Why Rays' Chandler Simpson is 'more fun than valuable' according to ESPN originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The Tampa Bay Rays are 17-11, sitting only a few games back of the New York Yankees at 19-10 atop the American League.
While the pitching staff isn't great, the Rays' offense has been incredible thanks to Yandy Diaz and Junior Caminero leading the way. But, literally leading off for the Rays might be one of the most unique players in baseball: Chandler Simpson.
ESPN's David Schoenfield named Simpson as a player to watch in left field for good reasons, but also called him "more fun than valuable." He explained his reasoning, which focused on just how unique Simpson's game is at the MLB level.
"He's more fun than he is valuable, a unicorn in a league where it's too often home run or bust, Simpson slaps the ball on the ground, rarely striking out, rarely drawing walks, and rarely hitting anything besides a single," Schoenfield writes.
Simpson is an incredibly fun player to watch in the Major Leagues. This season, he has a .309 batting average, which normally would be conducive to a good OPS, but he has a .687 OPS and 94 OPS+.
Despite holding a .309 batting average, Simpson is a below league-average hitter. The reason why is clear: he doesn't walk often (six on the season), and he isn't a power hitter (two extra-base hits, both triples).
Simpson has not hit a double yet this season, nor has he hit a home run either. He might go his entire MLB career without hitting a homer. He's a speed and contact hitter who can beat out nearly any ball put into play.
More: Red Sox never close on Astros’ Isaac Paredes trade
On the base paths, Simpson can swipe a bag or two, with nine steals so far this season, and 44 the year prior. Combined with decent defense, Simpson is one of the most unique players in all of baseball.
From a fan's perspective, watching someone who can put the ball in play, routinely beat out hits he should have no chance to, and swipe bases at any time is very fun.
But, strictly looking at player value, Simpson isn't nearly as valuable as other players with much worse strikeout rates, contact rates, and speed than the Rays' fun left fielder.
Simpson is a one-of-a-kind player in Major League Baseball, and while he's incredibly fun to watch, the actual value he brings the Rays isn't as much as that of less-fun players, according to bWAR and other advanced metrics indicate.
Braves predicted to trade Bryce Elder for Lars Nootbaar
Jacob DeGrom is under 200 strikeouts away from 2,000 for his career
Three ways Pirates' Paul Skenes could lose NL Cy Young Award
Mets didn’t want to trade Brett Baty while White Sox didn’t want Mark Vientos in Luis Robert Jr. trade
Shohei Ohtani deemed more valuable than Aaron Judge in recent ESPN discussion piece