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Simeon Woods Richardson

Twins Option Simeon Woods Richardson, Likely To Promote Zebby Matthews

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1:08pm: The Twins are planning to recall Matthews for what’ll be his first major league look this season, reports Bobby Nightengale of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. He’ll likely get the ball for Sunday’s series finale. Nightengale adds an ominous note that Festa’s last start was skipped over due to arm fatigue, although the promising righty is slated to start Saturday’s Triple-A game.

10:21am: The Twins optioned righty Simeon Woods Richardson to Triple-A St. Paul following yesterday’s tough start, per the team. Left-handed reliever Kody Funderburk, who’d been with the team as the 27th man in Minnesota’s doubleheader versus the Orioles, will stay in the big league roster in his place.

Woods Richardson has been a constant in the Twins’ rotation dating back to last April. He’s been solid on the whole, working to a 4.36 ERA with a 20.7% strikeout rate and 8.4% walk rate across 171 1/3 innings, but his recent work has been lackluster. Woods Richardson has lasted fewer than five innings in four of his past five starts. He pitched into the sixth inning and held the Angels to one run back on April 26, but that’s the only time in the past month he’s completed five frames.

The three most recent starts for Woods Richardson have been particularly problematic. Beyond their abbreviated nature, he’s been tagged for a combined 10 runs and seen his command suffer considerably. Since the calendar flipped to May, Woods Richardson has pitched 13 1/3 innings and allowed 10 runs (6.75 ERA) on 15 hits (four homers) and eight walks. He’s walked 13.6% of his opponents against an ugly 15.3% strikeout rate and served up four of his eight home runs during that span.

A team optioning its fifth starter isn’t always headline news, but Woods Richardson’s demotion is a bit more notable given both a relatively lengthy run in starting five and the presence of two high-end young starters with the Twins’ Triple-A affiliate: right-handers David Festa and Zebby Matthews. Both ranked among the game’s top-100 prospects prior to their respective MLB debuts last year. Matthews is still prospect-eligible and sits at the No. 46 spot on Baseball America’s recently updated top-100 list.

Festa, 25, was hit hard in his first two big league starts last year but settled in with a 3.81 ERA, 30% strikeout rate and 9.6% walk rate in his final 11 major league turns down the stretch. He started three games for the Twins earlier in 2025, pitching 13 innings with a pristine 1.38 ERA. Over his past 14 MLB starts, the 6’6″, 185-pound righty — nicknamed the “Slim Reaper” — carries a 3.34 ERA, 29.4% strikeout rate and 9.4% walk rate. Since being sent back to Triple-A last month, he’s tossed 11 2/3 innings and held opponents to three runs (2.31 ERA) on six hits and no walks with 14 punchouts.

Not to be outdone, the 24-year-old Matthews has started seven games in Triple-A this year and logged a sparkling 1.93 earned run average. The 6’5″, 225-pound righty has set down 28.1% of his opponents on strikes and walked a sharp 6.7% of his opponents. Matthews’ 2024 debut was the inverse of Festa’s first MLB look; he was terrific through three starts before being trounced for nine runs by the Blue Jays on Aug. 31. In his final six starts, he pitched just 22 2/3 innings and was tagged for 23 runs.

Both Festa and Matthews have the makings of potential long-term rotation pieces for the Twins. That’s not to say Woods Richardson won’t get another chance. He’s still only 24 himself and won’t turn 25 until September. This is also Woods Richardson’s final option year, so the Twins will need to find a role for him heading into the 2026 season. Righty Chris Paddack is a free agent at season’s end, and injuries can arise at any time to create further opportunities, of course.

For the time being, the Twins have Pablo Lopez, Joe Ryan, Bailey Ober and Paddack starting games. Festa, Matthews and Woods Richardson are all on the 40-man roster and in the mix for the last rotation job, though it seems Woods Richardson is shifting to the back of the line for the short term, at the very least.

The Twins will start Paddack today (2.51 ERA, 20.2 K%, 7.8 BB% over his past six starts) and then go to Ryan (2.74 ERA) and Lopez (2.77 ERA) against the Brewers on Friday and Saturday, respectively. They’ll need to bring up another starter for Sunday’s series finale in Milwaukee, as Ober would only be on three days’ rest. They could also push Ryan and Lopez back a day, as Matthews is slated to start tomorrow and Festa would also be on full rest if summoned for Friday’s game.

