Rays make shocking Chandler Simpson roster decision with fastest player in MLB

Contributor
Billy Heyen
Rays make shocking Chandler Simpson roster decision with fastest player in MLB image

The Tampa Bay Rays just made one of the weirdest roster decisions of the MLB season.

They sent down Chandler Simpson, the most exciting player they've got, in order to make room for Jake Magnum off the Injured List.

This is nothing against Magnum, who definitely deserves to be on the major league roster. But so does Simpson.

Since being called up in mid-April, Simpson has 19 stolen bases. Before this move, he was on pace to finish the season with 77.

Simpson is also batting .285, and almost on a nightly basis he's made an incredible play that only his speed can make on the basepaths.

But now he's heading back to Triple-A Durham. 

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Simpson is flawed, sure. He's got pretty much no power, and he rarely walks.

But when a guy steals bases as well as Simpson, singles become pseudo-doubles pretty quickly.

It's a bummer for baseball fans everywhere to have Simpson sent down. He's shown what he can do there. He already has an 104-steal season under his belt in the minor leagues.

Simpson deserves to be in the majors, one of the last few of a dying breed of speedsters with no power who find a way to impact the game anyway.

Hopefully he's back soon, but for now, Simpson and the Rays are separated by this demotion.

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