Simeon Woods Richardson Bio
Simeon Woods Richardson is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Minnesota Twins of Major League Baseball (MLB). Born on September 27, 2000, in Sugar Land, Texas, he was selected by the New York Mets in the second round of the 2018 MLB draft and has built his career as a starting pitcher through the minor leagues. He also represented the United States national baseball team at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, where the squad earned a silver medal. After a multi-team trade sequence, Woods Richardson has emerged as a depth arm for the Twins’ rotation, mixing a power fastball with a developing secondary mix.
Early Life and Background
Woods Richardson grew up in Sugar Land, Texas, a Houston-area suburb known for producing a steady stream of baseball talent. He attended Kempner High School, where he developed into one of the top high school pitching prospects in the country. His performance on the mound drew attention from Major League scouts before he had even finished his senior year, and he became a focal point of pre-draft coverage heading into the spring of 2018.
Off the field, Woods Richardson committed to play college baseball at the University of Texas at Austin, a program with a strong history of producing major league arms. That commitment, however, never became official. The New York Mets saw him as a second-round talent with the polish and frame to move quickly through a system, and they made their selection on draft night in 2018. His decision to turn pro rather than enroll in Austin marked the formal start of his professional journey.
Path to Baseball
Woods Richardson’s path to professional baseball began with the 2018 MLB draft, where the New York Mets took him with the 48th overall pick in the second round. Because of his age and polish coming out of high school, the Mets assigned him to their rookie-level affiliates to begin his pro career. He opened with the Gulf Coast League Mets before a quick promotion to the Rookie Advanced Kingsport Mets, where he posted a 1-0 record, a 1.56 earned run average (ERA), and 26 strikeouts in 17 and one-third innings. Those numbers signaled early that his strikeout ability could translate against older competition.
He returned to the Mets’ organization in 2019 and opened the year with the Class-A Columbia Fireflies of the South Atlantic League. By July, the Mets had promoted him to the Advanced-A St. Lucie Mets of the Florida State League, a typical step for a polished teenage arm. Before he could report to St. Lucie, however, the Mets used him as a piece in a deadline deal, sending Woods Richardson and Anthony Kay to the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for starting pitcher Marcus Stroman. The Blue Jays assigned him to the Advanced-A Dunedin Blue Jays, where he spent the remainder of 2019 refining his arsenal. Across Columbia and Dunedin that year, he logged a 6-10 record, a 3.80 ERA, and 126 strikeouts in 106 and two-thirds innings.
Simeon Woods Richardson Career
Early Career (2018-2019)
Woods Richardson’s earliest professional innings came in 2018, when he handled rookie assignments with both the Gulf Coast League Mets and the Kingsport Mets. The results were a strong indicator of future potential, particularly his 26 strikeouts in just 17 and one-third innings, a rate that suggested his fastball played against older hitters. The Mets kept him on an aggressive development track, a sign that they viewed him as a future piece of their rotation depth.
In 2019, the picture grew more complicated. He opened the year with Columbia in the South Atlantic League and was moved up to St. Lucie midseason, but a late-July trade sent him to the Toronto Blue Jays in the Marcus Stroman deal. With Dunedin, he finished the year in Advanced-A and worked through the typical inconsistencies of a teenager facing more experienced lineups. The trade, while disruptive, did not derail his development, and he was back on a normal starting-pitcher schedule by the following spring.
Toronto Blue Jays Era (2021)
Woods Richardson began 2021 in the Blue Jays’ system, where he opened the season with the New Hampshire Fisher Cats of the Double-A Northeast. The Double-A assignment represented his highest level to that point and showed that the Blue Jays viewed him as a legitimate starting-pitching prospect. He spent the early months of the season establishing himself as a rotation piece in New Hampshire.
His time in Toronto’s organization was short. On July 30, 2021, the Blue Jays traded him to the Minnesota Twins along with infielder Austin Martin in a package for starting pitcher José Berríos. The deal linked Woods Richardson to the organization where he would eventually make his major league debut, although that would not come until more than a year later.
Minnesota Twins Era (2021-Present)
After the Berríos trade, the Twins assigned Woods Richardson to the Wichita Wind Surge of the Double-A Central. He split the rest of 2021 between Wichita and New Hampshire, going 3-5 with a 5.91 ERA, 77 strikeouts, and 34 walks over 53 and one-third innings across 15 games and 14 starts. The control issues were real, but the strikeout totals suggested his raw stuff was not the problem.