Twins Notes: Varland, Woods Richardson, Castro

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The Twins entered the 2024 season with high hopes that prospect and Twin Cities native Louie Varland would step up and seize a spot in the rotation. The former 15th-round pick had the look of a late-round steal, having climbed to the No. 88 prospect in the game on FanGraphs’ top-100 rankings after pitching to a 3.06 ERA, 27.3% strikeout rate and 7.9% walk rate in 126 1/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A in 2022 and notching a 3.81 ERA through 26 frames in his MLB debut late that season. Varland posted a 3.97 ERA with similar strikeout and walk rates in 81 2/3 Triple-A frames in 2023 and then held his own with a 4.63 ERA and continued K-BB rates in his 2023 range.

The 2024 season, however, could scarcely have gone worse for Varland. He lasted four starts in the rotation before being optioned to Triple-A with a 9.18 ERA (17 runs in 16 2/3 innings). Varland had a rollercoaster season in Triple-A, resulting in a 4.75 ERA through 16 starts, though a disproportionate amount of damage came in one start that saw him tagged for a staggering 11 earned runs. (He had a combined 3.67 ERA in his other appearances.) A late look in the majors yielded poor overall results, though Varland did finish with a nice stretch of 7 2/3 innings, wherein he allowed two runs with an 11-to-2 K/BB ratio.

Dan Hayes of The Athletic reports that as the Twins gear up for 2025, it appears increasingly likely that Varland will be ticketed for a relief role. The St. Paul native averaged better than 95 mph on his heater last season even when working as a starter; it’s reasonable to expect that velocity to play up in a transition to a shorter role. Varland has posted at least average swinging-strike rates in the upper minors and big leagues as well, so it stands to reason that he could see an uptick in whiffs with a more powerful repertoire.

One reason it’s become easier to move a former rotation hopeful like Varland to the ’pen has been the reemergence of Simeon Woods Richardson. The former top prospect had tumbled down Minnesota’s starting pitching depth chart heading into ’24 after a dismal 2023 showing in Triple-A. But, as Woods Richardson explained in a sitdown with The Athletic’s Aaron Gleeman, an offseason and spring training of work with the Twins’ data team and coaching staff brought about a new arm slot that produced more velocity and a new-look slider that broke out as his most effective secondary pitch.

Woods Richardson wore down a bit late in the 2024 season as he pushed to a new career-high level in terms of workload (31 starts, 147 innings), but he finished the season with a 4.17 ERA, 20.6% strikeout rate and 8.4% walk rate. His four-seamer, which averaged just 90.7 mph in his brief MLB looks in 2022-23, sat at 93.1 mph on the season despite fading over his final six starts (92.1 mph average four-seamer, 6.75 ERA). Woods Richardson, acquired alongside Austin Martin in the trade that sent the final year-plus of control over Jose Berrios to Toronto, now looks like he’ll open the 2025 season locked into the No. 4 spot in Minnesota’s rotation behind Pablo Lopez, Joe Ryan and Bailey Ober.

Development from in-house arms of this nature will be key for the Twins in 2025, as ownership has handcuffed the baseball operations staff all offseason in terms of roster additions, as the Pohlad family explores a sale of the club. The Twins have been active in trade talks but have not yet pieced together a deal of much note. They’ve added some catching depth in small swaps for former top prospect Diego Cartaya and utilityman Mickey Gasper, but top trade candidates like Christian Vazquez and Chris Paddack remain with the club. The Twins still would like to add at first base and pick up a right-handed hitting outfielder, but there’s been no trade of note and not one major league free agent signing thus far, given payroll constraints from ownership. The Twins may not need to cut payroll from its current level, but they also don’t have much (or any) room to raise it without a trade that trims some salary from the books.

With those financial limitations in mind, the front office is considering some time at first base for utilityman Willi Castro, per Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Twenty-six-year-old Jose Miranda, who bounced back from a 2023 season ruined by shoulder surgery to bat .284/.322/.441 last year (115 wRC+) is the top in-house option at the moment. He’s played 698 big league innings there and graded poorly from a defensive standpoint, although the former second baseman/third baseman was largely learning the position on the fly in 2022 when he tallied 595 of those innings; he’d entered that season with all of 225 career minor league innings at the position.

