Minor League Baseball

Chandler Simpson Earns More Positive Reviews Ahead of Spring Breakout Games

The Tampa Bay Rays top prospects will battle the Boston Red Sox top prospects on March 13 in the spring breakout games, designed to highlight the top prospects in the sport. One of those prospects, Rays outfielder Chandler Simpson, continues to generate buzz this spring.
Brady Farkas|
SOUTH YARMOUTH 6/29/22 Cotuit DH Chandler Simpson gets hold of a Y-D pitch for a single
SOUTH YARMOUTH 6/29/22 Cotuit DH Chandler Simpson gets hold of a Y-D pitch for a single | Ron Schloerb/Cape Cod Times / USA TODAY NETWORK

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Tampa Bay Rays

Another day, another bit of praise for Tampa Bay Rays top prospect Chandler Simpson.

The speedster was just named as having the best speed of any player participating in the looming Spring Breakout games by MLB Pipeline.

These prospect-oriented contests were designed last year to help showcase the best young players in baseball. The Rays top prospects will battle the Red Sox top prospects on Thursday night at 7:05 p.m. ET.

Per MLB Pipeline:

Scouts joke about Simpson possessing 90 speed on the 20-80 scale, but it really may be closer to 100. He can fly from the left side of the plate to first base in less than 3.8 seconds and topped the Minors with 94 steals in his first full pro season and 104 in his second. An excellent contact hitter who also led MiLB with a .355 average and 3 percent swinging strike rate, he's hard to keep off base and prevent from running wild once he reaches.

The 24-year-old Simpson is currently ranked as the No. 7 overall prospect in the Rays organization, per MLB.com. In addition to his game-breaking speed and his 104 steals from a season ago, he also hit .355 in 110 games last year. He posted a .410 on-base percentage. He doesn't possess much in the way of power, having hit just one home run in his professional career, but that speed and his ability to make contact should keep him around for years to come.

The Rays went 80-82 last season, finishing fourth in the American League East and missing the playoffs. They should be better this season and Simpson could make a big impact once called up, which may not be long at this point.

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MAKING MOVES: The Seattle Mariners have made several roster moves this week, including sending top prospect Michael Arroyo down to minor league spring training. CLICK HERE:

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Brady Farkas
BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is the senior writer for “Minor League Baseball on SI’’ and the host of “The Payoff Pitch’’ podcast, which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. Follow Brady on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady.

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