4 Twins players fighting for their futures ahead of 2024 season

Simeon Woods Richardson

Here's another positive development, as Simeon Woods Richardson is in the José Miranda category of fighting for his future in a good way. Things have been a little slow for him since coming over to Minnesota as part of the Jose Berrios trade, but it could very well be that we see both prospects the Twins received on the MLB roster at the same time.

Austin Martin's path, while more complicated than it was at the start of the offseason, still seems pretty clear and Woods Richardson is taking the right steps toward joining him. He made his debut back in 2022 but has only pitched in two games for the Twins -- the last of which didn't really go that well.

His debut against Detroit was decent, pitching five innings and giving up three runs while striking out three batters. Things cratered hard last year, though, as he was rocked in a generally gnarly game for the team overall against Washington. Minnesota lost 10-4 while Woods Richardson got tagged for five runs on seven hits before getting sent back down almost immediately.

To be fair, he got called up amid a tricky injury situation that saw Kenta Maeda need to be replaced on extremely short noticed. While his last appearance for the Twins was less than ideal, things look to be going much better this spring. His major league fastball is developing nicely and he changed some of his pitching mechanics which seems to be having a positive impact.

So far this spring he's worked stuck out two batters and allowed just a single hit and zero runs in three innings of work across two appearances. He won't be making the Opening Day roster, but it seems that the third time might be the charm for when Woods Richardson eventually gets called up again this season.

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