PHOENIX − What if he never hits a home run his entire major league career?
What if he never drives in more than 50 runs in a season?
But….what if Chandler Simpson changes the complete baseball landscape, exploiting his surreal speed and uncanny ability to get on base, allowing us to view and appreciate the game as if we’re turning the clock back a quarter-century ago.
“That’s my dream,’’ Simpson, 24, tells USA TODAY Sports. “I feel like God gave me the gift to motivate and inspire other generations that come after me. I mean, I’ve heard it my whole life about the little power I have. But you don’t have to hit home runs in this home-run era. There’s other stuff that I can do well on the field that can make make up for it.
“I want to prove that you can make it to the big leagues, succeed in the big leagues, and that speed plays.’’
And, oh, does Simpson ever know speed. Simpson, called up to the major leagues with the Tampa Bay Rays last week, may be the fastest man in the game. He has two stolen bases in six games. He has already turned routine ground balls to second base and one-hoppers to first base into hits, hitting .304 entering Saturday. He once scored from second base on a routine sacrifice fly in college. He was timed running to first base in just 3.88 seconds by scouts last week.
He stole 104 bases last season in 121 attempts at Class AA and Triple-A, becoming the first player to steal 100 bases in a minor league season since 2012, and only the third to accomplish the feat in the last 20 years.
“I love stealing bases,’’ Simpson says. “It gets me real hyped because I know that when I get on, all eyes are on me. Everybody in the stadium, the pitcher, the catcher, the pitching coach, their manager, all of the fans in the stands, my manager, my teammates, they all know that I’m going to steal.
“It’s man vs. man, me vs. you, and I feel that nobody can stop me.’’
Well, there actually may be one way to keep him from stealing …
“We were sitting around talking about how we can keep him from stealing bases if he gets on,’’ Arizona Diamondbacks veteran reliever Shelby Miller said. “We decided the best way may be to just throw over to first base three times. That way, if you don’t get him, it’s just a balk and doesn’t count as a stolen base.’’
Says Diamondbacks starter Brandon Pfaadt, who faced him last week: “He’s an absolute game-changer with his speed. He’s like (three-time batting champion) Luis Arraez with speed. If Arraez could run like this guy, he’d probably hit .550. This guy is going to be pretty fun to watch, as long as you’re not facing him.’’
Next stop, to go where no player has gone since Vince Coleman in 1987, stealing 100 bases in the major leagues.
“I would love to see it,’’ Kenny Lofton, the six-time All-Star and five-time stolen base champion, tells USA TODAY Sports. “Finally, speed is starting to get back into the game thanks to him and people understanding just how important it is. Speed guys don’t get the glory. They’ve have never gotten the glory. Baseball doesn’t make it that important, they just keep talking about home runs.
“Well, if you want you to score runs, well, what better way than speed? Speed kills, but it’s never promoted. Hopefully, this young man can bring it back and show people just how important it is in the game. It’s time for baseball to praise and support guys like him, not just the home-run guys all of the time.’’
If baseball wants to only talk about home runs and power, Simpson may never have his name mentioned again the remainder of his career.
Simpson went to the plate 1,119 times during in his three-year minor-league career. He hit exactly one home run.
And, naturally, that one didn’t clear the fence, either.
It was an inside-the-park home run on June 7, 2024 against the Biloxi Shuckers. Simpson merely slapped a ball past third baseman Brock Wilken, which then got away from left fielder Zavier Warren. The ball rolled to the fence, and by the time Simpson sped around the bases and slid into home, he had his first professional homer.
It was his first home run since Feb. 25, 2022, when hit the only homer of his collegiate career, a grand slam against Gardner-Webb for Georgia Tech.
Well, that actually didn’t go over the fence, either.
“The right fielder went up to catch it,’’ Simpson said, “and it topped off his glove, and went over the fence.
“But, hey, it still counted.’’
Simpson, who entered high school at just 5-foot-5 and 130 pounds and is now 5-11, 170 pounds, proudly recalls that he did hit one home run at St. Pius X Catholic High School in Atlanta during his senior season where his mom is the principal. Atlanta center fielder Michael Harris, who grew up playing against Simpson since they were 6-year-old kids in Little League, and played as rivals during their summer travel leagues, remembers being a witness for the historic moment, with Simpson sprinting around the bases so fast that his own teammates had to tell him to slow down.
