Rays Speedster Top Prospect Not Considered For Promotion Despite Injuries
The Tampa Bay Rays are dealing with some injuries in their outfield at the moment.
Jonny DeLuca was placed on the IL with a shoulder strain just a few days ago.
Earlier than that, the Rays lost their starting right fielder Josh Lowe to an oblique strain.
That is two key outfielders lost to injury, and the Rays have to find some way to replace them.
Jake Magnum was one of the players they called up, and he is exceeding expectations early on. The switch-hitting outfielder is slashing .407/.429/.481 with two doubles, four RBI and five stolen bases. He will be receiving more playing time with DeLuca and Lowe both on the IL.
When DeLuca hit the injured list, the Rays decided to bring up a struggling Coco Montes. However, there is an outfielder in Triple-A who Tampa Bay could have promoted instead.
Chandler Simpson is the team's No. 7 prospect.
He has 80-grade speed which makes him one of, if not, the fastest players in professional baseball which includes the Majors and minors.
Simpson has stolen 211 bags in 241 career minor league games. Additionally, the speedster had 104 stolen bases across two levels in 2024.
Per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (subscription required), the Rays did not even consider calling up Simpson to make his debut.
The 24-year-old is in his first year at the Triple-A level. It is likely the Rays just wanted to see a little bit more of him there before making the decision to promote him for his MLB debut.
In Durham this season, Simpson is slashing .297/.325/.391 with 11 total hits, nine runs scored and five steals in eight games played. He has also struck out just three times in those contests.
The Georgia Tech product has a lot of bat-to-ball skill, but he lacks power.
Someone with his skillset does not need to hit a lot of home runs, and that is something he rarely does. In fact, he has hit just one home run in his career.
With his speed, though, singles turn into doubles and teams always have to be on their toes when he is on the bases.
With just eight games under his belt in Triple-A, it makes sense why Tampa Bay is hesitant to call him up. But the talent and the defensive ability is more than ready for the big leagues.
A promotion for him was not considered yet, but he should be expected on the 26-man roster at some point this summer.
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Cameron Zunkel is a sports writer from the western suburbs of Chicago. He played Division-II baseball at the University of Illinois at Springfield where he earned a masters degree in Communication. Cameron also played independent league baseball for the Joliet Slammers and Schaumburg Boomers of the Frontier League. <br /> <br />He has been in journalism since 2022 and has a passion for baseball specifically, but he enjoys all sports. His other work includes writing sports betting articles for ClutchPoints. In his free time, you can catch Cam at the gym, on the golf course, or coaching the youth in the beautiful sport of baseball.