Marcus Semien Replaces José Altuve as AL's Starting 2B in 2024 MLB All-Star Game

The Texas Rangers' Marcus Semien will start at second base for the American League in the 2024 MLB All-Star Game.

The Houston Astros announced José Altuve will miss the Midsummer Classic due to a hand injury. As a result, MLB confirmed the Minnesota Twins' Willi Castro will take Altuve's place on the AL roster, with Semien getting promoted from the list of reserves.

Altuve and Semien were the two finalists at second base when the first phase of the All-Star fan vote concluded, so the Rangers infielder was the natural choice to fill in once Altuve was ruled out.

Semien has failed to keep pace with the standard he set in 2023 when he finished third in the American League MVP voting and was a Silver Slugger for the second time.

Through 91 games, he has a .235/.303/.382 slash line along with 12 home runs and 50 RBI. His OPS+ has fallen from 126 last year to 95, per Baseball Reference. The 33-year-old is coming off a particularly tough June. He slugged just .298 across the month.

Things might be turning around for Semien. Since the start of July, he has a .706 OPS, which doesn't sound great on its own but is right around the league average (.708).

Even when his somewhat lackluster offensive numbers, Semien had a strong All-Star case when adding in his defensive value. Per FanGraphs, he's tied for fifth in the majors in defensive runs saved, and he's tied for fourth in Baseball Savant's fielding run value metric.

The Rangers host this year's All-Star Game at Globe Life Field, and Altuve's withdrawal means they'll have at least one representative in the AL starting lineup.