Chandler Simpson has reached the World Series without hitting a major league home run. He sees no reason to change now.

Like this year’s World Series matchup, Simpson seems to have come from another time and place. The Tampa Bay Rays and Milwaukee Brewers take an old-fashioned approach to offense. While they're not averse to home runs, the Rays and Brewers rely more on contact hitting and aggressive base running to score.

The style is reminiscent of how the game was played in the 1970s and 1980s, before the three true outcomes, exit velocity and launch angle. That’s not to argue that the game was better then, but it was certainly different.

Simpson, 25, is thriving with that approach. He hit .306/.333/.356 with an AL-high 46 steals during the regular season, then went 5-for-17 (.294) with a double, a triple, three RBIs and two steals in the Rays’ six-game ALCS win over Cleveland.

Chandler Simpson has never needed home runs

Simpson has yet to hit a home run in 1,053 plate appearances over his two-year major league career. He is fine with that. He is comfortable being the player he is and isn't about to apologize.

“It was preached to me from a young age that this is going to be my game, at the end of the day, and it was going to carry me as far as it could,” Simpson said. “And never really had the experience of hitting for much power. So, I mean, it wasn't any temptation to veer off that way. But as I went up levels and continued to see success and know how it can contribute to wins and winning baseball, I was just encouraged by my coaches and mentors to stick to myself, stick to my game and let it carry me all the way.”

Simpson has made it all the way to the World Series despite the lack of power. Simpson homered only once in 488 plate appearances during three collegiate seasons at Alabama-Birmingham and Georgia Tech, yet the Rays selected him in the second round of the 2022 amateur draft. Simpson also hit only one home run over four minor-league seasons and 1,197 trips to the plate.

That lone pro homer came on June 7, 2024, while playing for Double-A Montgomery. Fittingly, it was an inside-the-park home run.

While it is easier than ever for hitters to add power, Simpson stays grounded because of advice from his father, Ralph, a school administrator in Atlanta.

“He's why I am the man I am today, and he's exemplified work ethic and perseverance and grit throughout my whole life, something that I've applied to my life as well,” Simpson said.

“But he's preaching to me every day to stay within myself and to know myself. A lot of outside sources say I need to change or fit the norm of today's game. But he's always somebody who reminds me that it's OK to be myself; that it's OK to play my game and that my game contributes to winning baseball.”

The Rays trust Simpson’s contact over conventional power

In one sense, though, Simpson is utilized like a modern-day player. Simpson’s speed would have once automatically profiled him as a leadoff hitter. Yet, in modern lineup construction, the Rays put their best hitters, designated hitter Yandy Diaz, first baseman Jonathan Aranda, and third baseman Júnior Caminero, at the top of the order.

“The greatest compliment maybe was that you can hit him anywhere and know that he's going to have an impact on the lineup, on the game,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said of Simpson. “We've hit Chandler fourth before, and there was some criticism: Why do that? But it’s like, well, he puts the ball in play.

“In today's game, that can be very challenging on certain nights, where if you got your big boppers getting on base somehow, knocking a double or a walk or something, you're confident Chandler is going to make contact. I know wherever we've put him this year, it feels like he's helped us win.”