Simeon Woods Richardson Proved Himself Right In His First Start Back At Triple-A

St. Paul – It took a week for Simeon Woods Richardson to make his first start of the season in Triple-A after the Minnesota Twins demoted him on Thursday, May 15. But that week off proved worthwhile for the 24-year-old righty, who made his first six-inning start of the season.

“I haven’t been able to do that for a while, so just being able to prove yourself right once again, it’s always good to prove yourself right,” Woods Richardson said after his start. “So yeah, felt good today, attacked the zone, all my pitches felt pretty good.”

Twins pitching coach Pete Maki told Woods Richardson to work on two things at Triple-A. He needed to perform better against the lineup the second time through the order and develop more efficiency behind his splitter. Hitters' numbers off Woods Richardson the second time through have accumulated to a .305/.323/.593 slash line in 62 plate appearances.

Fortunately for Woods Richardson, he got things on the right track. It helped that he checked off both those boxes on Thursday. The Norfolk Tides went 2-for-9 the second time through, and he got through their one through five hitters three times. That was the nice bonus compared to the feel of his splitter against Tides hitters, which resulted in three of the 19 whiffs he accumulated in his start.

“Yeah, all the misses were right where I need them to be,” said Woods Richardson on the results of his splitter. “There wasn’t like a bad one, which is what I was happy about. So it was like baby steps. It’s very fresh and being confident and able to throw it in the game today, being happy with the results and misses is huge for sure.”

“Yeah, it was huge,” added Saints manager Toby Gardenhire. “I know he’s working on the split, that was good to see.”

The splitter is just one of many pitches Minnesota’s younger starters are adding to their arsenal. Festa replaced his splitter with a sinker and has tinkered more with his changeup than he did a year ago. Ensuring their starters have a fourth or fifth pitch to mix in against hitters has been important for the Twins' pitching staff, and Woods Richardson says his splitter is picking up on the right track.

“[i’m] kind of learning how it [the splitter] plays off of certain stuff,” said Woods Richardson. “I mean it’s fun, it’s just like I’m reading the hitters at this point and letting them decide what they’re going to get from my standpoint. So yeah, just breaking down the game slowly.”

Not much needs to change for Woods Richardson his next time out on the mound. He’ll want to throw the splitter a bit more frequently as he gets more reps out on the mound. But the important thing from his manager’s perspective was his efficiency in getting through the opposing team’s lineup.

“He was also very efficient, which is another big thing that he needs to keep working on,” said Gardenhire. “That’s how you get through six is being efficient with what you’re doing, and he was really efficient today and did a good job.”