After struggling at the plate in his first year after signing a big contract, Marcus Semien, 33, of the Texas Rangers, continues his quest for his first Most Valuable Player (MVP) award.
On Aug. 25 against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Simeon hit his eighth home run of the season while batting first and second.
The home run also extended his hitting streak to 14 games, dating back to May 11 against the Seattle Mariners. He has been swinging the bat well this month.
In 49 games this season, Simeon is now batting .299 with eight home runs, 40 RBIs, 45 runs scored, 60 runs batted in, a .373 slugging percentage and an .870 OPS.
That’s a huge improvement over the .268 batting average, .346 OPS, and .802 slugging percentage he posted to close out last month.
Simeon has also been good on defense and at the plate, ranking first in the American League in both FWAR and BWAR.
Add to that the fact that Texas is playing well as a team. Through 25 games, Texas still leads the American League West with a 31-18 record and a .633 winning percentage.
Although he’s not hitting as many home runs as he did last season (45 in 2021), he’s still leading the team with a solid offense, defense, and week-to-week performance.
As such, Simeon is a strong candidate for American League MVP this season. He’ll likely surpass his third-place finishes in the 2019 and 2021 MVP voting.
Prior to last season, Simeon signed a seven-year, $175 million contract with Texas. However, Simeon did not hit well last year.토토사이트
Sure, he had a 4.2 FWAR last year, so he did his job overall, but his slash line wasn’t great, with a .248 batting average and .304 on-base percentage.
However, this season, Simeon has been more than satisfactory in terms of FWAR and slash line. He’s on pace for a career-high in slugging percentage.
It will be interesting to see if Simeon can keep up his current form and win his first MVP award, as he is certainly worth his $26 million salary.