The Rays optioned top prospect Chandler Simpson to Triple-A Durham this afternoon. That opens a spot on the active roster for Jake Mangum, who was reinstated from the 10-day injured list. Mangum is back after a five-week absence due to a left groin strain.
Simpson heads back down after a six-week run on the big league roster. The Rays selected his contract in the middle of April. The lefty-hitting outfielder appeared in 35 games, hitting .285/.315/.317 through his first 133 plate appearances. There was no power production and a low walk rate, but he kept his strikeout rate below 11% to post a strong batting average.
As expected, he was a menace on the bases. Simpson stole 19 bags in 22 attempts, already launching him to third in MLB (behind Luis Robert Jr. and Bobby Witt Jr.). Those players have been in the big leagues all season, of course. No other player has stolen more than 15 bases since Simpson’s call-up on April 18.
It’s the same profile that the Georgia Tech product has shown throughout his minor league career. Simpson is an elite contact hitter and among the fastest players in the sport. He’s an otherworldly baserunner who successively swiped 94 and 104 bases during his first two full minor league seasons. His 198 combined steals led all minor league players by 68 over that stretch.
The question is how much value Simpson can wring out of that approach when he has zero power. He’s hit one professional home run, an inside-the-parker at Double-A last season. He only collected four extra-base hits in his first MLB look, all of which were doubles. He’s last among MLB hitters (minimum 100 plate appearances) in hard contact rate. A lot could come down to how well he develops defensively. Scouting reports haven’t been enamored with his reads and routes. His speed certainly gives him the potential to be a rangy defender, but he did not grade well over his first 284 MLB innings between center and left field.
Tampa Bay has used Kameron Misner in center with Simpson in left for the past two weeks. Mangum, who was hitting .338/.384/.397 in 21 games before his injury, figures to take over as the starting left fielder. Jonny DeLuca was expected to feature prominently this year as well, but he’s been out since late March with a right shoulder strain. DeLuca revealed this week that he suffered a setback as he continues to feel pain in his rotator cuff, primarily on throws (link via Marc Topkin of The Tampa Bay Times). There’s no suggestion of surgery but he was pulled off the rehab assignment that he’d begun over the weekend.
Dumb, dumb, dumb.
Morel should have been DFA’d
Be honest you just looked at his batting average and said why?
Interesting choice. A .315-.320 OBP with Simpson’s sort of speed is super valuable. It kinda sucks that he’s not a great fielder and is probably best suited for left field as of right now. It’s a bit surprising that a player with his sort of speed doesn’t get great jumps on flyballs. But there’s still time for him to sharpen up his defense. Even if he can be an average-ish CF, he’d be extremely valauble.
No power. Poor defense. He has a negative WAR. He has potential but right now he’s not super valuable.
To his defense, he hasn’t really had much consistent playing time. And he’s really been looking good recently. 19 SB (only 3 CS) in 35 games…goodness.
He’s had plenty of playing time not sure what you are talking about.
If he played good defense it’s a profile that can work. But he has to do that. No defense and no power doesn’t work.
Still wouldn’t have been my first choice. Christopher Morel is also a negative WAR player. Just as bad, if not a worse fielder than Simpson, slower/worse base runner than Simpson. He can occasionally run into some home runs and walks, but that’s about it. At some point, striking out in over a third of your plate appearances outweighs the power and walk rate, unless you’re averaging 30+ homers and have like a 12%+ BB%.
What is Tampa thinking? Since Simpson has been up, their record is far better. Is this really about money? Take the franchise from this mess of an ownership group.
They’re both rookies, so they’re both making the league minimum, unless I am mistaken. Magnum has been really good this year. But I feel they could have made another option than Chandler.
MLB: ‘How can we attract more fans?’
Here’s a suggestion…..
Roster exciting players to watch instead of demoting them.
Like Billy Hamilton?
It’s ok to let guys learn in the minors.
85 wRC+ and 0 WAR? Yeah, he’s replaceable. Can’t produce runs and replacement level player. Go learn to be a Major League player.
It’s strange to see Morel’s numbers to this point being almost identical to his numbers after joining the Rays through almost the same number of games/plate appearances last season.
I would have found a way to keep Simpson on the roster but I’m sure he’ll be back sooner than later
WRC+ is misleading when you so frequently turn singles and walks into doubles and triples on the base paths. If his fielding is below average, maybe try him at DH as unorthodox as that may be. Simpson puts the ball in play and led the minors in batting average last year- that sort of action plus speed puts pressure on the defense which doesn’t show up in the box score.
Essentially, they swapped for the lesser version of players with the same skill set.
Doubles are nice for driving in runs, but like you said, a single with two stolen bases is as good as a triple. He’s been a lightning rod for the offense and one that is been clicking. I wouldn’t have messed with the chemistry.
Love Chandler, but he has almost zero time at AAA. He needs the time in the minors to learn how to handle the outfield and more work with his bat.
Morel, granted isn’t the greatest, but the Rays aren’t willing to give up on him yet. He was a key piece in the Parades trade and they want to not be on the losing end of that trade. You know how the Rays are in trades…
Rays are on the losing end of the Paredes trade. It’s set in stone.
I’m surprised Simpson is being sent down, but he does have a lot to work on. He needs to have an OBP above .350 to be of real value offensively and he needs to improve his defense by a lot. He will be back. I’m assuming the Rays are actively working on trading a few of their superfluous players (e.g., Walls, Morel, and Palacios), regardless of how the season goes. Once Morel is gone, Simpson will be back.
Who would want either of those three? They are all awful.
Palacios is a solid 1-2 fWAR player who can play 2B and all 3 outfield spots, and as a lefty bat, would get a lot of interest around the league. He’s the ideal 4th outfielder on a team with a lot of righty bats in the outfield, but he’s also on IL and not getting traded until he comes off. But I agree on Walls and Morel. Walls has options, so he will probably be sent to Durham in case of injury or HSK opting out at year end. Morel stinks and should be released.
Simpson has hit better than most veterans with 5-7+ service years. This doesn’t make sense. And he just a rookie. Let him continue to play in the big leagues to get better
CC – He hits only singles though and while he stretches many into doubles, triples, and even a run, his fWAR (which takes SB into account) is 0.0. He’s not irreplaceable and he has things to work on. Still, I would have MUCH preferred to see a Morel DFA than Simpson being sent down.
A couple of observations:
He can absolutely be a ML player w/o power if he has the speed he has and keeps the K’s down.
He needs a lot more work to be a good center fielder.
The BA was solid, the swipes were extraordinary, The Rays are perpetually managing players in a way that suggests they are more about developing player assets than they are about winning games.
It should pay off but like Joe S. said, the Rays have played better with him than without him, and with Josh Lowe back, Simpsons speed really plays at the bottom of the order.
Carbon copy of Luis Arraez – high contact hitter with no power and below average defense but with speed to burn. That is who he reminds me of.
More like Billy Hamilton. Arraez has more power and much less speed, in addition to a better walk rate. He’s also an infielder, not an outfielder.
Much better comp in Hamilton. Hopefully for Simpson’s sake the comp dies because Hamilton went from promising to in the Mexican leagues fast.
Arraez? The guy with 22 SBs in his 7 year career? Simpson has 19 SB in 35 games.