It seems unlikely that Castro would be a regular option at first, given the value of his versatility. He’s a viable backup at shortstop, second base, third base and anywhere in the outfield. Adding first base to that repertoire only further broadens his importance to the club. There’s been some thought that Castro and his own $6.4MM salary could be a candidate to change hands, though doing so would thin out the Twins’ depth at all those positions and remove one of the team’s best baserunners. With Minnesota at least ostensibly not required to slash payroll any further, trading Castro seems like a scenario to which the front office would be heavily opposed.

Twins Notes: Woods Richardson, Varland, Headrick, Lee

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The Twins optioned right-hander Louie Varland to Triple-A St. Paul yesterday, creating a vacancy in the rotation in the process. That spot will be filled by right-hander Simeon Woods Richardson, writes Bobby Nightengale of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, noting that manager Rocco Baldelli confirmed as much following yesterday’s moves. Woods Richardson will take the ball Friday in Anaheim.

It took longer than the team might’ve hoped, but adding the 23-year-old Woods Richardson to the rotation means the Twins will now have both prospects they acquired from the Blue Jays in exchange for Jose Berrios contributing on the big league club. Woods Richardson already tossed six innings of one-run ball in a spot start against the Tigers earlier this year and showed a notable velocity uptick (93.4 mph average, up from 91 mph in two spot starts in 2022-23). Meanwhile, infielder/outfielder Austin Martin has hit .244/.292/.400 through his first 48 MLB plate appearances this season. The former No. 5 overall pick has homered, hit four doubles and fanned only seven times (14.5%) early in his MLB tenure.

Varland, a St. Paul native, was expected to enter spring training in a competition with veteran Anthony DeSclafani that would determine who won the team’s fifth starter job. Instead, DeSclafani required season-ending surgery to repair his flexor tendon, effectively giving Varland the five spot by default.

Varland entered the season with a career 4.40 ERA, 23.7% strikeout rate and 5.9% walk rate in 94 big league innings, so the former top prospect was hardly unqualified for the job. However, Varland’s previously plus command has evaporated in the early stages of the season. He walked 10.3% of his opponents and was also missing frequently within the zone, evidenced by a lack of missed bats (a paltry 7.6% swinging-strike rate) and a glaring six homers in 16 2/3 frames (3.24 HR/9). He’ll continue to work as a starter with the Saints for the time being and could be an option if he gets back on track and/or an injury occurs elsewhere in the rotation.

The rotation depth took a further hit when lefty Brent Headrick was transferred from the 7-day IL in Triple-A to the 60-day IL just yesterday. Headrick, who made his MLB debut last season, recently suffered a forearm strain. It appears the injury is significant enough that he’ll be sidelined for multiple months. The lefty posted a combined 3.32 ERA in 108 1/3 innings between High-A and Double-A in 2022 before turning in a 4.68 ERA in 75 Triple-A frames last year. His first taste of the big leagues produced a grisly 6.31 ERA in 25 2/3 innings, though that came in a long relief setting and a disproportionate amount of the damage came in one nightmare outing where he allowed five runs to the Red Sox and only completed one inning.

Headrick’s injury isn’t the only minor league injury of note for the Twins, though. Infielder Brooks Lee, the No. 8 overall pick in 2022 who’s widely considered to be one of the game’s 25 to 50 best prospects, has been out all season with a lower back strain. Triple-A skipper Toby Gardenhire said early in the season that the hope was Lee would only be down three to four weeks, but Aaron Gleeman of The Athletic now reports it’ll be a much lengthier absence.

Per Gleeman, Lee has been diagnosed with a herniated disc in his lower back. He’s working with renowned spinal specialist Dr. Robert Watkins but is only about three weeks into what’ll now be a two-month rehab plan. That’ll take Lee out of consideration for any near-term promotion. For a Twins team that’s currently without Royce Lewis and Carlos Correa, it’s a notable blow.

The 23-year-old Lee is generally viewed as near MLB-ready. He struggled in his first taste of Triple-A in the second half of the 2023 season but produced a stout .292/.365/.476 slash in 399 Double-A plate appearances. Lee walked at a 10.3% clip against just a 15.8% strikeout rate in Double-A while also popping 11 homers and 31 doubles. He’s played shortstop almost exclusively in the minors, and if Lee were healthy, he’d likely have been an option to replace either Lewis or Correa by this point in the season.

