With his second career Gold Glove Award at second base in 2025, Marcus Semien has established himself as one of MLB’s best defenders at the keystone.
But after two straight down seasons at the plate, what might Semien have to offer offensively in 2026?
The Mets, who acquired Semien from the Rangers on Nov. 24 for outfielder Brandon Nimmo, certainly hope the veteran can return to his level of production from 2023, when he posted a .276/.348/.478 slash line with 29 home runs and 14 steals, finishing third in American League MVP voting. But with Semien’s age (35) and his struggles since, is such a bounce-back likely?
Here are some reasons for optimism or concern regarding Semien’s offensive profile ahead of his first season with the Mets.
Above-average plate discipline
Semien’s impressive command of the strike zone hasn’t gone away with age. Every year since Statcast tracking began in 2015, the veteran has chased pitches out of the zone considerably less than the average hitter. In 2025, Semien’s 23.5% chase rate ranked in the 80th percentile of qualifying MLB hitters.
Semien has benefited from that discernment throughout his career, walking at an above-average clip in nine of the past 10 seasons. His discipline at the plate — as well as a low whiff rate — has kept his strikeout rate low throughout his career. At 17.4% in 2025, Semien’s K rate ranked in the 74th percentile. In situations where the Mets need a ball in play and can’t afford a strikeout, Semien will be one of the players they want at the dish.
Savvy baserunning
When it comes to running the bases, Semien hasn’t lost a step. His sprint speed has hovered between 28 and 29 feet per second (30 ft/sec is considered elite) every year since Statcast tracking began in 2015. His 28.5 ft/sec mark in 2025 ranked in MLB’s 81st percentile.
But not only is Semien fast: He’s a smart baserunner, too. Semien stole 11 bases and was caught just once in 2025, the ninth time he swiped double-digit bags in a season. According to Statcast, Semien’s baserunning netted three runs for the Rangers in 2025 — one run via steals and two more from taking extra bases on batted balls. In 2022, he tied for the MLB lead in the latter category, adding five runs with his advance/hold decisions on balls in play. Semien’s speed and acuity should keep pitchers honest without racking up outs on the basepaths for the Mets.
Pull power
How did Semien produce a 45-homer season — 12 more homers than he’d hit in any prior year — with the Blue Jays in 2021? Power to the pull side had a lot to do with it. Semien’s rate of “pulled airballs” — fly balls, line drives and popups to the pull side — soared from 21.7% in 2020 (Semien’s previous career high) to a whopping 28.7% in 2021, seventh highest among qualifying hitters that season.
He hasn’t quite reached those lofty heights since, but he’s still averaged an impressive 24.2% pulled airball rate from 2022 on, including 23.8% in 2025 — well above average among Major League hitters. With his average launch angle up to 19.4 degrees in 2025 (tied for 22nd among 251 qualifiers), Semien has had little trouble lifting and pulling the ball. At second base — the position group that slugged the fewest homers in 2025 — that could go a long way.
Decreased power production
Yes, we just covered Semien’s pull-air skills, but the veteran infielder has seen a fairly steep decline in his overall power numbers. He totaled just 15 homers in 2025, his fewest in a full season since slugging 15 with the Athletics in 2018. Semien — typically one of MLB’s iron men — did play only 127 games in 2025 after playing in 644 of 648 contests (99.4%) from 2021-24, but his production was down nonetheless.
Semien’s .377 slugging percentage against fastballs was the 16th-lowest mark among 170 hitters with 250 or more plate appearances ending on heaters. He batted just .146 (7-for-48) against offspeed pitches such as changeups and splitters, slugging just .208 on those pitches — well below the MLB average of .355. A ballpark upgrade could help: According to Statcast, Citi Field should be a bit more conducive to Semien’s power. If he’d played all his games in Queens in 2025, he would have added two home runs to his season total. That might not sound like much, but it’s a start.
Low bat speed
Part of the reason for Semien’s decreased homer totals is his bat speed, which has ranked toward the bottom of the Majors since bat tracking began in the second half of the 2023 season. Semien ranked in the eighth percentile of qualifying hitters in 2025 with a 68.4 mph average bat speed, well below the MLB average of 71.7 mph and far from the top of the list, which includes sluggers such as Kyle Schwarber, Nick Kurtz, Aaron Judge and Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
Semien’s low bat speed translates into difficulty barreling up the baseball. His 88.3 mph average exit velocity in 2025 was in the 24th percentile, and his hard-hit rate (batted balls above 95 mph) was just 35.0%, which ranked in the 17th percentile and was Semien’s personal worst mark since 2020. He hasn’t been above average in either category since 2021, his career-best power season. Bat speed isn’t everything — contact hitters such as Luis Arraez and Steven Kwan succeed despite low readings — but for the past two seasons, Semien’s inability to impact the ball consistently has been an issue.
