Marcus

Semien

Semien drew a walk and scored a run in the second inning, then singled and was caught stealing in the fourth. He later led off the seventh with a solo homer off Bradgley Rodriguez. The home run was Semien’s seventh of the season while slashing .222/.275/.348 with 25 runs scored, 24 RBI, and five steals across 252 plate appearances.

Semien’s fifth homer of the season was one of three on the day for the Mets. The veteran second baseman has continued a downward slide in his first season in New York, finishing May with a .226/.280/.335 triple slash. Playing time remains his best trait in fantasy as he’s yet to miss a game.

Semien was coming off three straight hitless games, but he was able to turn around a Nick Lodolo fastball today. It was his 257th career homer, tying him Ian Kinsler for 17th most all-time among middle infielders. He should also overtake Chase Utley (259) and Derek Jeter (260) this year while jockeying for position with Jose Altuve (259).

It’s the highest Ewing has hit for New York since being called up back on May 12. The 21-year-old speedster leapfrogs veteran second baseman Marcus Semien after hitting .281/.425/.438 with one homer and two steals in 11 games to open his career.

Semien desperately needed a game like this. He entered this game with a .208 batting average and .531 OPS after a dreadful start to the season and having gone just 2-for-19 over his last five games. Well, after his second home run of the season, a double, and his first game with at least three hits in more than a month, he now has a .231 batting average and .601 OPS. Those are still not good by any means, but much better. He also made a slick, back-handed play up the middle on defense to start a double play. Hey, maybe he’s getting some of his mojo back. Or, we should just enjoy the Coors Field bump.

Statcast thinks Semien has been fairly unlucky to hit .213/.265/.279, but he’s both striking out a little more than usual and hitting the ball not quite as hard as usual, which is a bad combination. It’s quite possible that he’s done as a mixed-league infielder at age 35.

Semien is getting the nod at the top spot with Francisco Lindor moving down to second. This doesn’t seem so much a promotion based on good work by Semien — he’s hitting just .234 with a .606 OPS — as it is a shaking up of the lineup for a team that hasn’t won a game since April 7.

Semien came through with an RBI single off of Tyler Mahle in the first inning that increased the Mets’ early lead to 2-0. He then clobbered a 407-foot (101.7 mph EV) two-run blast off of Mahle in the fourth that made it 4-0. With the two-hit effort, the 35-year-old infielder is now hitting .214/.303/.357 with one homer, five RBI and zero stolen bases in his first 33 plate appearances.

Semien is hitting .172/.188/.414 in 32 plate appearances. He’s been seeing a lot of time at the top of the Mets’ lineup with Francisco Lindor out and Juan Soto absent, but there’s no reason for him to be up there in the regular season. Maybe the Mets will show their respect by batting him fifth initially, but in truth, he projects to be their eighth- or ninth-best hitter.

Semien’s double was a 104 mph shot to lead off the game. He would later come around to score on a sacrifice fly by Bo Bichette. Semien would then walk in his second at-bat and score on a single by Francisco Alvarez. The 35-year-old is looking to have a bounce-back season in his first year with the Mets, and if he keeps getting on base like this, he has an outside shot at 90 or more runs scored.