For the first time since July 22, 2022, Marcus Semien did not lead off for the Rangers. Instead, manager Bruce Bochy moved him to the third spot in the lineup, placing him behind Corey Seager and in front of Wyatt Langford. Josh Smith took over the leadoff spot in the Rangers’ 6-3 win at Busch Stadium.
“Hopefully, I’ll still hit,” Semien joked before going 1-for-5 with a double off the left-field wall. He quickly clarified, “I’m going to hit regardless of where I’m at [in the lineup]. I think it’s about trying to change it up and see if we can go on a run here. Why not? The way our offense is looking right now, I don’t mind hitting in the middle of the order. I think it just adds some more balance to the lineup.”
Bochy is aiming to achieve just that with the lineup change. He’s looking to ignite some momentum by mixing things up, especially with Josh Jung set to return to the lineup Tuesday after recovering from a right wrist fracture sustained on April 1.
“I’d say as much as anything [I changed the lineup] to see if it could spark it a little bit,” Bochy said before the game. “We’ve kind of been in a little rut here. Is it a big change? No, all we did is flip those two for right now, but you’re going to see it changed a little bit with Jung getting back in the lineup. I’m just hoping that any kind of change — sometimes that does something — to get this offense going on a consistent basis.”
WHAT A PLAY FROM SEMIEN!
@Rangers | #StraightUpTX | @BallySports 📺 pic.twitter.com/Mef0qPki1p— Bally Sports Southwest (@BallySportsSW) July 30, 2024
A year ago, when the Rangers led the American League in runs, hits, and batting average on their way to their first World Series title, the bottom of the order consistently got on base ahead of Marcus Semien. This allowed Semien to notch 100 RBIs and score a league-leading 122 runs from the leadoff spot.
“Last year, a big part of our success was the back end of the order getting on base for Marcus and Corey,” Bochy said. “I changed things to change things. Maybe you get in a rut, you’ve got to mix it up a little bit. Sometimes I get concerned when you do change guys and they’re not comfortable. But these guys are, they were all in on it.”
Before Monday night, the last time Semien batted third was on June 29, 2022, under then-manager Chris Woodward.
“I’m a baseball player. I’m not going to be worried about now I’m the No. 3 hitter so I need to do this and that. Nah, I’m going to play baseball to the best of my ability,” Semien said. “We’re all trying to have quality at-bats 1 through 9, and hopefully I can do that in a different spot.”
Semien, who scored his team-high 71st run Monday night, aims to score 100 runs in a season, a benchmark he has reached in his previous four full seasons (excluding the COVID-shortened 2020 season). He still expects to hit that mark, even if he stays in the 3-hole.
“Hopefully, that means success for us. It’s not just 100 runs from Marcus. It means the Rangers are scoring runs again,” he said.
Bochy reacts to 6-3 win in STL … pic.twitter.com/6FyTMHJnHW
— Stefan Stevenson (@StefanVersusTex) July 30, 2024