteran manager also recognized that Semien’s wife was in the final stages of a pregnancy and there already were three kids, so he met with his second baseman before the series. “I just told him that maybe we were getting to a point of diminishing returns. I thought maybe he was mentally fried and I told him, ‘It’s OK to take a day off.’”
Semien said that he would let Bochy know if he needed that day. They never spoke about it again.
Of course.
The Rangers played their 170th game of 2023 between the regular and postseason Wednesday night, as they hosted ALCS Game 3 against the Astros. And for the 170th time, Bochy wrote in Semien to lead off and play second.
“It’s really quite a luxury, never to think about who is playing second base,” Bochy said. “It doesn’t happen a lot these days in an age of load management.”
Yes, load management, a good idea gone nuts. It is great that there are measurables now to let organizations know when a player might be operating at a deficit. But it has been too regularly taken to the obscene — a generation of players has been raised being told playing daily is exhausting so, not shockingly, with that planted in their heads they are exhausted. It has gone from a helpful tool to a crutch.
One reason for the Braves’ great regular-season success this year is that they played their best players as often as possible. Availability is the sixth major league tool and the standard five matter a whole lot less if you are not playing. The best way to measure Wins Above Replacement should not just be to calculate the player’s metrics, but to subtract if an inferior player has to step in for him.
The Rangers never have such concerns with Semien. It is one reason that GM Chris Young, not long after taking the job, signed Semien for seven years at $175 million following the 2021 season. He knew Semien’s work ethic would maximize how much he played. But Young also felt Semien would be a role model to younger players such as Josh Jung, Nathan Lowe and Leody Taveras.
“It sets a standard that this is what we’re about, and this is the expectation and when you’re a young player and you think you come in and you’re feeling a little sore, a little tired or mentally not there, and you look over and you see a superstar player who has no fear and has every intention of going out there and posting and playing and winning, it has great influence,” Young said. “We have seen it already with several guys where it’s changed their mentality in terms of how they take care of themselves, their routine, their focus, and their willingness to post.”
Semien said he was heavily influenced by his White Sox farm director Buddy Bell, who was a heavy-usage third baseman in his day. And then when he reached Chicago, he admired players who believed in getting on the field daily, such as first baseman Paul Konerko and shortstop Alexei Ramirez. Besides, he said, the last collective bargaining agreement included more mandated days off than ever, so those are good enough for him.
“My outlook is that you can do something special any given day, you don’t have to be 100 percent to give your team a chance to win,” Semien said. “I was never the person with the most talent who just felt like he could show up and hit a home run, so preparation is important to me and playing is important to me. I feel like when I play every day, I get better as the season goes along.”
That is why he did not accept Bochy’s late-August invite for rest — Semien’s mindset was slumps are part of a season and that working out of it on the field was vital. And he produced an .891 OPS after the invite to help Texas clinch a playoff berth for the first time since 2016.
It also stretched his consecutive-game streak to 294 — only Braves first baseman Matt Olson’s 458 games is currently longer. In the last four full seasons, Semien has played 161 games once and 162 games three times. Since 2018, Semien has played a major league-high 7,517 ²/₃ innings in the field. The next-most is 7,372 by first baseman Freddie Freeman. The next-most by someone who plays in the middle of the diamond is 6,928 ¹/₃ by Trea Turner.
There are so many decisions that have to be made game-to-game in the majors. Semien has provided the Rangers this comfort — they never have to find out who the backup second baseman is.
“It’s a puzzle you’re trying to piece together every day and to have that piece on a daily basis that you know is going to be your leadoff-hitting second baseman every day, that is a great box to check because you are getting his performance with it,” Rangers associate manager Will Venable said. “It is a pretty good way to start that process every day.”