ARLINGTON — It is every team’s announced goal to run a lineup strictly by meritocracy and meritocracy alone. It’s a simple concept to idealize, but often impractical to deploy.
Marcus Semien and Adolis García may leave the Rangers with no other choices.
They are quickly running out of time.
Though you wouldn’t know it from the score of a 2-0 one-hit loss to Toronto, Corey Seager returned to the Rangers lineup on Wednesday. He was the DH and went 0 for 4, but is expected to play shortstop come the weekend. In a pre-game workout, Evan Carter sprinted around the bases like a whippet, suggesting his quadriceps is ready to roll and that a rehab assignment might come this weekend. And sometime next week, hard as it is to believe, the Rangers may just find themselves with a full roster for the first time this season.
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If so, what else is there to do with Semien and García that doesn’t include limiting playing time? The Rangers have twice dropped them in the batting order to where they are bringing up the rear in what has been the worst offense in the American League. They changed batting coaches. Semien and García have both worked at making adjustments, Semien by hitting the ball more to right field and García trying to take a little off his swing and hit the ball up the middle. If anything, the first month under the new regime has been worse. The offense, as a whole, managed three runs in three games against Toronto, which is even worse than the five runs the Rangers managed at Yankee Stadium last week.
Seager’s return gives the Rangers five infielders for four spots. For the next few days, at least, they can rotate infielders through the DH spot. But, if Carter returns next week, they’ll also have four outfielders for three spots because right now it’s impossible to say Alejandro Osuna was just a place-holder. When that happens, somebody is going to find themselves without a spot.
It’s not what the Rangers want to do. It’s not their intent. But they may be getting close to being left without a choice.
Texas Rangers outfielder Adolis García grounds out during the second inning of a baseball game against the Toronto Blue Jays, on Tuesday, May 27, 2025, at Globe Life Field in Arlington . (Shafkat Anowar / Staff Photographer)
Consider first just a couple of snippets from Wednesday’s game:
In the seventh of a scoreless tie, Garcia came to the plate with a runner on base and two outs, got ahead 3-0, took a strike and then swung and missed at two consecutive sliders off and further off the plate to end the inning.
In each of his first two at-bats, Semien got 93 mph fastballs in the center of the plate. On the first, his foul tip resulted in a strikeout. On the second, he lifted a soft fly ball to right field. Pitches he has in the past pounded. In his third at-bat, Semien popped out to the catcher on a 1-0 fastball at the extreme upper outside edge of the zone.
Taken alone, it’s a bad night. But it’s been two months of bad nights. And that followed six months of struggles in 2024.
In May, which coincides with the change in hitting coaches, Semien is hitting .163 with a .464 OPS. He has one extra-base hit for the month and one double for the season. His .484 OPS for the season makes it one of the worst starts by any MLB regular in the last decade. Since 2016, only three other players have had 200 or more plate appearances by the end of May and an OPS below .490. For context, the former Ranger Chris Davis, whose rapid decline in 2018 was legendary, was at .483 at the end of May.
García is hitting .195 for May with a .556 OPS. His batting average for the season fell to .208 and his OPS to .627. He is among the most overzealous chasers in baseball and has 25 strikeouts in his last 20 games.
The Rangers have done everything they can to help the veteran duo get jump started. They’ve had the luxury of giving them extra time since there has been a shortage of position players. But even that “luxury” may be evaporating.
And it leaves the Rangers with no choices but to consider just how far into meritocracy they are willing to lean.
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