Round 2, Pick 48 – RHP/IF Simeon Woods-Richardson

Ht: 6’ 3 ½″ Wt: 205 DOB: 9/27/2000 (17)

School: Kempner High School (Sugar Land, TX)

Stats

• Pitching, 2018 (Senior): 3-1, 0.23 ERA, 5 BB/53 K
• Hitting, 2018: .529/.636/1.088, 5 HR, 13 RBI
• Pitching, 2017 (Junior): 12 GS, 8-1 W-L, 1.27 ERA, 11/129 BB/K
• Hitting, 2017: .430/.550/.791, 37 H, 27 R, 8 2B, 7 HR, 26 RBIs, 12 SB
• Pitching, 2016 (Sophomore): 62 IP, 7-1 W-L, 0.33 ERA, 102 K
• Hitting, 2016: .356 AVG, 18 R, 8 2B, 4 3B, 2 HR, 16 RBI

Background

Woods-Richardson is a two-way player from Kempner High School in Sugar Land, Texas. Originally committed to the University of Texas, the New York Mets drafted him with the No. 48 overall selection (second round) in the 2018 Draft.

Woods-Richardson made a meteoric rise in becoming Texas’ most highly regarded high school pitcher.  Since his freshman year, he grew about 10 inches, and he had gradual upticks in his fastball velocity. The more Woods-Richardson grew into his body, the higher his fastball velocity increased, going from the mid-70s during his freshman year to the mid-90s as a senior.

While a two-way player in high school with a power right-handed bat, the Mets drafted Woods-Richardson as a pitcher. The team enticed him to forego his collegiate commitment by giving him an overslot $1.85 million bonus (pick value: $1,485,100).

Scouting

There seemed to be no clear consensus on Woods-Richardson entering the draft with his pre-draft rankings ranging from Baseball America‘s ranking him 76th to MLB Pipeline ranking him 160th. Part of the reason for the split could be different outlets looking at him as a two-way player and not as a pitcher.  The Mets organization view Woods-Richardson as the latter.

As a pitcher, Baseball America notes Woods-Richardson has a low/mid-90s fastball with two breaking pitches.  The first, a low/mid-70s curveball, which does not have quite the tilt of your classic 12-to-6 curve. In addition to the curve, he throws a mid-70s slider which sweeps across the zone. While the breaking pitches have promise, they are inconsistent at this stage of his development. There have also been reports of Woods-Richardson developing a very promising changeup.

Overall, where the splits in scouting on him mainly focus is his ability to maintain velocity throughout a start. While they are split on his ability to maintain velocity, the consensus seems to be Woods-Richardson has a sound repeatable delivery.

Perhaps, the splits in between the various outlets could also be attributed to Woods-Richardson’s needing a mid-season tonsillectomy.

Coaches describe him as competitive and unafraid to pitch inside. He has good instincts on the mound and is gamer.

Development

The Mets have a projectible and athletic right-handed pitcher in Woods-Richardson. However, his projection range is quite wide, as it is difficult to predict with great certainty how a young pitching prospect like Woods-Richardson will develop. Clearly, the Mets see something in him and have an optimistic vision for his future.  That’s why they drafted him as high as they did and gave him more than the $1.5 million slot bonus.

In terms of his development, it is likely Woods-Richardson continues to develop into his body, which could lead to more consistency with his fastball velocity, or even an increase in it. Should that happen, along with more refinement of his curveball and further development of his change, Woods-Richardson could find himself at the top of the Mets starting rotation in a couple of years. Conversely, if he fails to develop a fastball that holds its velocity deep into games, he could end up as a strong setup man or closer with a devastating two-pitch mix.

Like Mark Vientos the year before him, at 17 he is a younger draft pick, and he will begin his professional career in the Gulf Coast League.