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The Oakland A’s made a lot of changes to their infield this offseason including the acquisition of the 24-year-old Marcus Semien. Semien came over from the White Sox and has played in the MLB sporadically over the past two years. The Oakland A’s told the press that Semien would have every chance to earn the spot as starting shortstop, but many remained worried about this lack of experience.
But now, those worries seem to be fading away. Semien has been extremely impressive at spring training camp so far. He currently is five for five giving him a 1.00 batting average. Additionally, Semien as seven RBI and two home runs. One of those homers was off of World Series MVP Madison Bumgarner. Even though the Cactus League games only started this week, Semien has showed patience at the plate and a willingness to adapt to different pitchers.
He has also been performing well on defense. Semien has only played eight innings at shortstop this spring but he has been successfully fielding balls and turned over a double play. The Oakland A’s want Semien to be extremely good at his job at shortstop and do not plan on moving him around the diamond to play other positions. This will allow Semien to grow his talent and become a successful starting shortstop.
However, Semien is not getting too excited about his spring training success. When he spoke with the press this week, he stated that he is just getting lucky with some good pitches. If Semien’s success continues throughout spring training and into the regular season, it will not be just luck that makes him successful.
Semien’s teammates have been extremely impressed with his performance so far this spring. Both Josh Reddick and Jesse Hahn have spoken highly of this young shortstop. They see something special within Semien and hope that he can continue to perform throughout the entire of the season.
The Oakland A’s had been scouting Semien since his college baseball days at Cal and manager Bob Melvin is especially excited to have a fellow University of California Golden Bear on the team. This youngster has shown a lot of potential so far this season, and if he continues to find success throughout spring training, Semien will definitely earn the starting shortstop position for the regular season.