Once healthy, Lee could emerge as the Twins’ long-term option at second base, with Edouard Julien sliding over to first base — or Lee could simply oscillate between multiple positions in a super-utility role that provides him regular at-bats. For now, the focus will simply be on rehabbing his back with an eye toward a return this summer.

Twins Place Carlos Correa On 10-Day IL, Designate Michael Tonkin

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The Twins announced a set of roster moves prior to their double-header with the Tigers, including the expected news that Carlos Correa has been placed on the 10-day injured list.  Right-hander Michael Tonkin has also been designated for assignment, and the Twins have filled those two open roster spots by calling catcher Jair Camargo up from Triple-A, and selecting the contract of right-hander Matt Bowman.  In addition, right-hander Simeon Woods Richardson was also called up as the extra 27th man for the double-header.

Correa suffered a right oblique strain in yesterday’s game, and while he told MLB.com’s Do-Hyoung Park and other reporters today that MRI results hadn’t yet come back, an IL stint seemed inevitable.  The question now facing Correa and the Twins is just how much time the shortstop will miss, as oblique injuries have a tendency to linger unless Correa lucked out with a very low-level strain.  It seems likely that Correa will miss more than just 10 days, and since third baseman Royce Lewis is also out with a quad strain, Minnesota is suddenly rather short-handed in the infield.  Utilitymen Willi Castro and Kyle Farmer were already handling the bulk of third base duties, and since one of them will now be moved over to shortstop, Jose Miranda or Austin Martin could get more looks in the infield.

Camargo is perhaps something of an unusual call-up in this context, as the Twins already have Ryan Jeffers and Christian Vazquez handling catching duties.  However, if Miranda gets more time at third base, that opens up some DH at-bats to allow Jeffers and Vazquez in the lineup at the same time, with Camargo providing depth behind the plate.

When and if Camargo does get into a game, it will mark the 24-year-old’s Major League debut.  An international signing for the Dodgers in 2015, he started his pro career at age 16, and has toiled away in the minors before getting his first crack at the Show.  Camargo made it to Triple-A for the first time in 2023, and to date has hit .260/.328/.499 with 23 homers over 415 plate appearances at the top rung of the minor league ladder.  Baseball America ranked Camargo as the 26th-best prospect in Minnesota’s farm system, citing his power, hard contact, and an above-average throwing arm as pluses.  However, Camargo’s defense as a whole is average at best, and he has posted some hefty strikeout rates across his minor league career.

Tonkin finds himself back on the DFA wire just over a week after the Mets initially designated the righty.  The Twins acquired Tonkin in a trade earlier this week, and he allowed two runs over two relief innings in yesterday’s 8-2 loss to Detroit.  This could potentially mark Tonkin’s only appearance in his second career stint with Minnesota, unless he clears waivers and accepts an outright assignment.  Since electing free agency would mean giving up what remains of his $1MM guaranteed salary from the Mets, Tonkin might decide to simply bide his time at Triple-A Saint Paul.

Speaking of guaranteed salaries, Bowman’s selection to the active roster means that the veteran reliever has now locked in $925K for 2024, as per the terms of the minors contract he signed with the Twins in January.  Bowman posted a 4.02 ERA over 181 1/3 innings for the Cardinals and Reds from 2016-19 before an extended Tommy John rehab kept him from pitching at any level for the next three seasons.  He finally returned to action with the Yankees’ Triple-A affiliate last year, and completed the comeback by tossing four innings over three MLB games for New York in September.

Bowman provides Minnesota’s pen with a fresh arm for at least today’s double-header, and perhaps for a longer stint given how seven Twins relievers are still on the injured list.  Caleb Thielbar and Josh Staumont have begun Triple-A rehab assignments, while closer Jhoan Duran has started to throw bullpen sessions as he worked his way back from an oblique strain.

Twins Recall Bailey Ober

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The Twins have recalled right-hander Bailey Ober to start this afternoon’s game against the Nationals, per a team announcement. To make room for Ober on the active roster, right-hander Simeon Woods Richardson has been optioned to Triple-A.

