When you watch Chandler Simpson play, speed is the first thing you see. The way he runs down fly balls has buoyed his value, keeping him viable and constantly in the mix for the pennant-chasing Rays. He runs the bases with singular aggressiveness, and unlike some so-called burners, he can burn you in all phases of running. He gets out of the left-handed batter’s box like there’s a copperhead in the other one, making every ground ball stressful. If he splits a gap or finds the corner (like he did Thursday in Cleveland), he’s not thinking double. He’s not even thinking triple; you have to prove to him that he shouldn’t circle the bases. Once he’s on, he’s looking to steal bases, and if that doesn’t get him home, he’s laser-focused on taking the extra base any time a teammate gets a hit or makes a productive out.

Of course, he’d better play like that, because he’s utterly without power, and that limits his utility. Simpson has come to bat almost 1,100 times with the Rays, and he’s never hit a home run—not even an inside-the-parker. In fact, forget doing that. He’s never hit a ball in the air more than 355 feet. He hit one ball that could very loosely be described as getting over an outfielder’s head (really, it was between them, because the Cardinals were using fairly radical outfield positioning against him) in 2025: