Rays Rookie Outfielder Could Be Excellent Weapon for Team Moving Forward

The Tampa Bay Rays have a great weapon in their rookie outfielder.

Sep 26, 2025; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; The hat and glove of Tampa Bay Rays third baseman Junior Caminero (13) in the dugout during the game against the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre. | John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images

The Tampa Bay Rays have started up their offseason and will be looking to improve after a tough second half of the year. Despite a lot of success prior to the All-Star break, the Rays struggled during the summer months when their scheduling got challenging. 

Even though the end of the campaign might not have gone well, this is a team that has a lot of good things in place and could be a contender once again in 2026. New ownership has officially taken over for the team, and it will be interesting to see how that impacts them. 

With a couple of players entering the final years of their contracts, Tampa Bay generally looks to move them in order to restock their farm system. However, due to the franchise potentially being able to compete in 2026, it might behoove them to hold on to some of their talented veterans to help lead some young talent into next season. 

Like most years, the Rays had a couple of youngsters come up to the Majors and make a positive impact in 2025. Joel Reuter of Bleacher Report recently ranked the top rookies of 2025, and the Rays saw their talented outfielder Chandler Simpson make the list, coming in ranked 30th. 

Simpson’s Speed Makes Him a Great Weapon 

Mitch Stringer-Imagn Images

While it might have been Junior Caminero who stole the show for most of the campaign in 2025, one of the other solid youngsters on the team was Simpson. The 24-year-old had a strong rookie season, slashing .295/.326/.345 with 44 stolen bases. As shown by the speedster not having any home runs in 109 games, he isn’t going to provide much power at the plate. 

However, even though he might not be a power hitter, he could still be a great weapon in the lineup for Tampa Bay. Simpson’s 44 stolen bases were among the best in the game in 2025 and stealing bases provides a lot of value once again in baseball due to some recent rule changes. 

Furthermore, while hit slugging percentage might not be great, he does have a strong batting average and a decent on-base percentage. After the strong rookie campaign, there will be some areas that he can look to improve upon. He was caught stealing a league-high 12 times and his defense also has some room for improvement. Overall, it was a strong rookie year, and the future is bright for Simpson.