NEW YORK (AP) — Chandler Simpson is so fast he can score from second base on an infield hit.
"He can change a game with one play like that," New York Yankees star Aaron Judge said after the Tampa Bay rookie sparked the Rays to a 7-5 win Sunday. “Definitely going to get excited when I see him come up to the plate or on the bases.”
A day after his first multi-steal game in the major leagues, the 24-year-old Simpson sped home from second on Yandy Díaz's two-hopper to shortstop Oswald Peraza for a 5-0 lead in the fourth inning. He beat out a single on a routine grounder in the fifth and stole his sixth base in 14 games since his debut on April 19. He reached on a bunt single in the seventh.
When Simpson arrives at first base, he hears the same question over and over.
“It's like, ‘Damn, dude, how’s it feel to be that fast?’" he recalled. "But the real common one is: 'What pitch you going? first or second?' I'm like: I'm not letting you know. I'm not telling you that."
Average sprint speed in the major leagues on competitive plays is 27 feet per second, according to Statcast, and elite speed is 30 feet per second or higher. Simpson reached a speed of 31.1 when he dashed home as Peraza gloved Díaz’s grounder at the back of the dirt behind second, rolled over onto the outfield grass and allowed the ball to pop out of his glove.
Peraza grabbed it and popped to his feet, then made an off-balance throw that bounced off the mound. Simpson slid headfirst and slapped his left hand on the plate.
"It’s like the first step he’s maxed out full speed. That’s pretty impressive,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said.
Simpson was signaled to hold up by third base coach Brady Williams.
“I looked back and I saw the shortstop on the ground, saw the ball on the ground, as well, and saw a little daylight,” Simpson said. “So I went ahead.”
An inning later, he beat Peraza's throw on a routine grounder.
“He's as fast as it gets," Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. "Peraza did everything he probably could do, got to it quickly, got rid of it with something on it. He’s still able to beat it."
A friend of Rays pitcher Taj Bradley since youth ball in Georgia, Simpson first realized his speed during races at elementary school and his neighborhood. He didn't run track at St. Pius X Catholic High School in Atlanta because it had the same season at baseball.
Simpson says he is tied at between 3.3 and 3.4 seconds going to home to first.
“Just a God-given ability and all the work that I put in on my speed and recovery and making sure I’m ready to go,” he said.
Simpson played at UAB in 2020 and '21, then transferred to Georgia Tech for 2022. Selected 70th overall by the Rays in the 2022 amateur draft, he signed for a $747,500 bonus.
He stole 94 bases at rookie league and two levels of Class A in 2023, 104 at High-A and Double-A last year and eight in 17 games at Triple-A Durham while hitting .301 this season before the call-up. With the Rays, Simpson is hitting .296 with four RBIs in 54 at-bats.
“He’s seeing the best pitching that he’s ever seen in his life and he’s doing more than holding his own,” Cash said. “It feels like he’s got an approach, he knows who he is as a hitter, and he’s able to go up there and repeat it multiple times.”
Simpson arrived in professional baseball in the first season after bases were increased to 18-inch squares from 15, cutting the distance between bases by 4 1/2 inches.
“I was ecstatic,” he said. “It's played a big part in my success so far.”
Bradley has been his mentor with the Rays. He jokes he can beat Simpson in a sprint.
“We can test it,” he said, laughing. “I’m not looking and the camera’s not running.”
Simpson wasn't having any of that.
“I think I can have that one,” he said, chuckling.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
Tampa Bay Rays' Chandler Simpson reacts after diving home on a single hit by Yandy Díaz during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the New York Yankees, Sunday, May 4, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Tampa Bay Rays' Chandler Simpson, right, dives home on a single hit by Yandy Díaz during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the New York Yankees, Sunday, May 4, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
SURIN, Thailand (AP) — Fighting raged Saturday morning along the border of Thailand and Cambodia, even after U.S. President Donald Trump, acting as a mediator, declared that he had won agreement from both countries for a new ceasefire.
Thai officials said they did not agree to a ceasefire. Cambodia has not commented directly on Trump’s claim, but its defense ministry said Thai jets carried out airstrikes Saturday morning.
Thai Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow said Saturday that some of Trump's remarks didn't “reflect an accurate understanding of the situation.”
He said Trump’s characterization of a land mine explosion that wounded Thai soldiers as a “roadside accident” was inaccurate, and did not reflect Thailand's position that it was a deliberate act of aggression.
