Is Simeon Woods Richardson the Twins' Top Pitching Prospect?

Twins Daily regularly updates the team’s top prospects throughout the regular season, allowing for constant evaluation of players. Some prospects are off to hot starts, while others have seen their prospect status drop because of injuries or poor performance. Simeon Woods Richardson is one player who will rise in the rankings, but how much has he helped his stock during the season's early months?

Early in his professional career, he had been considered one of baseball’s top-100 prospects, with Baseball America and MLB.com ranking him at the backend of their lists in 2020-21. However, Woods Richardson entered the 2024 season with his prospect stock lower than it ever had been in his career. His fastball velocity dropped significantly last year, sitting in the low 90s with the Saints. Woods Richardson also struggled to generate swings and misses with a career-low 19.3 K%. The International League is a hitting-friendly environment, but SWR’s drop in velocity was concerning enough that the Twins needed to address it during the offseason.

Minnesota’s coaches worked with Woods Richardson to tweak his delivery by slightly lowering his arm slot. "It was from both parties," Woods Richardson told Twins Daily's John Bonnes at spring training this year. "I wanted to change for the better, and why not? And they said, 'OK, let's sit down. Let's talk about this.' And we came up with a couple of things, working on mechanical stuff. Let's see if we can drop the slot a little bit and see where it goes." This minor tweak is closer to where he was when he joined the Twins organization, and it is a more natural and athletic position for the pitcher. His fastball is averaging nearly 93 mph this season, which doesn’t make him a flamethrower but is much improved from last season. 

Twins Daily ranked Woods Richardson as the organization’s 19th-best prospect based on his struggles in 2023. Seven pitchers were ranked higher than him, with the four names below being in the conversation as the team’s top pitching prospect. How have the other pitchers performed in 2024? Has SWR passed them to be ranked at the top?

#9. Cory Lewis, RHP
2024 Stats (N/A): Has Not Pitched  
The Twins selected Lewis in the ninth round of the 2022 MLB Draft out of the University of California, Santa Barbara. The Twins named him the organization’s Minor League Pitcher of the Year last season after posting a 2.49 ERA and a 118-to-33 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 101 1/3 innings between Fort Myers and Cedar Rapids. Lewis was scheduled to start the year at Double-A but was placed on the injured list with a right shoulder impingement. Shoulder injuries can be complicated for pitchers to navigate, so the Twins will be cautious about his return to the mound. 

#8 Charlee Soto, RHP
2024 Stats (A-): 4.95 ERA, 20.0 IP, 26 K, 9 BB, 1.50 WHIP
Minnesota’s current front office has tended to focus on college pitchers in the draft, which makes Soto an anomaly. As an 18-year-old, he is over four years younger than the average age of the competition in the Florida State League. The Twins have been careful with his workload, a strategy similar to what the organization has utilized with other young pitching prospects. He has allowed two earned runs or fewer in five of his six starts, with one poor start (6 ER in 3 1/3 innings) impacting his overall numbers. Soto has the highest ceiling of anyone on this list, but he’s far from Target Field. 

#6. David Festa, RHP
2024 Stats (AAA): 3.75 ERA, 24.0 IP, 38 K, 14 BB, 1.58 WHIP
Festa, who is six months older than Woods Richardson, rose prominently on Twins prospects lists this winter after a strong 2023 season. Some outlets rank him as the top pitching prospect in the organization, and he has shown some positive signs at Triple-A this season. Festa is striking out batters at a career-high rate (14.3 K/9), but he’s also seen an increase in his walk rate from 3.7 BB/9 for his career to 5.3 BB/9 in 2024. Minnesota will likely need Festa at some point this season when a rotation spot opens due to injury or poor performance. His career high in innings pitched is 103 2/3 back in 2022, so the Twins will also watch for fatigue in the season’s second half. 

#5. Marco Raya, RHP
2024 Stats (AA): 3.07 ERA, 14.2 IP, 19 K, 5 BB, 1.30 WHIP
Raya has become one of the gems of the pandemic-impacted 2020 MLB Draft after the Twins selected him in the fourth round. He has showcased a dominant pitch mix, but the Twins have significantly limited his workload while aggressively promoting him. This year, he has averaged fewer than three innings per start, with only two starts of more than 50 pitches. As a 21-year-old, he is over 3.5 years younger than the average age of the competition in the Texas League. He is an interesting case study in what might be the future of starting pitching because the lines are starting to blur between starters and multi-inning relievers. 

Here are my current rankings of the team’s top-five pitching prospects. 

1. David Festa
2. Marco Raya
3. Simeon Woods Richardson
4. Charlee Soto
5. Cory Lewis

Woods Richardson's breakthrough in velocity had propelled him up my list. However, his prospect eligibility is running out as he continues to pitch innings at the big-league level. By next month, he may not even be eligible for this list anymore. More importantly, he is only 23 years old and continues to show the ability to make adjustments, which should put him into the team’s long-term pitching plans. 

How do you rank the team’s top pitching prospects? How have your rankings changed since the season began? Leave a COMMENT and start the discussion. 

Interested in learning more about the Minnesota Twins' top prospects? Check out our comprehensive top prospects list that includes up-to-date stats, articles and videos about every prospect, scouting reports, and more!