{"id":763402,"date":"2026-07-28T05:18:22","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T05:18:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/763402\/"},"modified":"2026-07-28T05:18:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T05:18:22","slug":"marcus-semiens-bat-finally-showing-signs-of-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/763402\/","title":{"rendered":"Marcus Semien’s bat finally showing signs of life"},"content":{"rendered":"

When a veteran struggles to replicate the production of the player he was traded for, he\u2019s likely going to be scrutinized \u2014 especially in a big market.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For the Mets, Marcus Semien fits that bill.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Semien, whom the Mets acquired for Brandon Nimmo from the Rangers this offseason, was hitting just .204 entering Sunday\u2019s game against the Dodgers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But after hitting a homer Sunday, Semien broke through in the Mets\u2019 14-3 thrashing of the Braves on Monday<\/a>, recording three hits and a home run that put his team up for good in the sixth inning.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he\u2019s really competed incredibly well,\u201d Mets interim manager Andy Green said. \u201cHe is impressive from a professionalism standpoint. He does absolutely everything you could do to get ready to win a baseball game.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI had multiple people tell me yesterday how he was preparing on the bench to come in, didn\u2019t get the start, but he was doing absolutely everything to be ready for a big at-bat. It was a huge three-run homer for us yesterday. It\u2019s nice to see people who do everything right experience success, and he earns everything he gets.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"MarcusMarcus Semien homers during the Mets-Braves game on July 27, 2026. Jason Szenes for the New York Post<\/p>\n

Fans have been calling for Semien\u2019s head all season. They\u2019ve peppered Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns with blame for trading a homegrown talent and decade-long Met in Nimmo for Semien.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Along with Freddy Peralta, Bo Bichette and Jorge Polanco, Semien has been one of several offseason acquisitions that haven\u2019t panned out for the Mets, as his average hasn\u2019t been over .230 since May.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yet Semien, who won a World Series with the Rangers in 2023, showed Monday that he may have something left in the tank \u2014 even if it likely won\u2019t matter for the Mets this season.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Semien started his night with a second-inning single before hitting a two-run blast in the sixth to put the Mets up 5-3.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With the Mets up 9-3 in the eighth, Semien singled to center before eventually scoring on Francisco Lindor\u2019s three-run home run.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"MarcusMarcus Semien celebrates during the Mets-Braves game on July 27, 2026. Robert Sabo for NY Post<\/p>\n

The 35-year-old also drew a walk in what was his first three-hit game since notching four hits against the Rockies on May 6.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Semien said changes to his hitting approach recently have revolved around one key thing: timing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just trying to slow the ball down,\u201d Semien said. \u201cI felt like [I was] a little late on fastballs. Everything for me starts with the fastball. If you\u2019re late on the fastball, you\u2019re going to rush on the off-speed chase.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cJust trying to make the ball look as slow as possible so you can control the strike zone.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When a veteran struggles to replicate the production of the player he was traded for, he\u2019s likely going…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":763403,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2396],"tags":[5,386,101,4,1690,61,2548,4203,185],"class_list":["post-763402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-mets","tag-baseball","tag-marcus-semien","tag-mets","tag-mlb","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-mets","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkmets","tag-sports"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116995916291748180","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/763402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=763402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/763402\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/763403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=763402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=763402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=763402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}