Former Rangers Gold Glove infielder fits the mold for a 2026 turnaround season

Take this with a grain of salt after Texas Rangers' fans have saying the same thing the past two seasons, but a turnaround for Marcus Semien could be in the works for his first season with the New York Mets.

Using George Springer's age-35 comeback story in 2025, MLB.com's Travis Sawchik listed Semien as one of eight players who could be the next Springer and fit the mold for a 2026 turnaround.

Semien, 35, did win the American League 2B Gold Glove in 2025 but saw one of the worst offensive seasons of his career, hitting .230 with just 15 home runs and 62 RBIs, a mark not seen since his Athletics days in the late-2010s.

Is there still hope to be had for Semien's turnaround?

Obviously with the offensive numbers the last two seasons, mixed with the contract, the Rangers were tired of waiting on that hope and traded him to the Mets for outfielder Brandon Nimmo.

Using Springer as a blueprint, there is a lot of similarities to make that connection. Both were in age-35 seasons and coming off two terrible seasons on the offensive side. Springer saw his metrics sky-rocket to some of his career-best, surpassing the 30 homer mark for the first time since 2019 and hit over .300 (.309) for the first time in his career,

Semien was among the 48 hitters who fell at least 1 fWAR from the year prior, dropping 2.2. He still remains one of the most high IQ players and when it comes down to the optimism, Semien still has an impressive command of the strike zone, solid baserunning and power to hit the ball opposite field.

He still comes with a lot of downsides and that is what is scary for the Mets. It's not often a player in their mid-to-late 30s improves and has an almost career season, like it happened to Springer in 2025.

Turnaround season for Semien would sting Rangers' fans after two unproductive seasons

There might be a handful of fans that will be happy to see Semien being productive again but those same fans will be asking, "Hey man, what gives?"

After a terrific 2023 season, Rangers watched as the 30-home run hitter saw his numbers dip slowly over the last two seasons. He went from .273 to .237 in 2024 with three less homers and nearly 30 less RBIs. Then last year, he hit .230 with a further dip in production.

If Semien does find a way to find his groove next season it will be one of two factors. He took the trade as a reflective period to really get better and finds some sort of groove, maybe even getting in touch with Springer to see what he did differently last offseason.

The other factor would be extra worrisome for Rangers' fans and that is because the Mets' hitting staff was able to unlock something the Texas staff was unable to. And if that's the case, who else is the staff mishandling? Jake Burger? Josh Jung? Joc Pederson?