Twins Minor League Report (4/2): Woods Richardson Deals in the Rain

I have a question.  I am 1500 miles from the Twins Cities so all I know about the Twins farm system is what I read.  Is Woods-Richardson's first name pronounced like Paul Simon or like San Simeon?

31 minutes ago, terrydactyls said:

I have a question.  I am 1500 miles from the Twins Cities so all I know about the Twins farm system is what I read.  Is Woods-Richardson's first name pronounced like Paul Simon or like San Simeon?

Sih-mee-uhn like Sam Simeon to the best of my understanding. Could be wrong, but that's the only way I've heard interviewers and Twins broadcasters say it.

Then again, remember Visanthe Schiancoe with the Vikings? It was years before he said, no, actually his name was pronounced Visanth. Not Visan-tay. 

2 hours ago, jmlease1 said:

...Miranda is off to a good start as well, hopefully this means his shoulder is feeling good and he's fully recovered...

Based on the way he was hitting the ball in Spring Training and throwing in January, I was pretty confident he was 100% and a good choice for the 26 man out of the gate. Have I mentioned I really don't like the Carlos Santana signing anywhere? Probably not... 

3 minutes ago, jmlease1 said:

heh. I didn't mind the Santana signing, but I'm less thrilled the more clear it became that they planned on him being the every day 1B and not a platoon guy to deal with LHP. Think he's going to be overexposed and they'll justify his no-bat performances with florid praise about his defense. that said...Miranda does have a ways to go to be a competent 1B. If he does figure it out and stays healthy, then I'm excited for him to hop the light rail and go to Target Field.

I don't care for using OAA on it's own (assuming that's what you're using to say Miranda is a poor 1B). OAA a wildly inconsistent statistic whipping around from god-like values down to the depths from year to year even on veteran players. The value for 1B appears to be broken for Miranda in 2022 as well. Miranda's UZR/150 was +3.3 at first base in 2022 with only 3 errors in 77 games played there. Hard to find a way his defense could be so awful at 1B if he's not making errors and recording a normal amount of outs and assists at the position. It's not like there are a lot of 1B with elite range and speed to make up for a solid error rate.

23 hours ago, 2wins87 said:

Woods-Richardson's fastest tracked pitch last year was 94.5, so the 95.1 was definitely a high water mark.  More important though, he averaged 93 and change all through spring training and his first AAA start, which is a big improvement from last year when he averaged just under 91, and averaged under 92 in every individual appearance.

Reportedly he changed the arm slot slightly to get to the velocity, though he still looks to be coming from almost completely over-the-top, so I don't think he's really lost much of the uniqueness in his delivery that is also a positive aspect for him.

His fastball and changeup were dominant yesterday, with 50% whiffs on his FB and 67% on his changeup.  Seems like he still needs to find a way to miss a few more bats with his slider or curve, which only got 2 whiffs yesterday and few whiffs in spring training too.

I am starting to get optimistic about a resurgence though.

Woods-Richardson needs to do this for several games in a row before I'll bat an eye. His problem has been keeping steady on his mechanics for years and years and years now. Largely great at 91-92mph; un-rosterable at 88-89mph. I don't know why Woods-Richardson has struggled so much with mechanics, but this is probably his last chance season to remain on a roster and get a good opportunity at the MLB level.

15 minutes ago, 2wins87 said:

Some were pointing to his improved second half ERA last year which honestly didn't move me very much since it didn't come with a discernible change in stuff or a particularly big increase in strikeouts.  The early velo numbers this year is much more interesting to me.

Agreed. Woods-Richardson's results were better in the second half, but his underlying numbers weren't exactly glowing. The 20.5% K vs. 12.0% BB was almost exactly the same. The .230 BABIP was unsustainable as was the 0.79/9 HR rate. He didn't pitch better, he just got better results.

If Woods-Richardson is able to sustain the velocity improvement for a few games in a stable competitive atmosphere, I'll take notice because I'm pretty sure the results will follow.