The Tampa Bay Rays currently have the best record in the American League and are showing why they are one of the top teams in all of baseball.
Outfielder Chandler Simpson has played a pivotal role in the team’s success this season, and he has had a strong performance at the plate during the month of August. Through eight games in August, he’s recorded a hit in all but one game, and he was carrying a six-game hitting streak as well.
Chandler Simpson Continues To Produce More & More Hits For Tampa Bay Rays
Recently, he had one of his best performances at the plate on Sunday against the Seattle Mariners. Simpson put together his second four-hit performance of the season as he helped his team pick up their sixth consecutive win. The speedster puts pressure on the defense when he steps in the batter’s box, and he’s been seeing the ball really well lately. Whether he’s in the field or at the plate, Simpson knows how to get the job done, and manager Kevin Cash has enjoyed watching his outfielder throughout the season.
“We’ve seen it all season long, what he puts on the defense,” Cash said. “But he’s swinging the bat really, really well.”
After Sunday’s performance, Simpson increased his batting average to .304, which is top ten in the league.
“I felt like they were great ABs,” Simpson said on his performance Sunday. “Just trying to put a bat on the ball.”
Simpson’s impressive performance all came while he found out he would be hitting in the three spot.
“Found out right before game time that I was hitting in the three hole, but just knew how to continue to play my game and know what my job still was,” Simpson said.
Chandler Simpson Is Riding Six-Game Hit Streak & His High Contact Consistency Fuels Tampa Bay Lineup
Cash can see that Simpson can add value to the lineup on the offensive side no matter where he’s placed in the batting order, and that’s a good problem to have.
Simpson is a leadoff guy who can set the tone for the team and also put himself in scoring position when he gets on base.
Now it looks like he can be implanted elsewhere in the lineup depending on the situation and how Cash wants to move things around.
In his second season in the league, Simpson is showing how he can be an impactful player on a team that can make a deep postseason run and potentially contend for a World Series.
In his rookie season last year, he stepped up to the plate, finishing with a .295 average with 26 RBI, 53 runs scored, and 44 stolen bases.
This season, he has the opportunity to improve on those numbers, but to Simpson, he’s not focused on the numbers.
“Don’t really pay attention to things like that,” Simpson said. “There’s ebbs and flows to hitting, but I mean, I really just try to take it one game, one pitch at a time, and then just go from there. Trust my work.”
It will be exciting to see how Simpson and the Rays finish out the remainder of the season.
