Oakland Athletics infielder Marcus Semien will bat leadoff Thursday as the A's face the Chicago White Sox.
Sam Fuld takes a seat with lefty Jose Quintana on the bump for the White Sox. Regular leadoff guy Billy Burns continues to recover from a hamstring injury and is out as well.
Semien has not had a good year, but he does hit lefties well. His strikeout rate drops to 15.1 percent as opposed to 24.3 percent against righties, while his soft-hit rate drops to 15.9 from 17.6. That said, Jose Quintana is a superb pitcher with a 3.55 xFIP, and it actually decreases to 3.45 against right-handed batters. However, because of his positive spot in the batting order, Semien does still project as a top-tier value at shortstop for the day, according to our algorithms.
Source: Baseball Press