With full tank of gas, Woods Richardson making run at rotation spot

FORT MYERS, Fla .-- Right-hander Simeon Woods Richardson is the leading candidate to be the Twins¡¯ fifth starter in 2025 because of the productive season he had the year before. In fact, the 24-year-old ended 2024 by putting himself in the team¡¯s record book.

Among all rookie pitchers in Twins history (minimum of 125 innings pitched), Woods Richardson finished second all time in strikeouts per nine innings (7.9) and swing-and-miss percentage (22.3%). He also finished fifth all time in opponents' batting average (.246) and tied for fifth in strikeouts (117).

¡°I would focus one day at a time,¡± Woods Richardson said. ¡°It sounds vanilla. I was trying to get my mind and everything in line to where I could go out on that fifth day and compete for my team.¡±

Now it¡¯s time to focus on 2025, and that started for Woods Richardson on Tuesday, when he pitched his first game of the spring against the Yankees. He pitched two innings, allowed one run on three hits and struck out three batters in a 5-4 victory. His fastball was clocked as high as 93.7 mph.

¡°He was good. Solid Spring Training outing for him,¡± Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. ¡°I didn¡¯t see anything that kind of went out of the range of what I expected to see from him. Overall, it¡¯s a buildup. He is one of those guys that is proving himself and coming to win a spot in camp.¡±

While Woods Richardson was solid for most of 2024, he doesn¡¯t want to repeat what he went through during the month of September. He was tired. It was the first time he was part of a 162-game schedule.

Woods Richardson pitched in five games that month and couldn¡¯t get past the fifth inning in any of them. He saw his ERA jump from 3.85 on Aug. 27 to 4.17 to end the season. The way Woods Richardson was talking after Tuesday¡¯s outing, he doesn¡¯t expect to run out of gas by the end of the season. He expects to be in the thick of the pennant race when the leaves turn brown. He spent the offseason working on his conditioning to make sure nothing goes wrong.

¡°[It¡¯s] just getting my feet underneath me and [learning] the conditioning it takes to go 162 games,¡± he said. ¡°It¡¯s learning how to collect data and say, ¡®OK, you felt like this.' ¡­ So I¡¯m really appreciative of that first season, so you can know what you¡¯re working with.¡±

Woods Richardson is competing against Zebby Matthews and David Festa for the fifth and final spot in Minnesota's rotation. But he is not looking ahead when it comes to the competition.

¡°Taking one day at a time with training, conditioning, mental notes and ¡­ game notes,¡± Woods Richardson said. ¡°Just know what you have to do, that you¡¯re going to go out there and compete and give it your best. Yeah, I don¡¯t take it lightly. I don¡¯t think anybody takes it lightly. But it is a job, so at the end of the day, just make sure you do what you¡¯ve got to do.¡±