Simeon Woods Richardson is Chasing Down Marty Cordova

[Ted Schwerzler]

The Minnesota Twins haven’t had a player win the American League Rookie of the Year award since Marty Cordova did so in 1995. Simeon Woods Richardson continues to inch closer towards ending the drought, and it’s not at all far-fetched.

Of course Minnesota would have hoped that Miguel Sano, Jose Berrios, Byron Buxton, Royce Lewis, or any of their other top prospects could have won an American League Rookie of the Year award. Unfortunately, none of them could generate enough positive statistical momentum to be in the conversation, and Marty Cordova’s award in 1995 is nearly 30 years old.

Simeon Woods Richardson wasn’t even supposed to be in the starting rotation for Rocco Baldelli early on this season, but he was called upon quickly when Louie Varland struggled, and he has been nothing short of magnificent. After not starting at all for the Twins last season, and working just one five-inning start in 2022, Woods Richardson has looked like an entirely different pitcher in 2024.

With added velocity propping up his arsenal the prospect, once acquired alongside Austin Martin in exchange for Berrios, is doing it all. As Pablo Lopez has scuffled out of the gate, and the combination of Joe Ryan and Bailey Ober have been just good, it’s Woods Richardson who has toyed with greatness.

Opposing hitters have not generated significant traffic against him, and he’s not allowing free passes or big flies. While the strikeout stuff isn’t otherworldly, he has trended up lately and adding more than three mph of fastball velocity is a significant part of the equation. Minnesota continuing to work with Woods Richardson, and give him the tools to develop into the best version of himself, has been great to see.

Now just 23 years old, Woods Richardson was one of the youngest starting arms at Triple-A last year for St. Paul. He had often been in situations where he was among the most talented pitchers on teams he had played for, and figuring out how to innovate and grow amidst adversity was something he needed to go through. That obviously has stuck, and with a few clunkers at the big league level, he has continued to rebound in a positive way.

Pitching another solid outing on Wednesday night against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Woods Richardson turned in 5 1/3 innings while allowing three runs on four hits. He walked a pair and struck out four. That sort of outing has largely been the standard for Woods Richardson this year, and while he isn’t going to threaten to win a Cy Young as a rookie, he has established a very strong baseline.

The greatest thing standing in the Twins hurler’s way at this point is a former Minnesota prospect. Luis Gil was sent to the New York Yankees when the Twins needed Jake Cave. He has since blossomed into a solid rotation arm, and kept the Aaron Judge-led team afloat while Gerrit Cole was on the shelf. It’s hard not to argue Gil is worthy of an All-Star selection this season, and he has certainly set the pace for Rookie of the Year honors.

Once thought to be a race between Jackson Holliday and everyone else, the American League Rookie of the Year award is a duel of pitchers tied to the Twins, and Minnesota can only hope their guy takes over the lead during the second half.

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[FlyingFinn]

Would ROY come with draft pick compensation or did we miss some rule by calling SWR up too late? Anyway, I would never have guessed this in April. Great job, Simeon!!

[Doctor Gast]

I think there is still some MN fans who are waiting for SWR wheels to fall off, based on last season stats. But SWR is one step ahead of the league who are trying to figure him out. With his new arm slot, he is constantly working on his pitches thrown from that angle & improving.

His attitude is what has impressed me the most about Simmy. His constant desire to compete & improve. Also his teamwork mentality that appreciates what everybody is doing behind him but takes full responsibility for his actions. Gil is a great pitcher but IMO SWR has the greatest opportunity to stay up pitching in the MLB than Gil. Good fortune to SWR.

The greatest thing that happened for the Twins was DeSclavani going down rather than limping around the mound blocking the way of our prospects. That way we know early that Varland is better suited for the BP than starting (at least at this point), we discovered that SWR is a pretty darn good SP and Festa is given a chance to show what he has. All are very positive outcomes (but it'd have been better not to spend the cost of obtaining Desclavani)

[Doctor Wu]

17 minutes ago, FlyingFinn said:

Would ROY come with draft pick compensation or did we miss some rule by calling SWR up too late? Anyway, I would never have guessed this in April. Great job, Simeon!!

