LOS ANGELES – Georgia Tech baseball’s Chandler Simpson (Atlanta, Ga./St. Pius X (UAB)) was the 70th player selected in the 2022 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft late on Sunday night when the Tampa Bay Rays called the middle infielder with the No. 70 overall pick.
Simpson was selected in the second competitive balance round following the second round of the draft. Simpson joins teammate Kevin Parada in hearing his name on the first day of the MLB Draft, marking the 22nd-straight year the Yellow Jackets have had multiple draft picks in a single draft.
A second-team all-American and first-team all-ACC selection, Simpson led all of Division I in batting, hitting a blistering .433 on the season. He became the first Yellow Jacket to hit .400 in a single season since Mark Teixeira in 2000 and finished just a thousandth of a percentage point shy of tying Jay Payton’s school record of .434 (min. 200 at-bats) in 1994. Simpson also led the country in hits per game at 1.87 per contest.
Renowned for his speed and his eye at the plate, the Atlanta native stole a team-best 27 bases on the year (good for third in the ACC), was the toughest hitter to strikeout in the ACC at 12.7 at-bats per strikeout and led the league with a gaudy .506 on-base percentage (ninth nationally). He also scored 1.36 runs per game, which was good for third in the country.
Despite having just a year on The Flats as a transfer from UAB, Simpson played in 47 games donning the White and Gold. He made 47 starts, missing only for an injury that sidelined him for 13 games. He led off every game for Tech and played 26 games at second base, 20 at shortstop and one game as the designated hitter.
Simpson and Parada’s selections mark the 42nd-straight season in which a Georgia Tech student-athlete has been taken in the MLB Draft, a streak that began in 1981 with the selection of first baseman Tommy Thompson by the Kansas City Royals.
Georgia Tech was one of 12 college baseball programs with multiple selections on Day 1 of the 2022 MLB Draft and one of just two from the ACC.
Around Social Media
𝘿𝙍𝘼𝙁𝙏𝙀𝘿!@chandlr27 is the 70th selection of the 2022 @MLBDraft by the @RaysBaseball!#WreckHavoc // #MLBDraft pic.twitter.com/48n0oQxdUJ
— Georgia Tech Baseball (@GTBaseball) July 18, 2022
Fastest man alive 💨@chandlr27 | #MLBDraft pic.twitter.com/vQzScN0bOE
— Georgia Tech Baseball (@GTBaseball) July 18, 2022
A ⚡⚡⚡ draft choice 💪
📺 @MLBNetwork pic.twitter.com/gI8qmC7NXz
— Georgia Tech Baseball (@GTBaseball) July 18, 2022
With the 70th overall pick, @RaysBaseball selects @GTBaseball shortstop Chandler Simpson, No. 123 on the Top 250 Draft Prospects list.
Watch live: https://t.co/42SJUa2odY pic.twitter.com/3Y87EpQpiY
— MLB Draft (@MLBDraft) July 18, 2022
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