Latest news with #WoodsRichardson
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Twins' Simeon Woods Richardson Optioned After Rough Outing
The Minnesota Twins won their MLB-best 10th consecutive game on Wednesday, taking down the struggling Baltimore Orioles 8-6 at Camden Yards. On Thursday afternoon, they'll look to make it 11 in a row. Wednesday's offense-powered victory was much thanks to Kody Clemens' go-ahead three-run home run along with home runs from Trevor Larnach and Willi Castro. Advertisement Former top prospect Simeon Woods Richardson didn't exactly help matters, though, with a six-run third inning that put the Twins in a 6-4 hole early. Following the game, the Twins made a surprising announcement on Woods Richardson. Minnesota Twins pitcher Simeon Woods Richardson (78) pitches against the Atlanta Rempel-USA TODAY Sports The Twins optioned Woods Richardson to Triple-A St. Paul following his rough start. Lefty reliever Kody Funderburk, who had been the 27th man in the Twins' doubleheader on Wednesday, will stay in the big leagues in place of Woods Richardson. Woods Richardson, the Twins' fifth starter, will be replaced by Zebby Matthews in his first start of the season. The former No. 8 prospect in the Twins' system made 28 starts for Minnesota in 2024 to a 4.17 ERA and 1.29 WHIP, but Woods Richardson's early results left a lot to be desired, especially for a competitive team like the Twins. Advertisement Woods Richardson has lasted fewer than five innings in four of his last five starts, and his one run across 5 1/3 innings against the Angels on April 26th is the one time in the past month where he's pitched into the sixth. In the month of May, Woods Richardson has pitched to a 6.75 ERA, with four of the 15 hits he allowed in three starts being home runs. Hopefully, a reset will benefit Woods Richardson as he looks to get his season back on track. Related: Pirates Sign Former First-Round Pick After Paul Skenes Comments Related: Mets Fans Get News on Blockbuster Luis Robert Trade Related: Royals Facing Decision on Top Prospect After Historic Win
New York Times
28-03-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
What I saw from Konnor Griffin, Franklin Arias and others on the Grapefruit League back fields
This week I spent four days in Florida bouncing between some back fields and a few high school games; here's the notebook from the pro side, which unfortunately didn't feature a lot of top prospects. Minnesota Twins right-hander Simeon Woods Richardson made a huge adjustment to his arm slot in the 2023-24 offseason with the help of the Twins' player development staff, taking him from an also-ran on the outside of the Twins' rotation plans to a 2-WAR season as their fourth starter. He threw a tune-up outing in an A-ball game on Wednesday in Fort Myers, Fla., and looked as good as he did at his best moments from last year. Advertisement Woods Richardson was 92-96 with a plus curveball and above-average slider, the latter running up to 88 mph, all coming from that somewhat lower arm slot that's still above three-quarters but better than the over-the-top slot he used to have. Before the change, he had all kinds of timing issues, with his arm very late relative to his landing, and was tilted so far backward in his delivery that he couldn't finish anything out front, particularly the breaking stuff, leaving him as a fastball-changeup guy who had trouble getting right-handed hitters out. After the Twins helped him overhaul his delivery, he was more on time and released his pitches over four inches closer to the ground, so he was able to get his breaking stuff down in the zone much more consistently. That's exactly how he looked on Wednesday, although I didn't see a changeup from him (I was moving back and forth between two fields), and that pitch might be the key to whether he can break out to a greater degree this year. His changeup was his only 'bad' pitch by results last year, worth a whopping minus-16 runs by Statcast, wiping out 80 percent of the value of his other three pitches combined. Some of that looks fluky given the batted-ball data on the pitch, but the lower arm slot seems to have put more fade on the pitch (good) and resulted in more of them finishing below the zone (less good, since hitters didn't chase them enough). If he gets that changeup closer to the zone often enough to get hitters to go after it, he could be the Twins' second-best starter rather than their fourth-best. The Twins took shortstop/outfielder Brandon Winokur in the third round in 2023 out of a California high school, giving him an over-slot bonus. This was the first time I'd seen him in pro ball, and he's a better athlete than I expected but is also every bit of that listed 6-foot-6. I can't see him sticking at shortstop, even though he moves well enough out there now, given how huge he's going to be when he fills out. On Wednesday, he had no trouble picking up anything straight, homering to left on a changeup middle-away (105-mph exit velocity), but didn't pick up spin across his three at-bats. Even if he has to move to centerfield — which I think is by far his most likely position — the upside is still really high, All-Star level, with the obvious caveat that he's got to boost that pitch recognition. Advertisement