The Texas Rangers made a big splash in free agency. They signed Marcus Semien and Corey Seager among others. Combined these two infielders yielded contracts worth nearly 500 million dollars. The Rangers weren’t expected and haven’t put together the best season this year. They finished in 4th place in the AL West. In this particular post I want to examine the two big time free agent signings in Semien and Seager. I also want to look at Nathaniel Lowe, who’s having a career season. It should be noted part of the reason for the Rangers poor season is a lack of good pitching, 12th in ERA in the AL.
Marcus Semien is a primarily second baseman who throws and bats right. He was drafted by the Chicago White Sox from the University of California (Berkeley). Semien has 10 years in the MLB. The past 3 of 4 years have seen him put up career high numbers. (Except the COVID season in 2020) So it doesn’t come as a surprise that this year, Semien has performed fairly well although still not matching his 2021. To preface his 2022 stats, he’s 4th in OPS+ in the Rangers lineup. Here is his line: (As of October 1st)
2022: 156 G, 26 HR, 82 RBI, 24 SB, 7 CS, 52 BB, 115 SO, .253 BA, .309 OBP, .440 SLG, .749 OPS, 111 OPS+
Consider that his batting ratios are: 3.7 HR%, 16.4 SO%, 7.4 BB%
His career batting ratios are favorable: 3.7 HR%, 19.7 SO%, 8.8 BB%
The main differences between Semien’s 2022 and 2021 are his power numbers, he hit 45 HRs with 102 RBI. HIs slugging and OPS were .538 and .873. His OPS+ was 131. The home run and RBI totals were career highs. Overall Semien has remained dangerous in the Rangers lineup. He’s hit for less power so his strikeouts have come down by about 4 percent. All good news.
Corey Seager is a shortstop who bats left and throws right. He was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers. Seager has 8 years of experience. Seager already has a laundry list of awards from his time with the Dodgers such as WS MVP, NLCS MVP, Rookie of the Year. This year wasn’t Seager’s best season by any stretch but it’s still respectable and the Rangers will hope he returns to form in the coming 10 years. (his contract length) Here are his stats: (As of October 1st)
2022: 148 G, 32 HR, 81 RBI, 58 BB, 103 SO, .245 BA, .318 OBP, .453 SLG, .772 OPS, 118 OPS+
We know that Seager is capable of more, but he’s contributed enough to be 2nd in OPS+ on the Rangers team. Despite hitting more doubles and homer runs than last season his OPS+ is 24 points lower. I suspect the Rangers Stadium (Globe LIfe Park) is the cause because it’s not favorable to hitters.
The leader of hitting for your Texas Rangers is Nathaniel Lowe. Lowe plays first base while batting left and throwing right. Lowe was drafted by the Tampa Bay Rays. He debuted in 2019 with those Rays. Lowe has been very impressive this season putting up career highs. Here are his stats as of October 1st:
2022: 152 G, 27 HR, 76 RBI, 44 BB, 142 SO, .302 BA, .355 OBP, .497 SLG, .852 OPS , 140 OPS+
It’s clear that Lowe found something this year in only his second full time season. It’s notable that he reduced his strikeout total from 2021 of 162 to 142. His walk rate actually decreased, but his batting average, slugging and OPS has skyrocketed. It’s probably due to the increased number of hits from 147 to 175 from last season to this season. I think it’s a bit of a surprise that Lowe would be leading hitting for the Rangers especially with Seager and Semien but also Adolis Garcia who has his own moments. We’ll see if Lowe can continue to build on his progress next season.
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Thanks to Baseball Reference and Baseball Savant for the statistics.
Technically Analytics 