Deep Dive into Newest Met Marcus Semien

On Sunday, the Mets traded their longest-tenured player, OF Brandon Nimmo, to the Texas Rangers in exchange for 2B Marcus Semien. Jeff Passan of ESPN reported the trade first, and Jon Heyman of the New York Post later confirmed that the Mets would send $5 million to Texas to offset part of Nimmo’s 2026 contract. The Mets needed Nimmo to waive his no-trade clause, and according to Mike Puma of the New York Post, Nimmo was approached about the idea on Friday, mulling the notion over the weekend (and even speaking to former Met and new teammate Jacob deGrom) before accepting the trade. 

And with that, Brandon Nimmo is a Texas Ranger, and Marcus Semien is the newest member of the New York Mets.

Overview:

Marcus Semien has a lifetime slashline of .253/.321/.435 (.756 OPS), good for a 108 wRC+. Semien is one of the few remaining Iron Men of MLB. Before breaking a bone in his foot in 2025, Semien missed a total of 11 games between 2018 and 2024, with three seasons where he played all 162 games.

Semien was drafted by the White Sox in 2011 and traded to the Athletics as part of the package for Jeff Samardzija. For the first four years in Oakland, Semien was a league-average hitter (97 wRC+) with a plus glove. In 2019, Semien exploded with a monster offensive season, netting a third-place MVP finish. Following a disappointing COVID season, Semien had a career year in his one-season “prove me” year with Toronto. He set an MLB record, hitting 45 home runs as a primary second baseman and once again finished third in MVP voting.

Following his marvelous season, the Texas Rangers signed Semien to a seven-year, $175 million contract. Over the first three years, Semien picked up another third-place MVP finish, averaged a 110 wRC+, and never had a fWAR below 4.3, all the while helping the Rangers win the 2023 World Series.

2025 Campaign:

The 2025 season was a challenging one for Semien and likely played a role in the Rangers’ willingness to trade him for a contract with more years and total dollars owed. Semien only played 127 games in 2025 due to a fracture in his left foot. At the time of his injury, Semien was in the midst of one of his most challenging offensive seasons as a big leaguer. He slashed .230/.305/.364, good for an 89 wRC+. He also saw his strikeout rate jump from 14.6% in 2023 and 2024 to 17.4% in 2025.

However, Semien remained an elite defensive player and baserunner. He finished with seven OAA and six fielding run value. Both elite numbers and better than Jeff McNeil’s numbers at 2B (four OAA and two FRV). Semien’s 2025 fielding metrics would have placed him as the best fielder for the Mets in 2025 (Francisco Lindor had a five OAA).

Defensive Deep Dive:

The main reason the Mets traded for Semien is his elite defense at second base. Semien is a former shortstop and two-time Gold Glove winner at second. Over the last three seasons, Semien has the fourth most OAA in MLB (39), sixth most FRV (32), and 12th most DRS in MLB (31). What makes Semien so good defensively is his elite range. Semien’s range value (measuring how much better his range is relative to average players) is 30, fourth in MLB over that span.

Semien offers an immediate upgrade to a Mets infield that ranked below league average in double plays turned in 2025 (121, 16th), but Semien thrives in that area. Over the last three seasons, Semien is 12th in baseball in double play runs above average, which measures the effectiveness of a player’s ability to convert double plays. For reference, Jeff McNeil ranks 58th in the same time span. For a groundball-reliant group of starters, an up-the-middle combination of Francisco Lindor and Semien is a dream.

Marcus Semien making one of the best defensive plays of the year. Holy smokes. pic.twitter.com/E1XUNxIT2l

— Jared Sandler (@JaredSandler) July 6, 2024

Baserunning Deep Dive:

While not the elite base stealer he once was (25 in 2022), Semien remained opportunistic on the bases in 2025. Semien stole 11 bases in 12 attempts. But what Semien really provides, more than base stealing, is the ability to take the extra base. Semien ranked 27th in baseball in extra-base taking value and ranked 29th overall in baserunning value. In contrast, Nimmo was 119th in extra bases taken value. The ability to take the extra base reduces the need to string multiple hits in a row to produce runs and is another area of value Semien will provide the Mets in 2026.

