What to expect from Rays prospect Simpson in the big leagues

Chandler Simpson is about to redefine what it means to be fast in the Major Leagues.

The Rays are calling up their No. 7 prospect to the Majors, manager Kevin Cash announced Friday to MLB.com's Adam Berry and others. It marks the MLB debut for the 2022 70th overall pick, who opened his third full pro season with Triple-A Durham.

If fans know anything about Simpson, it's his 80-grade run tool. He tied for the Minor League lead with 94 stolen bases in 2023 (sharing the honor with former summer-league teammate Victor Scott II) and then claimed the outright title with 104 thefts last year across High-A and Double-A. That made him the first Minor Leaguer with 100-plus steals since 2012. He swiped eight bags in 11 attempts over 17 games with Durham before his callup.

The steal totals aren't the lone way to illustrate the center fielder's speed.

The left-handed hitter has recorded three of the five fastest home-to-first times in Triple-A on the young season, all checking in between 3.69 and 3.71 seconds. Simpson has recorded 16 Sprint Speeds above 30 ft/sec (aka Bolts); the Major League leaders are Scott and Bobby Witt Jr., both with 13. On April 4, he beat out a simple grounder to first for an infield single.

The Rays are tied for fifth in the Majors with 24 steals in 2025, but adding Simpson to the mix could make them a true contender for the league crown.

Of course, in order to steal, you have to get on base first, and Simpson has a unique skill set to achieve that as well.

The former UAB and Georgia Tech star was also the Minor League batting champion in 2024 with a .355 average across 110 games, 20 points higher than the nearest qualified contender, and struck out in 8.5 percent of his plate appearances (the third-lowest K rate among 733 full-season qualifiers). He was batting .301 through his first 17 games of 2025 at the time of Friday's callup and again striking out 9.0 percent of the time.

The 24-year-old has elite bat control and hand-eye coordination. Case in point: he's made contact on 94.7 percent of his swings on pitches inside the zone.

When he makes said contact, however, it tends to be of the weak variety. Simpson has yet to post a season-long slugging percentage above .400, and only one of his 22 hits this season has gone for extra bases (it was a triple). His slugging percentage is .329 with Durham, and his expected slugging percentage (xSLG) is even lower at .300. That's because Simpson has managed a 16.2 percent hard-hit rate (i.e. percentage of batted balls with exit velocities above 95 mph); that's the fourth-lowest among 196 Triple-A batters with at least 50 plate appearances in 2025.

Over 1,119 plate appearances in his Minor League career, Simpson has hit just one home run. It was an inside-the-parker on a bouncing ball down the third-base line for Double-A Montgomery on June 7, 2024.

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In essence, Simpson gets the ball in play plenty but dinks and dunks balls to pick up his hits or, as in that April 4 play, uses his feet to beat out defensive plays. He may not get many pure extra-base knocks, but extending singles into triples via stealing two bags may be just as effective as far as Cash & Co. are concerned.

A middle infielder in college, Simpson transitioned to the outfield in pro ball, primarily focused on center field with some left mixed in. It's been a consistent learning process out there. He's tried to improve his reads and routes to get to balls more efficiently instead of relying on his pure speed to close the gaps. It's gotten to the point where he could be at least an average defender in the middle of the park and perhaps even more as his comfortability grows.

The Rays have used fellow prospects Kameron Misner and Jake Mangum in center since Jonny DeLuca hit the injured list with a right shoulder strain, but neither has Simpson's elite tools or ceiling. Entering Friday, Tampa Bay sits 8-11 and in last place in a loaded AL East. To turn around a slow start, bringing up someone as fast as Simpson could be just the boost of energy the club needs.