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Marcus Semien is inspiring Rangers with his play, impressing front office with his hustle

Manager Bruce Bochy called Semien a “manager’s dream” after second baseman walked home for the winning run Monday.

ARLINGTON – A video is circulating through the Rangers’ front office and its player development system: Marcus Semien hustle highlights.

It is quickly working its way into a series.

Another night. Another win. Another rally started or climaxed by Semien. In Monday’s 4-3 walkoff win over St. Louis, it was both. Semien drove in the final run of the Rangers’ three-run-second inning rally, then walked and scored the winner on Nathaniel Lowe’s single through the left side. Along the way, he extended his hitting streak to 24 games, the longest by a Ranger in 15 years.

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After the Rangers lost a two-run lead in the eighth, Semien walked with one out in the ninth, went to second on Corey Seager’s bloop single that befuddled Gold Glove third baseman Nolan Arenado and then scored on Lowe’s ground-ball single. The normally stoic Semien, who leads the majors in runs scored with 55 in 59 games, flashed a safe sign as he skipped in ahead of the throw.

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“He’s having a lot of fun, and he should be with the way he’s playing,” said manager Bruce Bochy, who earlier in the day dropped a Tony Gwynn comp on the second baseman. “He’s the guy who gets things going. He’s a manager’s dream. I’m a fan watching him. We needed that tonight. We haven’t had many games like that.”

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By the way, Bochy is having fun, too. Or at least should be. At 39-20, yes, the Rangers are off to their best 59-game start by three wins. But this is a franchise without a World Series win. Bochy has three World Series titles in 25 previous seasons of managing. This is now the best 59-game start of his career, too.

In his second season with the Rangers, Semien has become the example this team follows. No, he’s not a vocal leader, but he’s extremely regimented, has played every game this season and he’s often set a tone with his play.

There was the day, for example, he beat out a double play grounder against the Yankees to keep an inning going. The Rangers scored eight runs after that. There have been others. That hustle, though, is what inspired the video compilation. It’s a testament to GM Chris Young’s central philosophy for a team to “Play with passion.” It’s a great example to share with minor leaguers.

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It doesn’t require bat flips or home run celebrations, necessarily. It just requires hard effort. Semien has provided that from the game’s first at-bat to the last minute.

In going 2-for-4 with the walk on Monday, he raised his batting average to .306 with an .881 OPS. He is fourth in the AL with 48 RBIs. He leads all second baseman in runs saved.

“I want to score runs,” Semien said. “You want to score runs, you do whatever you can to reach base. You get on base, you do whatever you can to score. That’s all I really want to do. I think if everybody shares the same goals, it makes for a good offensive team. Everybody understands who we are. We just want to continue to improve.”

This improvement thing, this is what Bochy was talking about when he brought up Gwynn, whom he managed in San Diego.

“He reminds me of Tony that way,” Bochy said. “As good as Tony Gwynn was, he never stopped trying to get better. The good ones, that’s what makes them so good. They never stop.”

Semien began the week with a 3.1 WAR, according to Fangraphs. It leads the majors, just ahead of Tampa Bay’s Wander Franco and, yes, even Aaron Judge. It’s made Semien the subject of some early-season TV talk about a potential MVP award.

How’s that feel? Well, it turns out sometimes even world-class athletes have problems just like you.

“I’ve got YouTube TV,” he said, smiling. “So, I can’t watch MLB Network.”

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Oh, well, word is, there’s a pretty good highlight package of his season going around.

Twitter: @Evan_P_Grant

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