So, considering Simpson’s absence of home-run power, pretty easy for the guys back home to provide good natured teasing?
“How can you tease him?’’ Harris says. “He hits .350 wherever he goes. He steals 100 bases. He knows his game. He’s not a guy who’s going to try to hit homers. He knows he can get on base and make an impact with his legs.’’
Says Rays reliever Eric Orze, who played with Simpson in the minors: “Dude is electric. It’s unbelievable what he does. He’s a threat just walking onto the field. He walks to the plate, can miss-hit a ball, and it’s a single. He hits the ball hard and it’s a double or triple. And as soon as he’s on first base, the pitcher is worrying because he’s going to take second base at some point. And once he does, he’s not stopping there.’’
St. Louis Cardinals center fielder Victor Scott, one of Simpson’s closest friends who also grew up in Atlanta, says their speed is nearly identical. They finished in a dead heat in a foot race in 2023 − the year Scott and Simpson each stole 94 bases in the minors.
Still, there’s a subtle difference.
Scott had a career .264 batting average and .344 on-base percentage with 17 homers in his three minor-league seasons.
Simpson has a career .324 batting average and .389 on-base percentage, with a strikeout rate of just 8.8%, with that one inside-the-park homer.
“When he got called up and he FaceTimed me,’’ Scott said, “I think I was more excited than when I got called up. He’s just an unbelievable person. He was willing to go up against anybody who went against the grain of what his ideology was, and his success. Not everybody is blessed with an insane amount of power, hitting the ball with an exit velocity of 110-mph-plus, and hitting 450-foot home runs.
“But guys like Chandler and myself can be trailblazers for the game. There’s more than one way to play this game, you can use your speed to bunt, steal bases, and impact games that way.’’
Besides, as Simpson will attest, creating havoc on the basepaths during an inning can be just as alluring, if not a whole lot more, than spending 20 seconds to round the bases after a home run.
“Whenever I step to the plate,’’ Simpson says, “I want to try to wreck havoc. They’re going to have to worry about putting me on base. They’re going to have to worry about me on base and its going to be a problem pitching to other people in the lineup. I want to be that guy who is feared by pitchers and fielders as well.’’
Simpson, who didn’t even play the outfield until he was drafted in the second round of 2022, playing shortstop and second base his entire life, doesn’t want to be known simply as a speedster. Speed can be negated in the big leagues if you can’t get on base and can’t play defense. He has much bigger aspirations than being the next Terrance Gore or Billy Hamilton.
He watches videotape of hitting champions Rod Carew, Tony Gwynn, Rickey Henderson, Wade Boggs and Arraez, and stolen base kings like Vince Coleman, Hamilton and Lofton. He examines tapes of sprinters, from everyone from Olympians Tyson Gay, Usain Bolt, Michael Johnson to determine what mechanics he can incorporate into his own game. He even talked to Gwynn’s son, Tony Gwynn Jr., seeking advice and what he learned from his father, the eight-time batting champion who died in 2014.
“I’ve studied Luis Arraez, his hitting drills, what he does in the off-season, all of his hitting mechanics to be a better hitter,’’ Simpson says. “I feel like (Arraez) definitely doesn’t get the recognition that he deserves, winning three batting titles in a row with three different teams. Putting the bat on the ball, not striking out, getting on base, and hitting for average. I want to be that guy, too.’’
And if Simpson is that guy, if he becomes a batting champion, steals 100 bases, or becomes a modern-day version of Ty Cobb who won five batting titles and led the league in stolen bases same season, look out world, a new brand of baseball could be coming.
“He plays differently than what people are accustomed to seeing in this modern era of baseball,’’ Rays pitcher Pete Fairbanks says. “I think in some ways it’s a breath of fresh air to see somebody that has tailored their approach to their skill set. I think that anytime you see somebody that has that unique of a skillset, and then is willing to play within it, that’s something that is admirable. If he’s successful, you’re going to see a lot of people buy into it.’’
Says Rays infielder Brandon Lowe: The Aaron Judges of the world are few and far between. But I think the Chandler Simpsons will probably be few and far between, as well. I mean, I don’t know that I’ve ever seen anybody float the way that he floats.’’
