ARLINGTON -- Even Iron Men have their reign come to an end eventually.
The Rangers’ Iron Man, Marcus Semien landed on the injured list on Sunday with a foot injury. After seeing multiple specialists, it was revealed that the All-Star second baseman has a fracture of the third metatarsal in his left foot. He also has a sprain of the lisfranc ligament in his foot.
Semien said on Sunday that it typically has about a 4-6 week recovery timeline, effectively ending his season barring a deep postseason run. He does not believe he’ll need surgery at the moment.
“Hopefully we get back in this race and we’ll see where we’re at by that time,” Semien said. “I’m gonna be watching for a little while here. The lisfranc is what we're most worried about, just trying to keep it intact by staying off of it. If you tear that, then it could be a year. I’m just trying to keep that intact and let the other fracture heal.”
Semien fouled a ball off his foot in the first inning of an Aug. 21 loss in Kansas City. He originally remained in the game, striking out in that at-bat and playing defense in the bottom half of the frame. Ezequiel Duran pinch hit for him in his second plate appearance of the day in the third inning.
“Every step I take feels like I'm stepping on a knife right now,” Semien said postgame that day. “I couldn't walk. I was kind of putting us in jeopardy.”
Semien originally had an X-ray Thursday night after that game, then underwent MRI and CT scans on Friday. None of the scans were conclusive, so he saw another foot specialist on Sunday, which showed the fracture and ligament sprain.
The last time Semien, 34, played fewer than 159 games in a full season was with the A's in 2017 (85 games with a right wrist contusion). That’s the only other IL stint of his career.
Since the beginning of 2018, Semien leads the Majors with 1,145 games played and 5,139 plate appearances. No one else is within 200 plate appearances of Semien during that time.
At the time of his placement on the injured list on Saturday, Semien had played 609 of the Rangers’ 616 games since the start of 2022 -- his first in season Texas -- the second-most starts by any player in the Majors during that span (613 – Atlanta’s Matt Olson).
“It's definitely new for me,” Semien said. “I haven't been on the IL in a long time. But it’s gonna be some time. So I think that what I can do is watch the games and just do my part to help the guys.”
Semien was in the midst of the worst offensive season of his career with a .669 OPS, but he continued to be one of the best defensive second baseman in baseball with six defensive runs saved (first in AL) and seven outs above average (first in AL). His .996 fielding percentage is tied for the best in all of baseball among qualified players at the position.
Manager Bruce Bochy said that a combination of Ezequiel Duran, Josh Smith and rookie Cody Freeman will get the reps at second base for the remainder of the season.
Smith, a natural shortstop, and Duran, a natural second baseman, have both become super utility players for the Rangers over the last two seasons with Semien and Corey Seager holding down the middle of the infield. Duran has started 11 games at second base over four big league seasons. Smith has just one in the same time.
Freeman was originally drafted as a catcher in 2019, but has mostly played first, second and third over his last two Minor League seasons. He’s also logged games in the outfield in the big leagues.
“We're going to look at matchups and things like that,” Bochy said. “Who's swinging well plays a part in it. The history of bats against a certain pitcher, maybe defense. If the team [we’re played] has a lot of left-handed bats, the second baseman may get a lot of action. We'll put our we think is our best defender is out there.”