Sihasak said that Trump’s willingness to credit what may be “information from sources that deliberately distorted the facts” instead of believing Thailand hurt the feelings of the Thai people “because we consider ourselves — we are proud, in fact — to be the oldest treaty ally of the United States in the region.”
The latest large-scale fighting was set off by a skirmish on Dec. 7 that wounded two Thai soldiers and derailed a ceasefire promoted by Trump that ended five days of earlier combat in July over longstanding territorial disputes.
The July ceasefire was brokered by Malaysia and pushed through by pressure from Trump, who threatened to withhold trade privileges unless Thailand and Cambodia agreed. It was formalized in more detail in October at a regional meeting in Malaysia that Trump attended.
More than two dozen people on both sides of the border have officially been reported killed in this past week’s fighting, while more than half a million have been displaced.
The Thai military acknowledged 15 of its troops died during the fighting, and estimated earlier this week that there have been 165 fatalities among Cambodian soldiers. Cambodia has not announced military casualties, but has said at least 11 civilians have been killed and more than six dozen wounded.
Trump, after speaking to Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet, announced on Friday an agreement to restart the ceasefire.
“They have agreed to CEASE all shooting effective this evening, and go back to the original Peace Accord made with me, and them, with the help of the Great Prime Minister of Malaysia, Anwar Ibrahim,” Trump wrote in his Truth Social post.
Trump’s claim came after midnight in Bangkok. Thai Prime Minister Anutin had, after his call with Trump, said he had explained Thailand’s reasons for fighting and said peace would depend on Cambodia ceasing its attacks first.
The Thai foreign ministry later explicitly disputed Trump’s claim that a ceasefire had been reached. Anutin's busy day on Friday included dissolving Parliament, so new elections could be held early next year.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet, in comments posted early Saturday morning, also made no mention of a ceasefire.
Hun Manet said he held phone conversations on Friday night with Trump, and a night earlier with Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, and thanked both “for their continuous efforts to achieve a long-lasting peace between Cambodia and Thailand.”
“Cambodia is ready to cooperate in any way that is needed," Hun Manet wrote.
Anwar later posted on social media that he was urging the two sides to implement a ceasefire on Saturday night. Cambodia's prime minister, also posting online, endorsed the initiative, which included having Malaysia and the United States help monitor it. However, Thai Prime Minister Anutin denied that his country was even in negotiations over the proposal.
Thailand has been carrying out airstrikes on what it says are strictly military targets, while Cambodia has been firing thousands of medium-range BM-21 rockets that have caused havoc but relatively few casualties.
BM-21 rocket launchers can fire up to 40 rockets at a time with a range of 30-40 kilometers (19-25 miles). These rockets cannot be precisely targeted and have landed largely in areas from where most people have already been evacuated.
However, the Thai army announced Saturday that BM-21 rockets had hit a civilian area in Sisaket province, seriously injuring two civilians who had heard warning sirens and had been running toward a bunker for safety.
Thailand's navy was also reported by both sides' militaries to have joined the fighting on Saturday morning, with a warship in the Gulf of Thailand shelling Cambodia's southwestern province of Koh Kong. Each side said the other opened fire first.
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Peck reported from Bangkok. Sopheng Cheang in Serei Saophoan, Cambodia, and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.
A man sits in a tent as he takes refuge in Banteay Menchey provincial town, Cambodia, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, after fleeing home following fighting between Thailand and Cambodia. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
An evacuee cooks soup as she takes refuge in Banteay Menchey provincial town, Cambodia, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, after fleeing home following fighting between Thailand and Cambodia. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
An evacuee tastes soup as she takes refuge in Banteay Menchey provincial town, Cambodia, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, after fleeing from home following fighting between Thailand and Cambodia. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
Evacuees cook food as they take refuge in Banteay Menchey provincial town, Cambodia, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, after fleeing homes following fighting between Thailand and Cambodia. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
Children raise their hands while receiving donation from charity as they take refuge in Banteay Menchey provincial town, Cambodia, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, after fleeing homes following fighting between Thailand and Cambodia. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
Evacuees wait to receive donation from local charity as they take refuge in Banteay Menchey provincial town, Cambodia, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, after fleeing homes following fighting between Thailand and Cambodia. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
Village security volunteers and resident run into shelter while the blasts sounded too close in Buriram province, Thailand, Friday, Dec. 12, 2025, following renewed border conflict between Thailand and Cambodia. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