The only real question is whether he can terrorize the opposition in the big leagues just as he did in the minors? Simpson has no doubt he will, proving everyone wrong at each level he played, so what’s one more step?
“I think all of us have some questions about how’s his skill set going to play up here, right?’’ Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “People are curious to see how major league infielders again him. You can get a lot of infield hits in the minors, but can you do it up here?
“We’re about to find out.’’
Says Rays GM Eric Neander: The speed is top of the scale, but it’s that bat-to-ball skill that is unique. He doesn’t chase. He puts the ball in play at an extremely high rate. He controls the strikezone. There’s a reason he hit .355 last year, and it wasn’t just because he was fast.’’
If successful, who knows, Simpson says, maybe the best athletes may start turning to baseball again, and the increase in young Black players will finally start to rise after being stalled at 6% on this year’s opening-day roster.
“I feel like there were a lot of Black players, but then it kind of dropped off,’’ Simpson says. “But now I feel like change is coming.
“Believe me, I’m ready to be part of it.’’
Around the basepaths
≻ Walt Jocketty, who passed away Friday at the age of 74, was one of the most genuine, sincere and fabulous GMs of his era.
There have been few executives more beloved than Jocketty, the architect of World Series championship teams in Oakland and St. Louis while also leading the Cincinnati Reds to the postseason.
“He’s tied for first,’’ Hall of Fame manager Tony La Russa said, “with the finest person I’ve ever known.’’
≻ The San Diego Padres pulled off the best trade never made this winter.
The Padres told every team in baseball that closer Robert Suarez is available with their money crunch, wanting to shed his $10 million salary.
Well, they did not get one single trade offer.
Not one.
Suarez has been perfect this season, going 10-for-10 in save opportunities with a 0.00 ERA and 0.455 WHIP.
≻ It has finally happened. They have begun work on the Athletics’ $1.75 billion Las Vegas ballpark site, grading the 9-acre stadium site.
The groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled for June. The stadium is scheduled to open before the 2028 season.
≻ What story evaporated more quickly this season? The torpedo bats or the Los Angeles Dodgers ruining baseball with their mammoth payroll.
The Dodgers are a sub-.500 team since opening the season 8-0 and the Yankees have discovered that it wasn’t the torpedo bats, but the Milwaukee Brewers pitching that caused their power surge.
≻ The Philadelphia Phillies, among other teams, already are keeping a close eye on Cardinals closer Ryan Helsley, who will likely be dealt by the trade deadline. Yet, the Phillies are adamant they will not include top prospects Andrew Painter or Aidan Miller in any trade.
The Arizona Diamondbacks, with lefty reliever A.J. Puk sidelined for the foreseeable future, also have interest in Helsley,
≻ Scouts have been in awe by Diamondbacks reliever Juan Morillo, who was discarded by the Dodgers and signed as a minor-league free agent by the D-backs. Morillo, who was just called up last week, has been lighting up the radar gun at 100-mph and has yet to give up an earned run.
“That will be the greatest minor-league free-agent signing of the year, hands down,’’ said one scout.
≻ The Brewers would love to have a mulligan and not expose pitcher Shane Smith to the Rule 5 Draft. The Chicago White Sox nabbed Smith with the first pick in December, and he is now their ace, going 1-1 with a 2.30 ERA and a 0.95 WHIP in his first five starts.
≻ The Yankees realized they have no choice but to take Devin Williams temporarily out of the closer’s role with his 11.25 ERA this season, but remain confident he’ll soon be back to being an All-Star caliber closer.
“When you go from a small market to New York, it’s a different animal,’’ one executive said. “It just takes awhile to get acclimated. He’ll be all right.’’
≻ The Brewers were planning to pounce on free agent first baseman Paul Goldschmidt this winter if Rhys Hoskins opted out of his contract, believing he’d have a huge bounce-back season. Hoskins elected to stay, and Goldschmidt, after having the worst season of his 15-year contract, signed a one-year, $12.5 million contract with the Yankees.
Goldschmidt has been everything the Yankees hoped for, and more, hitting .364 with an .877 OPS.
≻ You think the Dodgers’ new home clubhouse is fancy?
