Semien, who went 1-for-2 with a walk in Thursday's 9-4 Cactus League loss to the Rangers, is hitting .455 (5-for-11) with a walk and a run over four spring training games.

EDGE Analysis

Semien is reportedly a strong candidate to handle lead-off duties to open 2018, although that figures to get definitively sorted out over the course of the spring. Playing on a one-year, $3.125 million deal this season, Semien will have plenty of motivation to bounce back from last year's injury-riddled campaign. Wrist surgery limited the 27-year-old to 85 games in 2017, although he was able to produce a respectable 10 home runs and 40 RBI in that relatively modest sample. Now at full health and looking for a long-term deal, Semien will look to provide another boost to a batting average that he pulled up from a 2016 figure of .238 to .249 last season, while also getting back over the 20-homer mark that he'd reached two campaigns ago.