I never would have guessed it either. Sure, I had hopes that he would come up and contribute some innings, but so far the results have been much better than I expected. Overcoming the start that Gil has had with the Yankees this year will be tough, but we still have 3 full full months of the season left, so it's always possible that SWR could pull it off. I'll be curious to see if he can, or will be allowed to, pitch deeper into games as the season progresses. Or maybe, these 5-6 innings outings are the best way to use him for now?

[TwinsDr2021]

Everybody should drop some cash in Vegas on SWR, because he still has some very, very long odds.

Best of luck SWR an keep up the good work.

[Whitey333]

Great job thus far SWR.  I think your good season will  continue throughout the rest of the season.  At this point you are ROY worthy.  But I don't think SWR will win it.  Keep up the great work SWR

[Karbo]

Whoa slow down. SWR for ROY? Awfully early to think that way. Season is only 1/2 way through. When was the last time a pitcher won ROY? Has happened very often? I remember Fulmer and Hellickson and maybe Verlander?

[JD-TWINS]

1 hour ago, Karbo said:

Whoa slow down. SWR for ROY? Awfully early to think that way. Season is only 1/2 way through. When was the last time a pitcher won ROY? Has happened very often? I remember Fulmer and Hellickson and maybe Verlander?

Yep - ROY, lofty thoughts! Hope he’s the Twin’s ROY or the A.L. Central ROY…..that would be great at age 23.

[Johnny Ringo]

I really think that this sort of talk is wildly premature and probably a curse.

Tom Kelly was a chess master. He was unfortunately hung with a lot of truly terrible teams in the late 90s and that obscures his genius a bit. I will always say that I believe that TK was the MVP of the 1991 World Series. 

I am lucky that I don't many regrets in life. OK, I should have bought Apple in 1980. But the one regret that I have is that I never had the opportunity to buy TK a beer and asked him about the players he truly hated.

Not to be presumptive about the great man's thoughts but I am pretty sure that Marty Cordova would be near the top of the list.   

I seem to recall the remark that " some guys are more interested in looking good at the beach than they are at the plate." 

TK, on the off chance you read this, the beer is on me.  

[Brandon]

Woods-Richardson is definitely making me feel better about the Berrios trade.  I sure wasn't happy when he was traded.  still not.  He was one of my favorite players.  Martin looks like he will be a useful 4th OF.  But Woods-Richardson being a low-cost impact starter has lots of value.  Looks like the rotation will be pretty stable the next 4 seasons with Lopez, Ryan, Ober, and Woods-Richardson all locked up and Paddack through next season.  

[Fire Dan Gladden]

1 hour ago, Karbo said:

Whoa slow down. SWR for ROY? Awfully early to think that way. Season is only 1/2 way through. When was the last time a pitcher won ROY? Has happened very often? I remember Fulmer and Hellickson and maybe Verlander?

The recent mid-season awards article on ESPN had SWR ranked 2nd in their AL ROY rating.  A distant 2nd, but still 2nd.  While there is still a lot of season left, SWR is firmly in the discussion.

For the record, Gil is 1st and he is also a pitcher.

[nicksaviking]

I'm beyond surprised by SWRs season. This organization has thrived with increasing pitcher velocity, I was pretty confident that the decline SWR showed last year was a really bad omen. I didn't write him off, but I thought he was destined for relief work. This has been a fantastic turn of events.

As to Gil, he hadn't pitched more than 30 innings since 2021 and hasn't pitched a full healthy season since 2019.

I'll never cheer for a young guy to get hurt, even a Yankee, but Gil is already pitching on borrowed innings this year.

[bighat]

I don't care how far metrics and stats have come. Nobody's going to win Rookie of the Year with W-L record of 5-3, which is where SWR will probably finish if things keep going the way they are. 

It's only optics - but optics mean something when it comes to awards. Gotta get 10 wins to be in the conversation as a pitcher for ROY. Gil has this thing in hand, and it's not even close. 

[Parfigliano]

The NYMs pounded Luis Gil yesterday--4.1 IP--4H--4W--5ER

[Mike Sixel]

51 minutes ago, bighat said:

I don't care how far metrics and stats have come. Nobody's going to win Rookie of the Year with W-L record of 5-3, which is where SWR will probably finish if things keep going the way they are. 

