Marcus Semien has been named the New York Mets' 'least valuable player' just one month into the season. His performance has significantly lagged behind that of Brandon Nimmo, who was traded to the Texas Rangers.
Marcus Semien claims title of Mets 'least valuable player' one month into the season originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
During the offseason, the New York Mets made multiple moves in hopes of making them better this season. They signed multiple guys to free agent deals and were involved in a few trades.
One of these trades was dealing Brandon Nimmo to the Texas Rangers for Marcus Semien. And while that might have looked good on paper, it has not paid off this season.
Nimmo is off to a fine start in Texas, hitting .290/.364/.460 with four home runs and 12 runs batted in. Semien, on the other hand, is hitting just .218/.275/.291 with one home run and nine runs batted in.
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Marcus Semien was named the Mets' least valuable player due to his poor performance, hitting only .218 with one home run and nine RBIs.
Brandon Nimmo is performing well with the Texas Rangers, hitting .290 with four home runs and 12 RBIs, contrasting sharply with Semien's struggles.
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Semien has looked like a shell of himself this season. His max exit velocity is down nearly 10 mph, while his pull rate has collapsed this season, something that was a big part of his game.
He also hasn't adjusted to how pitchers have attacked him this season. Opposing pitchers are giving him a first-strike rate of 78%, and he is constantly behind in counts.
While he is not the only Mets player struggling, Bleacher Report's Kerry Miller tags him as the club's "least valuable player."
"New York has plenty of players who were supposed to be major contributors who have struggled mightily out of the gate. But Semien is the only one that they gave up Brandon Nimmo to acquire in the name of 'run prevention.' And at the start of play on Thursday, Nimmo had a 144 OPS+ in Texas while Semien had a 67 for the Mets."
To put it simply, Nimmo is crushing it while Semien is struggling mightily, along with a handful of others in the Mets lineup.
He's not the only reason, but he's not helping their MLB-worst start.