The Minnesota Twins are the hottest team in baseball right now, winners of 10 in a row after sweeping a doubleheader from the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday. One of the biggest reasons why has been the team's starting rotation, which currently ranks eighth in baseball with a 3.59 ERA.
And now it might be about to get even better. Simeon Woods Richardson has been the weak link of Minnesota's staff all year, and he imploded on Wednesday afternoon, coughing up six runs on eight hits and two walks in just four innings. That performance was apparently enough to convince the team it's time to pull the trigger on a move fans have been waiting for: Woods Richardson got demoted to Triple-A on Thursday, and a young righty with a ton of potential seems poised to take his place.
Minnesota has yet to announced a corresponding roster move; the team was carrying 27 players on the active roster on Wednesday thanks to the doubleheader, so this move brings them back down to the usual 26. But it's easy enough to see the writing on the wall here: At long last, Zebby Matthews will get his chance to run with a rotation spot.
For more news and rumors, check out MLB Insider Robert Murray’s work on The Baseball Insiders podcast, subscribe to The Moonshot, our weekly MLB newsletter, and join the discord to get the inside scoop during the MLB season.
Twins finally pull the plug on Simeon Woods Richardson, setting the stage for Zebby Matthews
Matthews had a rough introduction to the big leagues in 2024, with a 6.69 ERA over nine starts. But you could see glimmers of upside: He struck out 43 batters in 37.2 innings, after all. And while he didn't win a starting job out of spring training, he seems to have taken a leap at Triple-A, where he's posted a 1.93 ERA and a 10.5 K/9 across seven starts so far. His fastball, in particular, leaps out of his hand, and no one's been able to touch it.
It remains to be seen whether he can translate that stuff to the Majors, and whether he'll be able to command it enough to get through a lineup multiple times. But there's no denying the potential in Matthews' very, very live right arm, and at this point he's more than earned a second chance to prove that he belongs.
More to the point, we know who Woods Richardson is at this stage of his career; valuable depth, but someone who will be constantly straddling the line between good enough and a liability. Matthews has the upside to be significantly more than that, and if he does in fact get the call some time next week and hits the ground running, it could give Minnesota a real chance to hang with the Detroit Tigers in the AL Central.