It's only optics - but optics mean something when it comes to awards. Gotta get 10 wins to be in the conversation as a pitcher for ROY. Gil has this thing in hand, and it's not even close. 

I agree with the last part, but not at all the first. 

[jud6312]

I like what I've "seen" (thanks Bally's, Comcast, Twins, and MLB) from SWR so far, but I think we're a ways from serious ROY conversation - sports books I've looked at don't even have him as the Twins rookie with the best betting odds (those go to Brooks Lee at, like, +15,000).

 

In addition to Gil, you've got Wilyer Abreu playing well for another high profile team. You've got Mason Miller, whose pitches are the things that MLB's social media team feasts upon (and his results are pretty darn good).  Then you've got Langford, who's starting to show signs of life. Cowser and Kjerstad as high-end talents that could turn things on between now and the end of the season, same with Holliday if he gets recalled.

 

I won't rule SWR out, but there's a lot more for him to overcome than just Luis Gil. We really should, however, rue the day he was traded for Cave though like we do with some of the team's other bad trades.  

[Russ]

I hope he does well, but being an ROY candidate (or considered) is a reach at this point.

[Mark Videen]

What if we could get a race between SWR and David Festa? 

[bean5302]

Woods Richardson could win, but he doesn't have the name recognition or anything super flashy right now.

Luis Gil - Yankees
Wilyer Abreu - Red Sox
Mason Miller - Will be on a top team EoY, and he's lit the reporting world on fire already.

[TwinsDr2021]

28 minutes ago, bean5302 said:

Mason Miller - Will be on a top team EoY, and he's lit the reporting world on fire already.

Are you saying the A's are going to trade him with 5 years (or whatever it is) of control left? And if so what team is going to pay that kind of price?

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

Shoutout to SWR for turning a corner. 

Obviously the ROY talk is intentionally over the top and to hook people into the conversation. SWR will do good by just pacing himself and finishing the season well, not trying to compete for individual accolades. 

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

Still think part of the issue with SWR is that he was part of three different organizations early on in his career and there was no MiLB in 2020. He's found some consistency with the Twins and what they want him to do, and he's doing it quite well. Not sure about ROY. But, it does look like the Twins have a long-term piece to their rotation to go along with Pablo, Ryan, Ober and hopefully Festa. Future's bright for the rotation.

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

As for Gil, lots of talk up here that he's dealing with shoulder fatigue. His velocity hasn't had a big drop but command has been an issue for him the last two starts.

[nicksaviking]

2 minutes ago, Twins_Fan_in_NJ said:

As for Gil, lots of talk up here that he's dealing with shoulder fatigue. His velocity hasn't had a big drop but command has been an issue for him the last two starts.

He's at 85 IP this year after only throwing 21 last year and 29 the year before. If he's able to continue without falling off or getting injured, it would probably be unprecedented in the modern game. 

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

Just now, nicksaviking said:

He's at 85 IP this year after only throwing 21 last year and 29 the year before. If he's able to continue without falling off or getting injured, it would probably be unprecedented in the modern game. 

Yup. Would be shocked if the Yanks don't put him on the IL for a bit and let him get some time off.

[jmlease1]

I don't mind the talk of SWR for ROY. He's been doing really well for the twins, grinding his way through games and letting his talent and work ethic shine. I've been on his corner for a while and always felt like he had the ability to get it done, but had gone through one of the more screwed up developmental processes, one that was almost perfectly "designed" to make it harder on him.

Think about it:

• drafted at 17
• shows promise at 18 in low A ball with 20 starts
• traded at 18
• new organization bumps him up to high A immediately
• age 19, no minor season for COVID
• age 20, gets promoted again having only 6 starts in high A and not having pitched for a season
• age 20 picked for the Olympic team, but doesn't actually play
• age 20 traded again
• repeats a level at age 21 for the first time in his career
• age 21 promoted to AAA 
• age 21 gets his first MLB start

because he's been around for a while I think there was an assumption that he was experienced. But Toronto was extremely aggressive with him and I think they really blew it. they never should have jumped him to AA like they did and I think the move from the Mets to Toronto nearly wrecked his career. Props to the Twins development staff for basically throwing out 2021 and treating it as a re-set season.