Well, it’s the first one that comes equipped with eight state-of-the-art, multi-function, heated-seat, bidet-equipped Japanese-style toilets.
The idea came from Roki Sasaki, who was trying to decide where to sign this winter, and told the Dodgers it would help persuade him to come their way with the new toilets.
“It sounds like a joke,’’ Sasaki told the Orange County Register, “but for me, it’s pretty important.’’
≻ No one has been crushed with more injuries to their outfield than the Tampa Bay Rays, who have four outfielders on the injured list and only three true outfielders on the roster with Christopher Morel and rookies Chandler Simpson and Kameron Misner. They acquired Travis Jankowski from the White Sox to give them a veteran reinforcement.
≻ The Toronto Blue Jays are still looking for a return on their 5-year, $92.5 million investment on outfielder Anthony Santander. He is hitting .182 with two homers and a .537 OPS.
≻ Remember when Kyle Tucker opened this spring by going 0-for-20 with the Chicago Cubs?
Neither does anyone else.
No one has made more money this first month of the season than Tucker, whose free-agent value has skyrocketed from $300 million to perhaps more than $500 million.
≻ Scouts are raving about D-backs prized infield prospect Jordan Lawler, who is lighting it up at Triple-A Reno, and predict that he could be their everyday second baseman next season while moving injury-prone Ketel Marte to first base.
≻ Atlanta is in no hurry to call up veteran closer Craig Kimbrel, whose fastball has been clocked at only 91-92 mph in his first two outings at Triple-A.
≻ Considering that Baltimore Orioles assistant GM Sig Megdal used to be an engineer at NASA, is it any surprise that the Orioles’ analytics department is working with engineering researchers to create AI technology to modify how pitchers are scouted and developed.
“We’re in the American League East with some very-large-market teams,’’ Mejdal told the Baltimore Sun, “and in order for us to succeed, we have to be very good at everything. To ignore a potential like this would be foolish.”
≻ Future Hall of Fame pitcher Justin Verlander, who’s 38 victories shy from 300, has gone six starts now without a victory, just one shy of the longest drought of his career.
≻ Kudos to veteran reliever Drew Pomeranz, who refused to give up after surgeries and injuries derailed his career since 2021, returning last week with the Cubs for his first MLB appearance since August, 2021.
≻ Prayers to Minnesota Twins legends Tony Oliva, 86, and Kent Hrbek, 64, who are recovering from having strokes within days of one another two weeks ago.
≻ It took 681 days, but there was Liam Hendriks finally stepping on the mound for the Boston Red Sox, after recovering from Stage 4 non-Hodgkins lymphoma and Tommy John surgery.
≻ The most emotional moment on the field this week came at Angel Stadium where Pirates starter Andrew Heaney, wearing No. 45 this season in honor of his late best friend, Tyler Skaggs, pitched six shutout innings in the Pirates’ 3-0 victory.
“It is a number that has meaning to me,” Heaney, who spent seven years with the Angels, told the Athletic. “But at the same time, it’s not my number. It’s my number. But I’m wearing it because it was his number.”
Skaggs died on July 1, 2019, after ingesting a lethal dose of fentanyl.
≻ While the Rays have no idea where they’ll be playing in a few years after pulling out of their deal in downtown St. Petersburg, the folks in Orlando announced they have received pledges of $1.5 billion towards a stadium project to lure the Rays.
≻ Has there been a better multi-year free agent signing than Nick Pivetta of the Padres, who is 4-1 with a 1.20 ERA and 0.767 WHIP? They signed him in spring training to a four-year, $55 million contract that is so backloaded that he’s making just $1 million this season.
You think the Baltimore Orioles, who have MLB’s worst ERA, and a whole lot of other teams wish they had taken the plunge?
≻ The scariest part of the New York Mets’ torrid start for the rest of the NL East is that they are doing this without starters Sean Manaea and Frankie Montas, and still have the lowest ERA in baseball.
≻ No one outside their own clubhouses believes the A’s or Marlins will be actual contenders in September because of their pitching flaws, but scouts have been quite impressed with their potent offenses, and firmly believe the A’’s will be in the postseason before they depart for Las Vegas in three years.
Follow Nightengale on X: @Bnightengale
