Chandler Simpson’s Defense May Be Catching Up To His 80-Grade Speed
Image credit: Chandler Simpson (Brian Westerholt/Four Seam Images)
In his first two games of the 2025 spring training season, Rays outfielder Chandler Simpson is hitting .750, having gone 3-for-4 while also stealing a base.
On the first pitch he saw this year, Simpson turned on a 94 mph Brent Headrick fastball, smoking a 100 mph line drive over the head of a leaping Alexander Vargas. He then stole second.
In his second plate appearance, he fouled off a bunt and then grounded a slow chopper to first base. For most batters, it would have likely been an out. But Simpson went home to first in 4.05 seconds while reaching 30.8 feet per second to beat out the throw for an infield single. That’s the fastest speed recorded by any player in spring training so far in the very brief 2025 season.
The Rays’ Saturday game was played in a non-Statcast park, but Simpson’s infield single in his third plate appearance came on a chopper to third base where he went home to first in 3.9 seconds or less (hand-timed off the broadcast).
In his fourth at-bat of the spring, Simpson was thrown out on a ground out to third. He seemed to pull up a bit before he reached the bag, but he still turned in a 4.02 home-to-first.
In four at-bats, Simpson has taken a pair of called strikes, and he’s fouled two pitches off. But he’s yet to swing and miss at a pitch, showing the kind of exceptional bat control that helped him lead the minors in batting last year.
All of that is impressive, but there’s something else that Simpson did that may be more important to his long-term success. In the seventh inning of Saturday’s game, Simpson outran a Marcelo Mayer line-drive to left center field to make an exceptional diving catch. It was spectacular enough play that Mayer jogged off the field mouth agape in a semi-smile, appreciating the catch.
In the ninth inning of the same game, Simpson cut off a Kristian Campbell liner in right center, turning another potential extra-base hit into an out.
Simpson made a few spectacular plays defensively in 2024, but his inexperience in the outfield was apparent. Early in spring training, he appears to be getting better jumps and using his top-of-the-scale speed with more confidence, gobbling up acres of grass in the center field gaps.
It’s worth remembering that Simpson was an infielder throughout his college career, so he didn’t move to the outfield full-time until 2023. If he can become a plus defender this year, he would answer the biggest concern standing between him and a role as an MLB regular.
Simpson is a contact-hitter, a profile that often faces challenges at the big league level. But few hitters combine Simpson’s exceptional bat-to-ball skills with the best speed in the game.
If the third baseman or shortstop has to take a couple of steps, Simpson will reach with an infield single. And unlike many slap hitters, Simpson has consistently shown he can pull velocity, as he showed with his 100 mph line drive single on Friday.
Simpson can really hit—he’s won an NCAA D-I and MiLB batting title and is a career .326/.394/.375 MiLB hitter. He’s walked more than he’s struck out as a pro, and he has 206 steals in just 233 pro games.
Simpson will never have home run power, but if he can play strong defense in center field, everything else adds up. So far early in spring training, he’s showing improvement.
