Marcus Semien

“My thing has always been to just be the best version of yourself.”

“It's fun to be in playoff contention.”

“I try to lay off those pitches down in the dirt.”

“When the whole lineup is struggling, you want to be that guy to get everybody going. That's baseball, though. Some nights it's there, some nights it's not.”

“I spit a lot naturally on the field. I also lick my hands on defense a lot just to get a grip.”

“When our power swing's not there, how do we win a ballgame? We gotta find other ways to execute.”

“If we can help all these kids who are working so hard each and every day playing baseball by giving them some nutritious food, we're happy to do it.”

“There's nothing like being on the field as a player. You couldn't ask for anything more.”

“I remember as a kid going to Peoria for the Junior Olympics or something. It was not a major-league stadium with three tiers of stands, but to us, it felt like that. The only people in the stands were maybe a couple of parents. You would hear the crack of the bat, and it would sound like an absolute explosion.”

“In the Minor Leagues, I pretty much played everyday.”

“I feel like if you can make the routine plays as consistent as you can, and you end up with a couple of errors, that's part of the game. Ultimately, at shortstop, you get a lot of chances.”

“Eating better gives you more energy to play better, and it also helps you in school, too.”

“The more innings you play in the big leagues, the better you get.”

“I was never the person with the most talent who just felt like he could show up and hit a home run, so preparation is important to me and playing is important to me.”

“Of course, when I'm not getting hits and we're not winning, I get frustrated, but I understand that this is a long season.”

“I think if everybody shares the same goals, it makes for a good offensive team.”

“I've always been on teams that hit for power, so you don't want to run into outs. But when the pitchers or catchers are giving you bases, you definitely want to take them.”

“I feel like when I play every day, I get better as the season goes along.”

“I think the defense has gotten better over the years because I've learned what I need to do to get ready for the game, and I'm able to translate it into the game.”

“In my opinion, good mechanics build confidence. If you don't have good mechanics, you make a couple of errors. You may not know why. But if you work on it every day, you understand the reason you made an error - you may fix it immediately.”