Cal Baseball: Marcus Semien Makes a Brief Return to the Bay Area with Blue Jays

Former Cal and A's star had little choice but to accept Toronto's $18 million deal.

The money made the move obvious, necessary even. But it didn’t make it any easier for Marcus Semien to leave the Bay Area, where he’d lived most of his life.

"There's certain guys you don't want to see in a different uniform," A's manager Bob Melvin said.

Semien was born in San Francisco and attended St. Mary’s High in Berkeley. He went to Cal, where his father, Damien, was a wide receiver for the Bears.

Marcus Semien played shortstop for the Bears and, after being drafted by the White Sox, made his way back to the Bay Area, playing six seasons for the A’s. He finished third in the American League MVP voting in 2019.

But the Toronto Blue Jays reached out with a one-year, $18 million contract this offseason and the A’s said goodbye to Semien.

Marcus Semien, right, visits with ex-A's teammates Stephen Piscotty and Jed Lowrie.

Photo by Neville E. Guard, USA Today

They said hello again this week when the Blue Jays visited Oakland. Even Semien’s mom acknowledged it felt a bit strange. No longer able to wear green and gold garb to the games, Tracy White was dressed in a blue and white Blue Jays shirt with her son’s name across the back.

“Can I even wear this shirt?” White said in an interview with the Mercury News. “Doesn’t feel right not to wear an A’s shirt, but I have to.”

The move has been an adjustment for all. Semien, 30, has switched from shortstop to second base, giving way to Toronto’s 23-year-old rising star Bo Bichette.

The A’s won the first two games of the series and the teams will play again Wednesday night and Thursday afternoon.

"Last night it was the weirdest part, turning on video of Frankie Montas,” Semien said, referring to the A’s series-opening starter. "A guy I played behind for years, and I'm studying him because I'm going to face him.

“It's just weird. I know everything about all these hitters and what they're doing because I've been watching. But once you're competing against them, you really have to dig deep into the data and the video and it does feel a little weird.”

Semien has started slowly for the Blue Jays but he had a four-RBI game Sunday and was 2-for-7 in the first two games at Oakland, bringing his batting average to .231, the highest it’s been since the season’s opening week

“I think a big indicator for me is the first 100 at-bats and that’s kind of where we are now,” Semien said on a Monday Zoom call. “Not everybody can get out there and have a great April and it’s kind of a clean slate in May.”

Semien misses seeing family at home games and understands this week likely will be the only time all season they’re able to watch him in person. The Blue Jays — handcuffed by Canada’s COVID-19 travel restrictions — have played their home games so far in Florida. They will move them to Buffalo early next month.

The address change came after the A’s offered what Shayna Robin of the Mercury News described as a “bizarre” deal for $12.5 million, with $10 million of it deferred over 10 years.

Semien said there are no hard feelings. His reps reached out to the A’s over the winter and he wanted to stay. It just didn’t happen.

"But that's totally fine. I understand the business. I understand where these owners are at and what decisions they have to make right now because of the pandemic,” he said. “We just had to move on." 

Cover photo of Marcus Semien by Nathan Ray Seebeck, USA Today

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo