Pitchers and catchers arrive Wednesday at Sunrise, Ariz., where the reigning World Series champion Texas Rangers will conduct spring training. Former Cal star Marcus Semien and the rest of the full squad is scheduled to report next Monday.
Semien is believed to be fully healthy, but that’s not the case with all of his teammates. Pitchers Jacob deGrom (elbow) and Max Scherzer (lower back) both will miss the start of the regular season. Series MVP Corey Seager, Semien’s middle infield partner, underwent surgery for a sports hernia but is expected back in time for opening day.
Semien hopes to alter a recent pattern where he delivers exceptional seasons in off-numbered years. The 33-year-old second baseman finished third in AL MVP voting in 2019 with the Oakland A’s, 2021 with the Toronto Blue Jays and last season with the Rangers.
He made his second All-Star Game appearance last summer while compiling 40 doubles, 29 home runs and 100 RBIs. Semien led the AL in games (162), plate appearances 753), at-bats (670), runs scored (122) and hits (185) in the lead-up to the franchise’s first-ever World Series title.
A Berkeley native who played at Cal from 2009-11, Semien begins his 11th MLB season ranked second among former Golden Bears in career home runs. His 215 homers are well back of fellow second baseman Jeff Kent’s 377 blasts, but it’s worth speculating whether Semien can perhaps challenge that mark.
It won’t be easy but the math suggests it's possible. Excluding the 2020 season, when he was limited to 58 games due to injury, Semien has averaged 33 home runs since 2019.
If he maintains that pace through the duration of his contract, Semien would reach 381 home runs, barely eclipsing Kent, by the end of the 2028 campaign. Semien will turn 38 years old in September of that season, so and age and health could impact his production.
Here are the seven former Cal players who hit at least 100 home runs in the major leagues:
*** JEFF KENT (1992-2008): 377 career home runs. Kent was a five-time All-Star and the NL MVP in 2000 when he had 33 home runs and 125 RBIs for the Giants. He hit a career-high 37 homers in 2002.
*** MARCUS SEMIEN (2013-23): 215 career home runs. Semien had career highs of 45 homers — most ever by a Cal alum — and 102 RBIs with the Blue Jays in 2021, after which he signed his seven-year, $175 million contract with Texas.
*** JACKIE JENSEN (1950-59, ’61): 199 career home runs. The two-sport Cal legend was a three-time All-Star and AL MVP in 1958 when he had career highs of 35 home runs and 122 RBIs with the Boston Red Sox.
*** SAM CHAPMAN (1938-41, ’45-51): 180 career home runs. Also a football/baseball star during his days in Berkeley, Chapman hit a career-high 25 home runs in 1941 for the Philadelphia A’s before missing the next three seasons while serving the U.S.Navy during WWII. Without that hiatus, Chapman could easily reside at No. 2 on this list.
*** MIKE EPSTEIN (1966-74): 130 career home runs. Epstein hit 30 homers for Washington Senators in 1969, but his best season was probably 1972, when he clubbed a team-leading 26 home runs for the A’s on their way to the first of three straight World Series crowns.
*** MARK CANHA (2015-23): 113 career home runs. Traded by the Milwaukee Brewers to the Detroit Tigers in November, Canha is set to begin his 11th MLB season after turning 35 years old on Thursday. He hit a career-high 26 home runs for the Oakland A’s in 2019, the only time he has totaled more than 17 in a season.
*** XAVIER NADY (2000, ’03-12, ’14): 104 career home runs. Nady, who hit a program-record 57 home runs during his Cal days, played 12 MLB seasons for eight different teams. He hit a career-high 25 home runs in 2008 while splitting time with the Pirates and Yankees.
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