Chicago ultimately sent him to Oakland as part of the Jeff Samardzija trade in December 2014.“I want to play every day, because I feel like I play better the more I play,” Semien said.He has numerical evidence on his side.
It’s also a lot easier to hit when you’re more confident on defense. It’s the biggest transition I’ve ever seen at the big-league level.”Ron Kroichick is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Phillips died in 2013, the same year her grandson reached the majors with the White Sox.Six years later, through diligence tracing to those East Bay fields, Semien is a fixture atop Oakland’s lineup and one of the prime reasons for the A’s rise into playoff contention. At this point, it is likely that the Oakland Athletics will need to find their shortstop of the future.
Fortunately, the A’s have several promising shortstops in the minors that could fit that description.Let’s take a look through the candidates and see which of these players could become the Oakland Athletics shortstop of the future.Build your custom FanSided Daily email newsletter with news and analysis on Oakland Athletics and all your favorite sports teams, TV shows, and more.Your privacy is safe with us. He also writes features on the Warriors during the NBA season, and on various other topics – ranging from the 49ers/NFL and major-league baseball to college football and basketball – the rest of the year.
Give the front office some credit for sticking with him.“I’m not sure we had anybody we felt was better, so maybe the timing was good for him. Not only has he started every A’s game dating to June 28 of last season (the fourth-longest streak in franchise history), he has played all but 13 innings in that span.Semien played 159 games in 2016, dropped to 85 the next season because of a broken wrist and played in 159 again last season. The Oakland Athletics are likely going to have to address the shortstop position this offseason. The problem is that he picked the 2019 campaign for a career year, posting a .285/.369/.522 batting line while hitting 43 doubles and 33 homers. This is a list of award winners and league leaders for the Oakland Athletics professional baseball franchise.
But once you get to know Marcus and what he’s all about — and once he got with Wash and learned how to fundamentally play the position — then you knew he was going to improve.“I don’t know that we ever thought he’d get to this point, where I think he should have been an All-Star.
Kroichick is The Chronicle’s golf columnist, covering the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and all major championships in Northern California (including the 2019 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach and 2020 PGA Championship at Harding Park). “I’ve never been around a big leaguer who’s come this far.”Semien has blossomed into the A’s best all-around shortstop since Miguel Tejada, who won the AL Most Valuable Player award in 2002.