‘Run, Chandler, Run’: Rays Boosted by Rookie’s Need for Speed

Chandler Simpson is fast.

Prior to being called up by the Tampa Bay Rays in April of the 2025 season, while logging games with the club’s Triple-A affiliate, Durham Bulls, Chandler tripled in a game against the Charlotte Knights. His race from home plate to third base was clocked at 10.97 seconds.

During his two previous minor league seasons in 2023 and 2024, Chandler’s footwork on the bases commanded the full attention of Tampa Bay’s player development staff.

Playing for the Single-A Charleston RiverDogs of the Carolina League and South Atlantic League’s Bowling Green Hot Rods is what permanently put Simpson on the Rays’ radar.

During the 2023 season, in 91 games playing in Charleston, South Carolina, the Atlanta native swiped 81 bags. When moving on from the RiverDogs that same season, Simpson stole 13 bases in 24 games in Bowling Green, Kentucky, and was caught only three times.

When spring training broke in 2024, Simpson was ticketed for Bowling Green again, to start his sophomore minor league season. In just 32 games, Chandler caused headaches to catchers as he safely stole 31 bases.

As in the previous season, it didn’t take long for Chandler to be promoted by the Rays. The next level, to the Double-A Montgomery Biscuits of the Southern League, is where Chandler would continue to be a royal pain on the base paths: 78 games, 73 stolen bases.

After 33 games in the Triple-A International League’s 2025 season, and collecting 19 steals, Chandler finally took the next step up the ladder of his career—Tampa Bay.

In May 2025, Rays manager Kevin Cash told MLB.com that Chandler is crucial to having on base and that he affects the defensive dynamic of opposing teams.

“We’ve seen it the couple weeks that he’s here,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said.

“It’s a lot on the pitcher—(he) has to change probably his routine on the mound. The defense … every time he comes up to the plate, the corners are in a spot that they’re normally not, so they really have to respect the speed.”

“It’s a game-changing element, and definitely (changes the game) when he’s putting pressure on by making so much contact like he does,” Cash added.

The Rays had a well-documented track record of the caliber of player they were going to invest in when they drafted Chandler in the second round of the 2022 MLB Draft.

During his two years at the University of Alabama-Birmingham, followed by a year with the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, Simpson was a pest on the bases for opposing teams. With 59 stolen bases, Simpson was only gunned down by catchers seven times.

In the summer of 2021, between going from UAB to Georgia Tech, Simpson honed his game with the Fond du Lac Dock Spiders in Wisconsin. Playing in the Northwoods League, a summer collegiate program, Chandler continued to draw scouts to watch his speed dominate the opposition. In 51 games, the future Rays’ left-fielder stole 53 bases.

That same angst Simpson caused catchers as an amateur and minor leaguer is the norm in 2026. Last month, New York Yankees’ manager Aaron Boone summed up to MLB.com the importance of concentrating on Simpson once he was on the bases.

“He was a thorn for us, no question about it,” Boone said after Sunday’s finale. “He’s definitely a guy you want to keep off the bases, but he put together a really good series.”

The 5–4 Tampa Bay win over the Yankees on April 12 that Boone was referring to saw Simpson collect three hits, register an RBI, score two runs, and steal a base.

As the Rays go for the three-game sweep of the San Francisco Giants on Sunday at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, they are in second place in the American League East, 1.5 games back of the Yankees.

Ranked 26th in payroll among the 30 MLB teams in 2026, players such as Simpson were a bargain for the Rays’ management. They can make as big an impact on the 26-man roster as the most distinguished veterans do.

Playing in all 32 games this season for the Rays (20–12), Simpson’s energy level on the field shows no signs of requiring rest.

The left-handed hitting, left fielder, hitting leadoff, has 39 hits, 7 RBIs, 11 steals, and is batting .312. Tampa Bay has scored 145 runs this season, good for 16th place among teams in both the National and American Leagues.

Fifteen of those runs were Simpson crossing the plate. He’s a table-setter for the rest of the Rays’ lineup; for power hitters Yandy Diaz, Jonathan Aranda, and Junior Caminero.

So far, the Rays’ two-dimensional threat this season, running the bases and hitting balls in holes left by the defense, Simpson is producing better than advertised. Run, Chandler, Run!