Ober, 27, has yet to pitch in the majors this season but impressed in 11 starts last year, pitching to a 3.21 ERA (120 ERA+) with a 2.92 FIP in 56 innings of work. Ober struck out 22.5% of batters faced while walking a microscopic 4.8%, though not all of his success appears that sustainable; just 4.8% of Ober’s fly balls last season left the yard for home runs in spite of a 11.7% barrel rate. More fly balls leaving the yard could be a significant issue for Ober, for whom fly balls made up 51.2% of his total balls in play in the majors last year.

Following Kenta Maeda’s return from Tommy John surgery and the club’s acquisition of Pablo Lopez from the Marlins, Ober ultimately found himself pushed out of the rotation to open the season. He’s seen great success in Triple-A to start the year, however, with a 2.55 ERA and 2.71 FIP in 17 2/3 innings of work so far in 2023. That performance, combined with the need for a spot starter in today’s game, led to Ober’s first call to the majors this season, which should give the Twins additional time to determine if Maeda will require a stint on the 15-day injured list after being hit with a line drive in Thursday’s game against the Red Sox. Should Maeda require a trip to the IL, Ober figures to slot into the big league rotation for longer than today’s spot start.

Woods Richardson, meanwhile, heads back to Triple-A after making just one appearance, a 4 2/3 inning relief outing yesterday during which the 22-year-old righty surrendered five runs on seven hits and three walks. The youngster is considered the club’s 8th best prospect, according to MLB Pipeline, and was viewed as a top 100 prospect in the sport as recently as 2021. Despite his prospect pedigree, it seems unlikely the youngster will factor into Minnesota’s rotation plans this season, given the club’s considerable depth at the position. For now he will head back to Triple-A, where he’s posted a 3.30 ERA in 43 2/3 career innings, and wait for his next big league opportunity.

Twins Reinstate Jorge Polanco

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The Twins announced a series of roster moves today, with infielder Jorge Polanco reinstated from the injured list and right-hander Simeon Woods Richardson recalled from Triple-A. In corresponding moves, righty Jorge Alcalá and infielder Edouard Julien were optioned to Triple-A. The Polanco-Julien swap was reported by Twins Farm Report on Twitter prior to the official club announcement.

Polanco, 29, is in tonight’s lineup, batting fifth and playing second base. This will be his first major league game since August of last year. He was placed on the injured list in early September due to left knee inflammation and wasn’t able to return. As this year’s Spring Training ramped up, everything seemed aligned for him to make the Opening Day roster, but he was eventually slowed down in the middle of March with what chief baseball officer Derek Falvey called “normal soreness.” That ultimate led to an IL-placement on Opening Day, but he’ll now slot back into the Minnesota lineup for the first time in almost eight months.

He began his career as a shortstop and didn’t get especially strong marks for his glovework but showed encouraging offensive abilities. By the end of 2018, he had appeared in 288 games and struck out in just 16.2% of his plate appearances while demonstrating a bit of power with 23 home runs. His .272/.329/.420 batting line amounted to a wRC+ of 100, indicating he was exactly league average in that time.

The Twins clearly believed that Polanco would grow into something more, as they then signed him to a five-year, $25.75MM extension with a couple of club options. Polanco has since proved them right, hitting 75 home runs over the past four seasons, one of which was the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign. His .270/.337/.459 line in that time amounts to a wRC+ of 117. He’s since moved to second base in deference to stronger shortstop defenders like Andrelton Simmons and Carlos Correa.

Polanco is now in the final guaranteed season of that extension, though it seems likely that those options will be picked up. The 2024 option is valued at $10.5MM with a $1MM buyout, making it a net $9.5MM decision. The 2025 option is worth $12.5MM with a $750K buyout, making it a net $11.75MM decision. Those are reasonable salaries for a potent bat at an up-the-middle position.

While Polanco has been out of action this year, most of the playing time at second base has gone to Julien, Nick Gordon and Kyle Farmer. Julien will now go back to the minors to get regular work down there. Farmer went on the IL last week after getting hit in the face by a fastball from Lucas Giolito. Though the incident looked quite scary on the broadcast, Farmer managed to avoid any fractures and was mostly limited to dental injuries. He told Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer Press today that he still has to get four root canals next week but has started doing baseball activities like hitting off a tee and taking ground balls.