I'm really impressed with how he's managed to get his free passes under control this season in MLB. Lots of players see that tick up when they go to the big leagues and SWR has actually brought it down. he's always been good at keeping the ball in the park and while it would be nice to see a few more Ks, he hasn't been easy to rack up hits on. They've been careful not to expose him too much, but he's also done his part by not having two clunkers in a row this year in MLB.

And it's not just beating up bad teams either: his best start was against Seattle (division leader) and while he took the loss against Cleveland, he certainly pitched well enough to win.

Always liked SWR. Glad to see it paying out for him.

 

[Mike Sixel]

4 hours ago, jmlease1 said:

I don't mind the talk of SWR for ROY. He's been doing really well for the twins, grinding his way through games and letting his talent and work ethic shine. I've been on his corner for a while and always felt like he had the ability to get it done, but had gone through one of the more screwed up developmental processes, one that was almost perfectly "designed" to make it harder on him.

Think about it:

• drafted at 17
• shows promise at 18 in low A ball with 20 starts
• traded at 18
• new organization bumps him up to high A immediately
• age 19, no minor season for COVID
• age 20, gets promoted again having only 6 starts in high A and not having pitched for a season
• age 20 picked for the Olympic team, but doesn't actually play
• age 20 traded again
• repeats a level at age 21 for the first time in his career
• age 21 promoted to AAA 
• age 21 gets his first MLB start

because he's been around for a while I think there was an assumption that he was experienced. But Toronto was extremely aggressive with him and I think they really blew it. they never should have jumped him to AA like they did and I think the move from the Mets to Toronto nearly wrecked his career. Props to the Twins development staff for basically throwing out 2021 and treating it as a re-set season.

I'm really impressed with how he's managed to get his free passes under control this season in MLB. Lots of players see that tick up when they go to the big leagues and SWR has actually brought it down. he's always been good at keeping the ball in the park and while it would be nice to see a few more Ks, he hasn't been easy to rack up hits on. They've been careful not to expose him too much, but he's also done his part by not having two clunkers in a row this year in MLB.

And it's not just beating up bad teams either: his best start was against Seattle (division leader) and while he took the loss against Cleveland, he certainly pitched well enough to win.

Always liked SWR. Glad to see it paying out for him.

 

Right! He's only really pitched for the last two years, in many ways. And he's getting better. And he's REALLY young. People, IMO, gave up on him way too fast.

[bean5302]

6 hours ago, TwinsDr2021 said:

Are you saying the A's are going to trade him with 5 years (or whatever it is) of control left? And if so what team is going to pay that kind of price?

I think the A's will shop him. Relief pitchers are volatile, and the Athletics are going nowhere in the standings until their new stadium is ready to open which is years away. It's reasonable to think Miller has maxed out his performance and value.

It's tough to say what the Athletics can command for him, but if they hang on to him and he turns into a very good, but not elite (like he was last year) reliever, the opportunity to cash in will have flown by the A's for at least a bit.

[bean5302]

1 hour ago, Mike Sixel said:

Right! He's only really pitched for the last two years, in many ways. And he's getting better. And he's REALLY young. People, IMO, gave up on him way too fast.

Nobody gave up on him too fast. He was going absolutely nowhere, and he had to approach the coaches to fix his game. He's looking great now, but there was no reason to expect this turn around. Absolutely no signs Woods Richardson was a viable prospect anymore.

[DocBauer]

I had hopes he would make adjustments and 2023 would end up as a bad memory. But I certainly never see him being this good this soon. Like Festa, I was thinking he MIGHT be ready mid season. Bou am I glad to be wrong!

@jmlease1 perfectly laid out his timeline, and it's been a virtual joke in how to handle a young prospect. But he sure has endured and overcome!

His stuff looks nasty at times. But you can see how good he might be. And it looks like he's gaining confidence. He's a different kind of pitcher than the rest of the current staff...less of a flyball pitcher...but that's OK. Getting outs is what's important. It's OK if he's never a 10K per 9 guy. But keeping it around 8 still works. 

I don't care if he's a real ROY candidate. Lee or Rodriguez are better options next year, IMO. What I care about is him continuing to get better and finish the season strong.