SWR

[stringer bell]

Simeon Woods Richardson will have less than two years of service time at the conclusion of 2025, so the Twins will be able to have him under team control until after the 2030 season. It could be argued that Woods Richardson's pitching saved the season early in 2024 when first Anthony DeSclafani and then Chris Paddack went out with season ending injuries. However, as the season went on, Sim became less and less effective. Still, his overall numbers for 2024 gave him the inside track for a rotation spot in 2025.

The season didn't start well for Simeon and he was eventually optioned to St. Paul, but returned a few weeks later when Pablo López went on the Injured List. He's been mostly pretty good since returning. allowing only four earned runs in 21 innings in his last four starts. The manager hasn't allowed him to go deep in games, with three five innings starts and one start of six innings. Woods Richardson's metrics seem to indicate he is more like a fifth starter, with middling numbers in exit velocity, ground ball and hard hit rate and swing and miss numbers. Woods Richardson has so-so velocity with no dominant pitch, so his profile seems to point to a back-end starter.

It would appear that SWR will be in the Twins' rotation at least until two or three of the injured guys are healthy and probably for the rest of the year. I would remind everyone that he is only 24 years old, younger than either Zebby Matthews and David Festa. Also, having a durable guy filing the back end of the rotation has value. 

What is the opinion of Twins Daily readers about Simeon Woods Richardson? Will he remain in the rotation long term? Is there a chance that he can become a top starter? Will he ever routinely work deep into games? Should he be traded and guys with more upside get a chance with the Twins? 

 

[Linus]

As always an interesting topic. I think SWR will provide good value to the Twins. He will likely always be a 4th or 5th starter but that is still valuable - he sets a decent floor for the rotation. He’s been durable which is valuable in and of itself. I think if he can gain experience using his whole arsenal of average pitches that will be his “strength” and he will be able to go a little longer in games. He seems to compete well on the mound which some of our other pitchers could learn from. 

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

I don’t think he has much trade value but I do think he is a good Twins contributor. There seems to have been a maturity bump, a year or two ago. Sometimes promoting a guy to the majors will give you that. SWR always takes his turn the past couple seasons, which I think is underrated.

By chance, I heard a radio guy say sometime in the past month that SWR was laying on the clubhouse floor after on one his recent starts, either cramped up exhausted or dehydrated. Yikes. That would explain why Rocco doesn’t pitch him more than 5 innings. I don’t see the ace stuff or dominant bullpen potential though, no. Not every guy needs to be the future star.

[Mike Sixel]

I'm a believer in number four starter type. Everyone is so ready to give up on guys with so little experience....

[stringer bell]

It will be interesting to see how SWR finishes the season. He was well over his previous innings ceiling last year and the long slog seemed to show in his performance. This year, especially with all of the 5-inning starts, he probably won’t exceed last year’s innings, and if he does, it wouldn’t be by much.

BBRef puts him near average in just about every measure, no obvious strengths and no really glaring weaknesses. He, like almost every Twins pitcher is an extreme fly ball pitcher.

Baseball Savant/Statcast isn’t so kind to SWR. There’s a lot of blue on his page. He’s a young guy who signed directly out of high school and I wonder if his development will mirror college arms.

I like his demeanor and presence. I’m pulling for him to be a success with the Twins. 

[strumdatjag]

After SELLING - The Twins need ressonably (borderline unreasonably) to give as many young starters  as many starts as possible.   

[stringer bell]

I’m bumping this thread. Last night SWR pitched shutout ball for five innings. He is on a run of short but effective starts. He has a winning record and has lowered his ERA to 4.08.

It looks like he is now using the split-finger fastball as his off-speed pitch and it’s been pretty effective.

Noting again that Sim is younger than either Zebby Matthew’s and David Festa, should he be regarded as above those guys in the pecking order? He certainly has better major league numbers. 

[Linus]

I would place him above those guys. For one thing he seems to compete and not be afraid  to attack hitters. His stuff is meh but he throws all his pitches for strikes and he mixes it up enough to get guys out. Mathew’s and Festa have higher ceilings but SWR has a much higher floor IMO. 

[chpettit19]

I agree with @Linus, SWR doesn't have the ceiling of Zebby or Festa, but he's made the adjustments at the major league level and has the better floor right now. Festa looks like he's figuring things out a little recently, but still hasn't quite gotten things to click with his consistency, and Zebby has been hurt so we'll have to see where he's at when he gets back. If they can make adjustments and lock in consistency they have much higher ceilings because their stuff is better. 

SWR looks like he can be a solid 4th/5th arm in a rotation. I wouldn't want him starting a bunch of playoff games for me, but internally developed 4th/5th rotation arms are valuable, too. Especially if he can continue to take the ball every 5th day more often than not. He absolutely looks like a developmental success story at this point, just without a super high ceiling. I wouldn't be looking to move him at this point unless somebody is blowing me away with an offer. Outside of Paddack and Coulombe, I wouldn't move any pitching until the offseason when the whole team could get a massive reshaping depending on how the rest of this season goes and what kind of shape my offense is in and how realistic I think it is I can rebuild that side of things in the next 2 years.

[DocBauer]

SWR was solid, but mediocre when he came up in 2024. Rocco protected and he didn't hit a full 5 IP for a few games. He grew and adjusted game by game and was trusted more and more as he moved along.

There was a point in July when I saw actually "strut" some on the mound. You could visually see him gaining confidence. I still blame his late season performances to simply wearing out as a rookie exceeding previous IP numbers.

I knew there was a chance of regression to start 2025, but was still disappointed in his early results. His demotion to AAA was only 3 games of good, OK, and poor. But he was needed and brought back up surely earlier than the Twins wanted. And the first couple of starts sure didn't go well.

Let me pause for a moment to re-state that this STILL ONLY 24yo kid had the strangest, most bizarre MILB career I have EVER SEEN! And if readers don't know, read up, or ask somebody. 

While a 3 game MILB re-set wasn't what the Twins wanted, and Sim's first couple of starts surely weren't what he wanted, he DID get some kind of internal wakeup call. Because he's been solid to very good since then, even while working on a new pitch. 

Pure stuff, I still think both Matthews and Festa are more talented and have higher ceilings. And that's not a dis to SWR and future potential. I've learned a long time ago that most SP don't achieve their best production until late 20's where stuff and knowledge and experience all coalesce together. 

2026 already has 3 high quality arms locked in with good health. I'm not going to discount a fast riser in the system...and there's about 4 or 5 I can think of...but Matthews, Festa and SWR are going to fight for the last 2 spots barring some big trade.

But Sim IS a quality back end rotation arm. He's still lacking the ability to K enough batters to take that next step. Maybe it still happens? But he's a really solid ML rotation arm.