An unbelievable season by Marcus Semien now features a Major League Baseball home run record.
Semien cranked home run No. 44 on the season in the Toronto Blue Jays’ game against the New York Yankees on Wednesday night. That gives him the most home runs in a season by a primary second baseman in MLB history, moving ahead of Davey Johnson (43 homers in 1973).
And two innings later, Semien’s double play partner set a record for home runs by a Blue Jays shortstop in a season when Bo Bichette hit home run No. 27. Ridiculous slugging production from a middle infield.
Semien, 31, has a .267/.338/.544 slash line on the season. According to FanGraphs, Semien has been worth 6.6 wins above replacement (WAR) this season, tied with teammate Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (who has 46 homers) for No. 1 among MLB position players. Semien previously topped out 33 homers in 2019, when he was valued at 7.6 WAR per FanGraphs.
The 2021 career-best power surge from Semien is very much like the season Kansas City Royals catcher Salvador Pérez, who recently set the catcher single-season record for home runs, and leads the majors with 48 dingers.
As ESPN’s Jeff Passan wrote about Semien — an upcoming free agent — earlier on Wednesday, “Semien has made himself more money than anyone, period.”
About Matt Clapp
Matt is an editor/writer at The Comeback and Awful Announcing.
He can be reached by email at mclapp@thecomeback.com.