Twins Promote Simeon Woods Richardson

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Oct. 2: The Twins have officially selected the contract of Woods Richardson, per Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com. Right-hander Ronny Henriquez was optioned to open a spot on the active roster, while catcher Sandy Leon was transferred to the 60-day injured list to create room on the 40-man. Leon’s transfer is a mere formality, as it was previously announced that his season had been ended by knee surgery.

Sep. 30: The Twins are planning to promote pitching prospect Simeon Woods Richardson to the majors before the end of the season, manager Rocco Baldelli told reporters (including Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com). Minnesota added Woods Richardson to their taxi squad this afternoon. It’s unclear specifically when he’ll be activated, but Park points out the club has yet to name a starting pitcher for Sunday afternoon’s matchup with the Tigers.

Assuming he’s indeed added to the major league roster, the right-hander will get an opportunity to make his big league debut in the coming days. A second-round pick of the Mets out of a Texas high school in 2018, Woods Richardson has been a well-regarded young arm since entering the professional ranks. He spent around a year in the New York system before he was dealt to the Blue Jays alongside Anthony Kay in the 2019 trade that sent Marcus Stroman to Queens.

Woods Richardson finished that season with the Jays’ High-A affiliate, and he cracked the back half of Baseball America’s top 100 prospects list the ensuing winter. After not logging any game action in 2020 due to the cancelation of the minor leagues, he was assigned to Double-A to begin the ’21 campaign. Still seen by many evaluators as one of the better minor league arms in the game, Woods Richardson soon found himself involved in a huge trade for the second time in his career. At last year’s deadline, Toronto shipped him alongside infield prospect Austin Martin to Minnesota in exchange for José Berríos.

Amidst the pair of high-profile trades, Woods Richardson’s prospect stock has dipped a bit in recent years. He fell off BA’s top 100 entering the 2022 season, but he nevertheless entered the year ranked eighth in a solid Minnesota system. He checks in sixth in the organization on the outlet’s most recent update, with praise for a four-pitch arsenal headlined by a low-mid 90s fastball and a potential plus changeup.

Woods Richardson has generally had an impressive 2022 campaign. He began the year with Double-A Wichita, making 16 appearances before getting a bump to Triple-A St. Paul in mid-August. He started another seven games for the Saints and performed well at both stops. Between the top two affiliates, the 22-year-old pitched to a 2.77 ERA across 107 1/3 innings. He’s struck out an impressive 27% of opponents while limiting walks to a manageable 8.5% rate.

That solid showing against upper level hitters earns Woods Richardson a brief major league cameo. He’d have needed to be added to the 40-man roster at the end of the season regardless to keep him from being taken in the Rule 5 draft, and the Twins have a number of players who can simply move to the 60-day injured list to clear a 40-man spot for the season’s final week.

Woods Richardson will be in the mix for a rotation spot next season. Minnesota is set to open the year with Tyler Mahle, Joe Ryan, Sonny Gray, a hopefully healthy Kenta Maeda and Bailey Ober in the starting five. With Chris Archer and Dylan Bundy each likely to depart in free agency, Woods Richardson should join Josh Winder, Louie Varland and any external additions in battling for additional looks.

Blue Jays Acquire Jose Berrios

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12:02pm: The Blue Jays have announced the trade.

11:31am: The Blue Jays and Twins have a deal in place sending right-hander Jose Berrios to Toronto, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (Twitter link). MLB.com’s Jon Morosi reports that top pitching prospect Simeon Woods Richardson is part of the return. Infielder Austin Martin, the No. 5 overall pick from last summer’s draft, is also going to Minnesota, reports Dan Hayes of The Athletic.

Jose Berrios | Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports

Berrios, 27, gives the Blue  Jays perhaps the second-best pitcher on this summer’s trade market, trailing only Max Scherzer, who is expected to join the Dodgers later today. Unlike Scherzer, he’s controllable beyond the 2021 season, as he’s only in his second arbitration season. Berrios is earning $6.1MM in 2021 and will be due one more arbitration raise this winter before reaching free agency upon conclusion of the 2022 campaign.

Berrios will join Hyun Jin Ryu and the resurgent Robbie Ray atop the Toronto rotation, comprising what now looks to be a formidable trio. He’s in the midst of one of his finest seasons, pitching to a 3.48 ERA with a career-best 25.7 percent strikeout rate, an excellent 6.5 percent walk rate and a career-high 43.6 percent ground-ball rate. He’s posted those numbers through 20 starts and a total of 121 1/3 frames, standing out as one of the dwindling number of pitchers in today’s game who averages six-plus frames per outing.

