When Hollywood adapts baseball to the big screen, some screenwriters tried to make the game as realistic as possible while others will present the game with supernatural elements to showcase just how otherworldly their participants actually are.
In Twilight, as regularly re-emerges on social media, the vampires can only play when a storm approaches due to the sound of their bats meeting balls sounding like a clap of thunder.
In Sonic, which you might not have seen, the lovable lonely hedgehog decides to play a game of baseball with himself ensconced at every position as his speed allows him to be in multiple places at ones. He eventually hits an inside-the-park homerun due to his ridiculous speed.
Then you have Chandler Simpson, who can make it from home to first in just under 3.8 seconds and makes contact 97% of the time. Otherworldly stuff that is fun in a fantasy world, but just isn’t believable in real life.
Only difference there is that Chandler Simpson is actually human (until otherwise proven).
Sonic Speed
Chandler Simpson is a player that is currently breaking the game. Players like him are not supposed to be everyday players. They certainly are not supposed to be winning batting titles. But that’s what Chandler Simpson has done…twice.
First, he led all of collegiate baseball with a .433 average during the season that he was selected as the 70th overall pick in the 2023 draft by the Tampa Bay Rays. This past year, Simpson led all of the minor leagues with a .355 average that he produced between High-A and Double-A.
What makes Simpson’s accomplishments incredible is that he does this with what is politely dubbed 20-grade power, but his speed negates his need for power as he is able to sprinkle the ball all over the infield and shallow outfield and accumulate base hits.
During the 2024 season, Chandler Simpson had a whiff rate of 2.9%. He was the only qualifying player in the minor leagues to have a whiff rate under 3.0%; something that only four other players since the start of the 2015 season have accomplished.
- Michael Stefanic 2023, 2.6%
- Nick Madrigal 2019, 2.2%
- Nick Madrigal 2018, 2.5%
- Dean Anna 2018, 2.8%
- Breyvic Valera 2017 2.9%
- Breyvic Valera 2016 2.5%
- Breyvic Valera 2015 2.9%
Granted, the majority of those four players didn’t have very successful big league careers, but Chandler Simpson possesses a 90-grade speed tool that makes his ability to make contact a much greater asset. According to FanGraphs, Nick Madrigal had a 60-grade speed tool and that has allowed him to be a career .274 hitter in the big leagues with a 9.0 K%. So you take a player with the contact ability of Madrigal and make him the fastest player in baseball and then you’ll have Chandler Simpson.
Sonic needs a ring
There are those that question whether Chandler Simpson’s offensive profile will translate to the big leagues. It’s a fair question given that players in the Majors figure to be superior defenders and will possess superior scouting reports than the teams Simpson faced in the minor leagues.
However, Simpson’s speed is such that fielders will either need to be above average defenders with plus arms or have the ball hit directly to them in order to have a chance of retiring the speedster.
You could argue that pitchers at a higher level might overwhelm Simpson with higher velocity or better pitch selections, but thus far that hasn’t been the case. Simpson has been able to pull inside fastballs with ease or to slap outside pitches to the opposite field; Baseball America states that Simpson had a .452 batting average this past season when hitting to the opposite field.
During the WBSC Premier 12 games held late last year, Simpson put up one of the most impressive performances as he hit .459 and stole 9 bases during the competition. One of his hits was an infield chopper in which he made it from home to first in just under 3.8 seconds.
Using Baseball Savant, we can see the five fastest players in MLB last season were Bobby Witt Jr, Johan Rojas, Elly De La Cruz, Tyler Fitzgerald, and Jonatan Clase as they each produced sprint speeds of at least 30.0 feet per second. That group of five players hit a total of 615 groundballs in play during the 2024 with an average of .330 registering a 96 wRC+; the league as a whole on groundballs was .245 with a 41 wRC+.
But to put Simpson’s speed in more context, the player with the fastest average time from home to first last season was Ji-Hwan Bae of the Pittsburgh Pirates. According to Baseball Savant, Bae completed the 90ft dash in approximately 4.06 seconds; Simpson would be 0.2 seconds faster than the next closest player in baseball.
Simpson is the type of player that will absolutely infuriate opposing pitchers. They could deliver a perfect pitch with an 0-2 count. Something that will just graze the outside the corner at the knees. A pitch that any normal hitter could do nothing with but harmlessly hit into an out or take their strikeout. Simpson however could easily poke the ball to the left side of the infield and unless it’s directly at a fielder, Simpson will be on first base less than four seconds later; presumably on second base 30 seconds after that and possibly on third base in under a minute.
Many prospect pundits recognize Simpson’s potential and several publications have placed him among their top 100 rankings. However, it’s not the disbelief in his offensive profile that gives most people pause, but rather his defensive shortcomings.
Simpson has primarily been an infielder throughout his career due to a well below average arm. However, the Rays quickly recognized that his speed could make him an asset in the outfield, so despite an arm grade that might underwhelm, he has been pushed into center field to let his elite tools play.
Simpson just turned 24-years old in November and although he has not been added to the 40-man roster, he received an invite to big league spring training. He will likely be assigned to Triple-A Durham to begin the year, and could be knocking down the door to Tampa Bay in the near future.