{"id":51089,"date":"2025-04-26T12:51:33","date_gmt":"2025-04-26T12:51:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=51089"},"modified":"2025-04-26T12:51:33","modified_gmt":"2025-04-26T12:51:33","slug":"breaking-surprise-braves-player-matches-rookie-sensations-impressive-sprint-speed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=51089","title":{"rendered":"Breaking: Surprise Braves player matches rookie sensation&#8217;s impressive sprint speed"},"content":{"rendered":"<header class=\"relative z-10\">\n<div class=\"article-intro mb-4 text-darkGrey font-group-large md:font-group-normal lg:font-group-large\">Austin Riley and Chandler Simpson may as well be the same player on the basepaths<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"mb-0 md:mb-9 relative md:mx-10 md:mb-9\">\n<figure>\n<div class=\"overflow-hidden bg-lightGrey\"><picture><source srcset=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_25,y_264,w_2124,h_1194\/c_fill,w_360,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images%2FGettyImages%2Fmmsport%2F17%2F01jss083papjqs8jg1zs.jpg 1x,  \nhttps:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_25,y_264,w_2124,h_1194\/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images%2FGettyImages%2Fmmsport%2F17%2F01jss083papjqs8jg1zs.jpg 2x, \n    https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_25,y_264,w_2124,h_1194\/c_fill,w_1080,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images%2FGettyImages%2Fmmsport%2F17%2F01jss083papjqs8jg1zs.jpg 3x\" media=\"(max-width: 719px)\" \/><source srcset=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_25,y_264,w_2124,h_1194\/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images%2FGettyImages%2Fmmsport%2F17%2F01jss083papjqs8jg1zs.jpg 1x, \nhttps:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_25,y_264,w_2124,h_1194\/c_fill,w_1440,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images%2FGettyImages%2Fmmsport%2F17%2F01jss083papjqs8jg1zs.jpg 2x, \n    https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_25,y_264,w_2124,h_1194\/c_fill,w_1440,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images%2FGettyImages%2Fmmsport%2F17%2F01jss083papjqs8jg1zs.jpg 3x\" media=\"(max-width: 1079px)\" \/><source srcset=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_25,y_264,w_2124,h_1194\/c_fill,w_1080,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images%2FGettyImages%2Fmmsport%2F17%2F01jss083papjqs8jg1zs.jpg 1x, \nhttps:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_25,y_264,w_2124,h_1194\/c_fill,w_2160,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images%2FGettyImages%2Fmmsport%2F17%2F01jss083papjqs8jg1zs.jpg 2x,\n    https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_25,y_264,w_2124,h_1194\/c_fill,w_2160,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images%2FGettyImages%2Fmmsport%2F17%2F01jss083papjqs8jg1zs.jpg 3x\" media=\"(min-width: 1080px)\" \/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full\" title=\"Tampa Bay Rays v Arizona Diamondbacks\" src=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_25,y_264,w_2124,h_1194\/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images\/GettyImages\/mmsport\/17\/01jss083papjqs8jg1zs.jpg\" alt=\"Tampa Bay Rays v Arizona Diamondbacks\" width=\"2124\" height=\"1194\" data-uw-rm-alt-original=\"Tampa Bay Rays v Arizona Diamondbacks\" data-uw-rm-alt=\"ALT\" \/><\/picture><\/div><figcaption class=\"ml-1 pb-2 mt-4 md:m-3 text-darkGrey font-group-tiny\">Tampa Bay Rays v Arizona Diamondbacks | Chris Coduto\/GettyImage<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"flex flex-wrap\">\n<div class=\"flex mr-4 lg:w-[calc(70%-3em)] max-w-full\"><main class=\"min-w-0 flex-1\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"viewablity-block\">\n<figure class=\"player-wrapper relative aspect-video mb-[18px] bg-grey rounded-md hidden player-wrapper-lg md:block\">\n<div id=\"mm-player-placeholder-large-screen\" class=\"absolute top-0 left-0 w-full h-full\">\n<div id=\"voltax-mp-video\" class=\"shadow-root-voltax-mp\">\n<div class=\"voltax-mp-placeholder voltax-mp-placeholder-anchored floating\" data-is-split-view=\"false\">\n<div class=\"voltax-mp-container-anchored\">\n<div class=\"titleBar title-anchor\"><span class=\"title\"><span class=\"\">How We\u2019re Feeling About Mets\u2019 Surge, MLB Standings, Recent Breakouts<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<div class=\"article-content\">\n<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">After a slow start to the 2025 season, Atlanta Braves third baseman has been one of the\u00a0most productive players\u00a0in the league.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">While his hitting is something we&#8217;ve grown accustom to, his speed is not.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">In fact, the 28-year-old slugger is not only having a career-best in sprint speed, he&#8217;s even ranking slightly ahead of Tampa Bay Rays prospect Chandler Simpson, who wreaked havoc on the bases in the minors.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"scroll-mt-24 my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">Austin Riley&#8217;s sprint speed is shockingly quick<\/h2>\n<figure class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;&gt;iframe]:max-w-full flex justify-center my-f-1\" style=\"--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 \/ .5); --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 20px 0px; display: flex; justify-content: center; border: 0px solid currentcolor;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"streamable\" src=\"https:\/\/streamable.com\/m\/austin-riley-safe-at-first-at-first-after-challenge?partnerId=web_multimedia-search_video-share\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" data-uw-rm-iframe=\"gn\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/figure>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">While one might look at Austin Riley&#8217;s thick 240-pound frame and assume he&#8217;s more adjacent to Daniel Vogelbach than Billy Hamilton, the cornerstone at the hot corner as actually always been deceptively fleet of foot.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">Aside from 2020, Riley has ranked in the 61st percentile or higher since his MLB debut in 2019 in sprint speed. 2020 was also the only season where his average speed was worse than 27.8 ft\/sec.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">Of course, it&#8217;s easy to see why speed would be one part of Riley&#8217;s game that&#8217;s overlooked. The third baseman didn&#8217;t pick up his first career steal until 2022, his fourth season in the bigs, and didn&#8217;t steal any bags last season, keeping his career total at five.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">His hustle down the line earlier this week against the Cardinals might have awoken more to the fact that Riley might be faster than he physically appears, but still, no one would expect him to be a speed demon.<\/p>\n<p>Yet somehow, in a nearly impossible, too crazy to believe fact for the 2025 season, Riley is currently tied in sprint speed with a player who\u00a0stole 104 bases\u00a0in the minors last season, but impossibly, one month into the season, that&#8217;s the case.<\/p>\n<p>While Tampa Bay Rays speedy prospect Chandler Simpson has only been up for a week, he has just enough competitive runs for Baseball Savant to qualify him for the\u00a0Sprint Speed leaderboard.\u00a0So far, he also clocks in at 28.1 ft\/sec.<\/p>\n<p>Baseball Savant&#8217;s percentile rankings actually put Riley ahead of Simpson, as the Braves two-time All-Star ranked in the 81st percentile in speed going into Friday&#8217;s games, while the Rays seventh overall prospect ranked in the 76th percentile.<\/p>\n<p>This short sample fluke likely won&#8217;t continue once Simpson is more settled in the majors, after all he was\u00a0the first to register three sprints over 30 ft\/sec\u00a0this year in the minors prior to being called up, but for now, the Braves can say that they might have the fastest player in the league.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/main><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Austin Riley and Chandler Simpson may as well be the same player on the basepaths Tampa Bay Rays v Arizona Diamondbacks | Chris Coduto\/GettyImage How We\u2019re Feeling&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":51090,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.6 - 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