Chandler Simpson Says He'd Beat Jazz Chisholm Jr., Elly De La Cruz, Witt Jr. in a Race

No one can accuse Tampa Bay Rays prospect Chandler Simpson of lacking confidence, particularly in his ability to run.

Speaking to The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal, Simpson said he would "definitely" beat established big leaguers like Jazz Chisholm Jr., Elly De La Cruz and Bobby Witt Jr. in a race.

"I think I’m taking myself over everybody in baseball," Simpson added.

There are few people in all of baseball who can claim to have the type of game-changing speed Simpson possesses. He has accumulated 206 stolen bases in 233 minor-league games over the past three seasons.

Simpson became the first player at the MLB or minor league level since Billy Hamilton in 2012 to steal at least 100 bases in a season. He finished with 104 across High-A and Double-A last season.

Per BaseballSavant.com, Witt was the fastest player in MLB last season with an average sprint speed of 30.5 feet per second; De La Cruz was tied for third at 30.0.

Chisholm, who said earlier this offseason he's faster than De La Cruz, is way down the sprint speed list at 102 (28.6 feet per second).

There's an argument to be made that Simpson's speed is the best individual tool of any prospect in the minors right now.

MLB.com's prospect pipeline analysis of Simpson noted the "joke" prior to the 2022 draft when he was selected No. 70 overall was that he had 90-grade speed on the 20-80 scouting scale.

That has carried over to pro ball and has helped Chandler's performance because as long as he puts the bat on the ball, he could end up safe at first. The 24-year-old has very little pop in the bat. That same MLB.com article noted prior to his draft year that scouts were also joking he had 10-grade power.

Simpson's career slash line in the minors is .326/.394/.375, with 263 of his 300 hits going for singles. The comparison with Hamilton is extremely hard to ignore because he was another player with seemingly superhuman speed but not much power.

Hamilton was a .271/.343/.365 hitter in the minors and had back-to-back seasons with more than 100 stolen bases in 2011-12. He did carve out an 11-year career in the big leagues as a journeyman, posting four consecutive seasons with at least 50 stolen bases from 2014 to '17.