Shortstop Kaelen Culpepper, the Twins' first-round pick last year out of Kansas State, took several good at-bats and put the ball in play every time without hard contact, unfortunately. Kyle DeBarge, their second pick (No. 33 selection), showed good bat control, getting the barrel to a cutter down-and-in or maybe a tick below the zone and then later on a slider away, although his contact was all of the soft variety. The best player on either field, however, was Boston shortstop Franklin Arias, who did hit a couple of balls hard both to the pull side and the other way. I have nothing to add to what I wrote about him on the Top 100 list — I think he's going to be a star, especially with the stick. Konnor Griffin was the No. 9 pick in the 2024 draft, selected by Pittsburgh out of Jackson Prep in Mississippi because of the potential for three grade-70 tools in his power, speed, and arm. There were also significant questions about his present approach at the plate, from his ability to make contact against decent pitching to his pitch recognition. His swing would get long with a deep hand load that often had him barring his lead arm. When I saw him on Tuesday, the arm bar was almost completely gone and even at the deepest point of his load, his swing wasn't as long as it was last year. He did swing and miss several times in three at-bats, facing fairly ordinary minor-league stuff, but at least now he's better situated to hit anything with the shorter path to the ball. Right-hander Zander Mueth threw on the other field, and the Pirates' second-round pick from 2023 was only 91-93 with an above-average slider, still coming from a low arm slot and lacking a pitch to get lefties out. I only caught two at-bats from second baseman Wyatt Sanford, their second-rounder in 2024, as he wasn't in the same game as Griffin; it's a great swing with good bat speed, definitely more geared towards contact than power. Advertisement My last afternoon there was on the Rays' back fields. Second baseman Émilien Pitre, the Rays' 2024 second-round pick, was on base every time up to the plate, with a walk and a pair of hits, the last one a hit right past the second baseman into right-center off a 99-mph fastball. He needs to get the ball in the air more, with both hits on the day coming on ground balls, but there's pretty clear feel for the barrel here and he might post some really strong OBPs in the low minors. Right-hander Jacob Watters, acquired from the Athletics in the trade that sent Jeffrey Springs west, was 93-95 with an absolute hammer curveball with sharp, late downward break. His walk rates have been chronically high, with 28 walks in 60 2/3 innings last year, and sure enough they had to roll his first inning in this game with just one out because he hit his pitch limit, but that's some premium stuff — and he's got an 87-89 mph slider that isn't too bad either. Watters was followed by right-hander Dylan Lesko, who … le sigh. Lesko threw 11 fastballs in the inning, seven for balls, and none for either a called strike or a whiff. Two went to the backstop and one went about 45 feet. He can still land the curveball for strikes, but didn't show that elite changeup (or any changeup, for that matter). He gets a ton of induced vertical break on the fastball and maybe that's part of why he misses so badly with it, but it's also possible he just has some variety of the yips. The Rays' opponents were the Orioles' A-ball teams, mostly the same hitters I'd seen two days earlier other than Vance Honeycutt, who struck out and popped up in the two at-bats I saw. They threw right-hander Levi Wells, who was 96-99 with a curveball at 81-82 mph that had spin rates up to 3,123 rpm. I'm not even that concerned with spin rates per se, but that is at the upper bound of what a human being can do, and it's got the kind of power to it that you'd expect from that kind of spin. His delivery has some cross-body action to it and he got destroyed by lefties last year between the delivery and the fringy changeup (89-92, not much action), but that fastball/curveball combination is enough of a starting point that there has to at least be a big-league reliever in here. (Top photo of Griffin: Charles LeClaire / USA Today)
New York Times
28-01-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Twins' Simeon Woods Richardson looks to ride lower arm slot to sophomore success
Last week, while on stage at the Minnesota Twins' annual Diamond Awards banquet, Simeon Woods Richardson received his award for being voted the team's 2024 Rookie of the Year. It was the culmination of a career-altering 12-month stretch for the 24-year-old right-hander, who wasn't considered a major part of the Twins' rotation plans this time last offseason. Back then, Woods Richardson's prospect stock was likely at an all-time low following a rough 2023 season at Triple-A St. Paul, where he had a 4.91 ERA with way too many walks and his fastball barely averaged 90 mph. The 20th annual Diamond Awards proved again how powerful a collaboration between the @Twins, the Twin Cities @officialBBWAA and the @UMNews can be. What a great evening! — Dustin Morse (@morsecode) January 24, 2025 Woods Richardson, a top-100 prospect when he was acquired from the Toronto Blue Jays in 2021 as part of the José Berríos