Oakland Athletics: All-Decade Team for the 2010s

Middle Infield

Second Baseman: Jed Lowrie

Second base has been somewhat of a problem area for the Oakland A’s over the years — but especially in the early 2010s.

We’ve seen everyone from Jurickson Profar to Nick Punto to Eric Sogard to an aging Mark Ellis take over second, but none came close to being as positive an impact as Jed Lowrie.

Lowrie has had two separate stints with the Oakland A’s. Those combined seasons are likely his best seasons he’s had in his career.

He’s batted .270 with a 109 OPS+ and sixty home runs over his five years in Oakland. Those figures are the best he’s put up with any of the four teams he’s played with.

Where Lowrie was limited in his range as a defender, he brought consistency and poise to a defense that didn’t need much more than that.

Lowrie was also a doubles machine with the Oakland A’s. In 2017, Lowrie hit an astonishing 49 doubles — the record for most doubles in a single season in Oakland Athletics history.

In addition to that feat, he had an incredible first half of the 2018 season which projected him into the All-Star Game that season. He additionally finished in the Top 20 of MVP voting.

After struggling to remain healthy for the New York Mets in 2019, Lowrie is hoping for a career resurgence in 2020.

Shortstop: Marcus Semien

If someone had mentioned, years ago, that Marcus Semien would be the player of the decade for the A’s in the 2010s, then everyone would have called that person crazy.

But he was.

Semien had a tumultuous path as the everyday shortstop for the Oakland Athletics. After being acquired from the Chicago White Sox as part of the Jeff Samardzija deal, Semien immediately got the role of full-time shortstop.

It wasn’t pretty at first. In his inaugural season with the A’s, Semien posted 35 errors.

But thanks to a little bit of coaching from Ron Washington and a lot of hard work from Semien, that number shrunk to 21 the following season. Then to nine the season after — albeit, in a season shortened by injuries.

Last year, Semien played in all but one game of the season and had only 12 errors.

Miraculously, Semien has transformed himself from a negative defender to a back-to-back choice for the Gold Glove Award.

While he didn’t secure that honor, he has pushed himself into the MVP conversation as well, finishing third overall in voting despite having a relatively downplayed year.

But it was without a doubt his best.

Last season, Semien batted .285 with 43 doubles, seven triples, 33 home runs, 92 RBI, and 10 stolen bases. His collective statistics on the year were historically impressive, and much improved from his early days with the Oakland A’s.

Semien has posted a cumulative 19.4 WAR in five seasons, the best among all A’s players in that span.

Entering the final year of his contract before free agency, the Oakland A’s will have to make a serious offer to retain their homegrown star.