Of course, Berrios isn’t simply durable on a per-game basis. He’s been one of the game’s most durable starting pitchers overall, throughout the entirety of his career. He’s never been on the Major League injured list and is currently on pace for what would be his fourth straight season of a full slate of starts. He made 26 appearances back in 2017 — the final season he was optioned to the minors — and has since made 32 starts, 32 starts, 12 starts (a full workload in last year’s 60-game season) and 20 starts so far in 2020.

During that time, he’s never posted an ERA above 4.00 and has pitched to an overall 3.76 mark with a 24.2 percent strikeout rate and a 7.2 percent walk rate. Berrios may not quite be a Cy Young-caliber, top-of-the-rotation ace, but he’s as consistent and durable as it comes for a second/third starter.

The Blue Jays paid a steep price to acquire a year and a half of that consistency. Martin, last year’s No. 5 overall pick, was viewed by many in the industry as the best all-around player in the draft class. It was a legitimate surprise when he slipped beyond the No. 2 overall pick and fell to the Jays with the fifth selection. He’s currently ranked as the No. 16 prospect in the game at MLB.com, No. 21 at Baseball America and No. 23 at FanGraphs.

Martin starred at Vanderbilt in college, hitting .368/.474/.532 in his college career. The Jays dropped him right into Double-A to begin 2021, his first professional season, and it hasn’t looked like he’s missed a beat. In 250 plate appearances, Martin has posted a .281/.424/.383 with a pair of homers, ten doubles, two triples and nine stolen bases. He’s walked at a hearty 14.8 percent clip against a 21.2 percent strikeout rate. That batting line is 32 percent better than league average in an immensely pitcher-friendly Double-A environment, by measure of wRC+.

The main question on Martin is simply one of where he’ll play. He’s split his time evenly between shortstop and center field in Double-A this season. At the time of the draft, some scouts questioned whether he could stick at shortstop in pro ball, but the Jays have been giving him that chance. Even if shortstop isn’t his ultimate home on the diamond, however, most scouting reports on the 22-year-old Martin agree that his athleticism will translate to third base, center field or second base. The general expectation surrounding Martin is that he’ll be an above-average regular regardless of where he settles in on the diamond.

Woods Richardson has had a rougher season as Martin’s teammate in Double-A, but he’s only 20 years old — nearly five years younger than the average age of his competitors at that level. He entered the season widely regarded as a top 100 prospect, and while he’s since dropped off Baseball America’s list following the draft, he still ranks 49th at FanGraphs and 68th at MLB.com.

The Jays initially acquired Woods Richardson from the Mets in the trade that send Marcus Stroman to Queens. He’s made 11 starts in New Hampshire this season and posted a grisly 5.76 ERA, although that number is inflated by a .359 average on balls in play and an abnormally low 58 percent strand rate. Woods-Richardson has walked too many hitters (12.8 percent) but also fanned a third of his opponents so far on the year. Woods Richardson is away from the club right now, pitching for Team USA in the Olympics (as is fellow newly acquired Twins pitching prospect Joe Ryan).

FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen writes that Woods Richardson works with both a four-seamer and a two-seamer, also praising the righty’s changeup and the shape of his curveball. MLB.com’s report praised Woods Richardson’s changeup as the best in Toronto’s system, and the general consensus on the right-hander is that if he can add a little velocity as he continues to fill out, he has the makings of a No. 2 or No. 3 starter.

It’s an impressive haul for the Twins, though the organization has to be disappointed that the season came to this. Minnesota entered the year as defending AL Central champs and hopeful contenders, but their season spiraled out of control early and has yet to recover. That’s prompted the front office to pivot to what certainly looks like it’ll be an accelerated retooling of the roster.

The Twins still have an impressive crop of controllable hitters, and the additions of Martin, Woods Richardson, Ryan and Drew Strotman in their first two trades of deadline season give them four upper-minors talents who could impact the club by 2022 (perhaps 2023, in Woods Richardson’s case). Parting with Berrios means bidding adieu to the best pitcher the organization has developed in more than a decade, but they’ll hope that the recent influx of talent quickly supplements their foundation of young hitters and produces another arm or two of Berrios’ caliber before long.

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