PITTSBURGH – In eight weeks, Simeon Woods Richardson went from solidly in the Twins rotation to off the roster entirely.
The right-hander was designated for assignment on Saturday, meaning Minnesota has seven days to trade Woods Richardson or place him on outright or release waivers. He was out of options, so the only way the Twins could remove him from the active roster was to remove him from the 40-man roster as well.
The Twins recalled rookie John Klein to take Woods Richardson’s roster spot. Klein is a hard thrower who has made two appearances in the Major Leagues this year. He is rated Minnesota's 19th-best prospect, per MLB Pipeline.
The move caps a rapid and jarring fall for Woods Richardson, who was one of the winners of a competition for the final two spots in the rotation in Spring Training and began the season with two strong starts. But he suffered an illness prior to a start in Toronto, allowing five runs in four innings, and that outing started a slump from which he never emerged.
Over a run of seven starts beginning with that game in Toronto, Woods Richardson was reached for 33 earned runs in 30 1/3 innings and walked more batters than he struck out. He was moved to the bullpen, where he had a couple of decent outings, but he struggled again in a spot start on Thursday and was let go Saturday.
“It’s a challenging conversation, number one, because of how you feel about the human being and the person,” said manager Derek Shelton. “That was challenging. Essentially, what it comes down to is we need arms and we need length, and Sim wasn’t available. Unfortunately, in certain situations, that’s why you have to make moves.”
A year ago, Woods Richardson scuffled out of the gate after starting the season in the rotation and was optioned to Triple-A. He pitched very well once he returned, posting a 3.54 ERA over his final 15 starts, which secured him a spot in the 2026 rotation after he reasserted himself in Spring Training.
But once he got into a slump this year, the Twins didn’t have the ability to send him to the Minors for another reset, and he never emerged from the funk.
“I think we would’ve liked a longer look in the bullpen to see because we saw some things that were trending right,” Shelton said. “When you have short starts, and a bullpen that gets depleted, sometimes there ends up being an odd man out, and it ended up being Sim.”