He opened 2022 back with Wichita and earned a midseason promotion to the St. Paul Saints of the Triple-A International League in August. On October 2, 2022, the Twins promoted him to the major leagues for the first time, and he made his MLB debut the same day against the Detroit Tigers. Upon that debut, he surpassed seven players for the longest last name in MLB history at 15 characters, a record later broken by Cincinnati’s Christian Encarnacion-Strand in 2023. Woods Richardson was optioned to Triple-A St. Paul to begin 2023 and made only one appearance for Minnesota that year, allowing five runs on seven hits with five strikeouts across four and two-thirds innings. He opened 2024 in the minors as well, but on April 13, 2024, he was recalled as the 27th man for a doubleheader against the Detroit Tigers and earned his first career major league win. He was optioned back the following day, then recalled again on April 25, 2024.
Driving Style and Strengths
Woods Richardson works primarily as a starter and relies on a power fastball that has produced strong strikeout rates at every level of the minor leagues. His frame and arm action have allowed him to maintain velocity deep into starts, and his development focus has been on tightening the strike zone and refining his secondary pitches. As he has moved up the Twins’ ladder, the organization has emphasized command of his breaking ball and changeup, two offerings that will determine whether he settles in as a long-term rotation piece.
Notable Events and Milestones
Two milestones stand out in his young career. The first is his MLB debut on October 2, 2022, against the Detroit Tigers, which came with the unusual footnote of the longest-last-name record. The second is his first career MLB win on April 13, 2024, earned out of the bullpen as the 27th man in a doubleheader against the same Tigers. Add to that his silver medal with the United States at the 2020 Summer Olympics, and his resume already includes achievements that most early-career pitchers have not accumulated.
Simeon Woods Richardson Career Wins
Woods Richardson’s major league win total is still in its early stages, with his first MLB victory coming in April 2024 against Detroit. The bulk of his professional wins have come in the minor leagues, where he has been a regular starter across multiple levels. His win totals are limited in part by the small number of big-league opportunities he has received, with most of his innings coming at Double-A and Triple-A.
Minor League Highlights
In his first pro summer in 2018, Woods Richardson went 1-0 across the Gulf Coast League and Kingsport with a 1.56 ERA. He then went 6-10 across Columbia and Dunedin in 2019 with a 3.80 ERA, and 3-5 between New Hampshire and Wichita in 2021 with a 5.91 ERA. Those stretches established him as a prospect worth tracking, even when the win-loss record lagged behind his underlying stuff.
Other Wins & Performances
Beyond the minor leagues, his most prominent non-MLB appearance came at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, where he represented the United States. The U.S. team won silver, falling to Japan in the gold-medal game, and Woods Richardson gained valuable experience against high-level international competition.
Simeon Woods Richardson Family
Family Background and Racing Lineage
There is no widely documented racing-style family background for Simeon Woods Richardson. He is identified publicly as being from Sugar Land, Texas, where he attended Kempner High School and developed into a top pitching prospect.
Personal Life
Public information about Woods Richardson’s personal life is limited. He has not been publicly linked to a spouse or partner in readily available sources, and details about his family beyond his upbringing in Sugar Land are not widely reported. As a young major leaguer, much of his public profile has centered on his pitching career rather than his life off the field.
2025 Season Performance
Heading into 2025, Woods Richardson is positioned as rotation depth for the Minnesota Twins, with his recent major league experience suggesting he is closer to a regular big-league role than at any point in his career. His first MLB win in April 2024 and a recall later that same month showed that the Twins view him as part of their near-term plans. Whether he breaks camp with the rotation or starts in Triple-A St. Paul will depend on the organization’s offseason decisions, but the 2025 season represents an important opportunity to turn occasional major league appearances into consistent ones.
His minor league track record points to a pitcher whose strikeout ability travels, while his control and secondary-pitch consistency remain the swing factors for sustained big-league success. Continued development of his breaking ball and changeup will likely determine whether he settles into a back-of-the-rotation role or remains a depth option. The Twins’ handling of him through option years suggests they are patient with the developmental side, but the 2025 season is a logical point at which that patience needs to convert into results at the major league level.
With the Olympics, a debut, and a first win already on his resume, Woods Richardson enters 2025 with a foundation that most pitchers his age do not yet have. The next step is turning the pieces he has shown in flashes into a more complete, full-season major league profile. For both the player and the organization, 2025 is a season in which opportunity and development are likely to meet.