trade, responded to that adversity by getting in the lab with Twins coaches. They spent all offseason overhauling his mechanics to find the velocity and fluidity that had gone missing, and he showed up to camp last spring in better form. Advertisement It was immediately apparent Woods Richardson was throwing harder and with better command, but he was far enough down the rotation depth chart that there was no path to make the Opening Day roster, even after Anthony DeSclafani's mid-March elbow injury. But when fill-in starter Louie Varland struggled, Woods Richardson got his big chance and made the most of it. During his appearance as a guest on my 'Gleeman and The Geek' podcast Saturday as part of our annual Winter Meltdown live event, Woods Richardson pointed to the mechanical changes and spring success giving him the confidence to think a rotation spot could be there for the taking. So that's exactly what he did in 2024, logging 28 starts and 133 2/3 innings with a 4.17 ERA and 4.05 xERA. 'It was having the confidence to know I had to change my arm slot and be OK with that,' Woods Richardson said. 'Practicing it, trying to get it to be muscle memory. It wasn't until spring training where I could actually see it come to life. When we start facing guys, and I can see results from the hard work. You don't know until you go in the ring and try to fight somebody.' Woods Richardson's average 2023 arm angle was 67 degrees, an extremely over-the-top slot that ranked second-highest among all MLB right-handers. Last season, his average arm angle was 47 degrees, which ranked closer to the middle of the pack — 70th among the 343 right-handers who made at least 500 pitches — and was impossible to miss even without data to back it up. In ditching what coaches called his old 'touching the mountaintops' arm slot, Woods Richardson's year-over-year average fastball velocity jumped from 90.5 mph to 93.5 mph, and he trimmed his walk rate from 4.9 per nine innings to 3.2 per nine despite moving up in weight class to face big-league competition. It was a huge developmental success story for the Twins, and may have saved his career. Advertisement 'I was a two-way player in high school,' Woods Richardson said. 'I played third base and shortstop, too. That was my natural arm slot. But as I chose pitching, it fluctuated up. And until I got a side-by-side view of 'you were up here, now let's try to get you back to the athlete you were.' I had to look at the data, the pictures, the film, and just bring that old athlete back to life.' In addition to the velocity boost, the lower arm angle changed some of the attributes of Woods Richardson's off-speed pitches and how they played off his fastball. Early in his career, Woods Richardson was known for a good changeup, but last season his slider emerged as his most effective offering and hitters actually did by far the most damage against his changeup. 'It's funny, the slider really wasn't my pitch,' Woods Richardson said. 'It has always been the changeup. But when I lowered the arm slot, I had to re-learn every pitch feel from that slot. And it just worked out. That slider was a good swing-and-miss pitch the whole year. Tunneling with the same effect as a fastball, it had some good deception to it.' All four of his pitches — fastball, slider, changeup, curveball — generated a whiff on at least 20 percent of swings, and by the end of last season he was throwing them each at least 15 percent of the time. Without dominant raw stuff, Woods Richardson being able to mix and match four viable offerings will be essential if he's going to build on his unexpected rookie success. Simeon Woods Richardson, Dirty 85mph Slider. 😨 — Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) June 8, 2024 Not surprisingly for a 23-year-old rookie who flew past his previous career-high workload, Woods Richardson ran out of gas down the stretch, allowing 16 runs in his final 21 1/3 innings as his ERA ballooned from 3.69 to 4.17. But between the majors and minors he was able to log 147 total innings across 31 starts, a solid foundation as he looks to avoid wearing down again in 2025. Advertisement 'That's the fun part of it, the challenge,' Woods Richardson said. 'OK, this is the most (innings) I've ever gone, most starts I've ever made. That was the biggest goal of mine, just to be blessed enough to have a healthy season. Checking that box, so we can't say we haven't done it. Because at this point it's more about learning, and conditioning your body for the second half.' This spring training, Woods Richardson will arrive to camp in a much different position than last year. He's likely shown the Twins enough, both on and off the field, to be No. 4 or No. 5 on the initial rotation depth chart, with an Opening Day spot his to lose. But after making such giant strides by putting in the work last winter and spring, he's not taking anything for granted. 'Rinse and repeat,' Woods Richardson said. 'And still do the same thing I did last year, having the confidence and conviction I had. I'm still working on the same mechanical stuff, so I can perfect that as my craft as I become a pitcher in the major leagues.' For the full half-hour with Woods Richardson, as well as extended interviews with Ryan Jeffers and Cory Provus, listen here.