Offensive Deep Dive:

Semien has never been an exit velocity poster child; instead, he combines an elite plate discipline with high pulled-ball percentages to produce. Hitters who have elite fly ball pull rates without high exit velocity or barrel rates are “penalized” on Baseball Savant because their power is limited to the pull side, as opposed to Juan Soto, Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge, who have elite power to all fields and have very red savant pages. The offensive profile most similar to Semien is Alex Bregman, another player who relies on elite plate discipline and whose Baseball Savant page isn’t dark red but generally “outperforms” his expected stats due to his ability to pull the ball in the air.

Even with his surface-level struggles in 2025, Semien remained above average in chase rate (80th percentile), K rate (74th percentile) and walk rate (63rd percentile). Semien has also maintained well above average pulled air ball percentages (never having a percentage below 23.4% in his four years in Texas), which allowed him to average 23 HRs a year in Texas despite having average to below average barrel rates. 

Beyond his expected slashlines, Semien’s batted ball profile has remained remarkably the same over the last three years. His barrel rate (6.7) and average exit velocity (88.3 mph) were actually better than his numbers in 2024 (6.5 and 87.4 mph) and were nearly identical to his metrics in 2023 (6.5 vs 6.7 and 88.4 mph vs 88.3 mph). While Semien’s average bat speed was only 68.4 mph in 2025, that is in line with his bat speed in 2023 and 2024 (68.7 mph and 68.3 mph).

First pitch swinging ????

Marcus Semien hits a home run to the second deck. pic.twitter.com/OAVBrJa39F

— MLB (@MLB) March 25, 2025

Other bat metrics show a really consistent player. His intercept point (how far in front of the plate he makes contact with the ball) has stayed between 2.3 inches and 4.5 inches the last three seasons. He’s had a similar depth in the batter’s box (26.6-28 inches) over the last three seasons, and his swing length has been either 7.6 or 7.7 in each of the last three years. 

The final area to touch upon regarding Semien is his home park. It’s rare for a player to call Citi Field a more hitter-friendly environment, but that is what Semien will be doing. With a park factor of 91 overall (100 being league average), Globe Life Park has been the second-hardest park to hit in as a right-handed hitter over the last two years. Nobody knows this better than Marcus Semien. He had a 78 wRC+ at home and a 99 wRC+ on the road. Compared to Globe Life, Citi Field ranked exactly league average (100 park factor) for right-handed hitters. Also of note, had Semien played all of his games at Citi Field in 2024 and 2025, he would have hit 12 more HRs than he did (33 vs 23 and 17 vs 15). 

Trade Rationale:

This trade makes sense for both sides, but especially for the Mets. For starters, David Stearns has preached that the team needed to improve in the run prevention department heading into 2026. Acquiring a two-time Gold Glove-winning second baseman will help with that. This trade also creates long-term roster flexibility for the Mets. By trading for a contract that is two years shorter, the Mets freed themselves of the worst years of Nimmo’s contract and can be out of the Semien business before Nimmo’s contract expires.

Another area this trade helps the Mets is roster construction for 2026. A team with Nimmo in left, Soto in right and Alonso (in the event he returns) all playing the field would not have been a team that could really improve on defense. By trading Nimmo, the Mets have created real roster flexibility. They can now acquire one of Kyle Tucker, Cody Bellinger, or even strike a trade for the likes of Jarren Duran or Fernando Tatis Jr..

The team could also let their promising crop of position player prospects fight for roster spots, which David Stearns already noted was on the horizon for top hitting prospect Carson Benge. Given these reasons, this trade is as much, if not more, about the flexibility it offers than the actual production the Mets believe Semien will provide.

Conclusion:

Ultimately, this was a necessary but painful step in the process to reconstruct the Mets’ roster. Brandon Nimmo was an excellent Met (lifetime 124 wRC+) who helped the team reach the NLCS in 2024 and played a key leadership role since re-signing with the team in free agency. The emotional side of sports always hurts in moments like this, but the acquisition of Marcus Semien makes it clear to the entire league that David Stearns is ready to remodel this roster and put a winner on the field in 2026, regardless of fan sentiment.

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