Simeon Woods-Richardson

Simeon Woods Richardson

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 3", Weight 210 lb.
• High School Kempner High School

• Born September 27, 2000 in Sugar Land, TX USA

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

Simeon Woods-Richardson was drafted by the New York Mets in the 2nd round of the 2018 amateur draft out of a high school in Texas. He pitched for two teams that season, going a combined 1-0, 1.56 in 7 games between the GCL Mets and Kingsport Mets, both at the Rookie-class level. In 2019, he started the year in the South Atlantic League with the Columbia Fireflies. After 20 starts, he was 3-8, 4.25 when he was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays on July 28th. He and fellow prospect Anthony Kay were the return for All-Star starting pitcher Marcus Stroman. He finished the season with the Dunedin Blue Jays of the Florida State League, going 3-2, 2.54 in 6 starts.

He was unable to play any minor league ball in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic shutting down the minor leagues, but as one of the Blue Jays' prize prospects, he spent the year working out at the team's alternate training site in Rochester, NY alongside some major leaguers and other top prospects. He was rumored to be a possible call-up to the big league team in spite of his lack of pro experience - something that happened to C Alejandro Kirk, who was in a similar situation, but the Blue Jays did not pull the trigger.

He again impressed in spring training in 2021, but was still assigned to the AA New Hampshire Fisher Cats. He did not put up glowing numbers, going 2-4, 5.76 in 11 starts, but like the previous year, he had the sort of experience worth a fortune in development time when he was selected to be part of Team USA for both the 2020 Americas Olympics Qualifier and then for the 2020 Olympics themselves after the U.S. successfully qualified. In fact, he was in Tokyo with the team when on July 30th, he was traded to the Minnesota Twins along with another top Jays prospect, OF-IF Austin Martin, to acquire front-line starter José Berríos. Interestingly, he was not the first US Olympic team pitcher to go at the trade deadline, as Joe Ryan had just been traded. A third pitcher, Jeremy Reed, was traded while his wife was playing softball for the US squad.

Further Reading

• Do-Hyoung Park: "Woods Richardson encouraged by early returns", mlb.com, March 5, 2022. [1]