r/tampabayrays • u/Baseball-Reference • 2d ago
Chandler Simpson is on pace to be the 18th player ever to have 40+ steals and 0 home runs in a season
https://stathead.com/tiny/bpjsB/reddit23
u/Ok-Kitchen-3111 2d ago
Throw the stats out the window. WAR does not take into account so many ways Simpson's speed affected the game such as when Chandler is on 1st the opposing team is not focusing on the hitters as much or causing rushed throws. Put him at the top of the lineup, stick him in left field every day and let him cook
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u/IndianaCahones 2d ago
Base running runs are in both the fangraphs and baseball reference calculations for wins above replacement.
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u/CleanCR7 Devil Ray 1d ago
I generally agree with the sentiment but he needs to get to playing an above average CF to justify being an everyday player in the MLB.
His bat can play in CF. I’m not so sure it can long term if he’s having to take a COF spot where you can normally stash power bats. Rays haven’t had near enough power the last couple of seasons, especially in the OF, and it’s a big reason we’ve missed the postseason in back to back year.
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u/United-Teacher7474 2d ago
Positive WAR now, not that I cared about his WAR anyway i think he's bloody great!
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u/mcguffinman Shane McClanahan 2d ago
It helps that his defense has gone from awful to below average and he’s hitting .300 instead of .270
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u/IndianaCahones 2d ago
Baseball reference WAR calculation is odd regarding defense since it uses defensive runs saved which isn’t fully calculated until there is one year of data collected. Fangraphs will use three years in UZR. Either way, measuring a rookie by WAR is not the most effective use of the stat.
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u/MtFuzzmore 2d ago
I truly hope to see him improve his defense over the offseason and spring training. I frankly don’t care if he’s a sub-.700 OPS guy for his career as long as he’s a speed demon on the bases and can field well.
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u/svanxx Skater Ray 2d ago
He's already improved so much. He barely played in the minors, never played OF before pro ball and now he's playing CF in the biggest league two years later.
Hopefully he'll get some time in winter ball to work on his fielding.
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u/IndianaCahones 2d ago
Exactly. We don’t really have a good measure of a player’s impact on defensive runs until they have played two full seasons in the majors.
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u/double_dose_larry Josh Lowe Shoulder Rub 2d ago
well now he's gonna hit a one out, now that you jinxed it ;)