The Twins announced on Thursday that left-handed reliever Kody Funderburk, who was called up as the 27th man for Wednesday’s doubleheader, will remain on the major league roster, and right-handed starting pitcher Simeon Woods Richardson, who allowed six runs on eight hits and two walks in Game 2 of the doubleheader Wednesday, will head to Triple-A St. Paul.
We have made the following roster move: pic.twitter.com/NV43lQMkBC
— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) May 15, 2025
Woods Richardson has a 5.02 ERA with 35 strikeouts this year across 37 ⅔ innings. One of his biggest issues is an inability to pitch deep into ball games, as he hasn’t pitched more than 5 ⅔ innings in an outing all year.
Funderburk threw 1 ⅓ scoreless innings in the Twins’ second game of Wednesday’s doubleheader. He had another stint in the big leagues this year, where he allowed two runs in two innings against the Tigers before throwing two scoreless innings against the Mets. In 10 outings for the Saints this year, Funderburk allowed three earned runs on six hits and five walks while striking out 16 across 12 ⅓ innings.
Simeon Woods Richardson's demotion all but assures David Festa or Zebby Matthews will arrive to the Twins soon
Unfortunately for Funderburk, he will likely lose his roster spot as soon as Woods Richardson’s old spot in the rotation arrives. The most likely options to join the Twins are David Festa and Zebby Matthews.
Matthews and Festa probably deserve to be on a major league roster, but with Paddack dealing and Pablo Lopez, Joe Ryan and Bailey Ober dominating as expected, there is only room for one of them on the Twins.
Festa made three starts this season when Lopez was on the Injured List. He threw 4 ⅔ scoreless innings against the Tigers, 4 ⅓ scoreless against the Mets, and gave up two runs in 4 innings against the White Sox. He had a relatively short leash in those starts, only accumulating 64 pitches in the first, 76 in the second and 84 in the third. He has a 3.60 ERA with 22 strikeouts in 20 innings for the Saints this season.
Matthews pitched 37 ⅔ innings with a 6.69 ERA for the Twins last year but has dominated for the Saints this season, striking out 38 across 32 ⅔ innings while sporting a 1.93 ERA.