Right-hander Simeon Woods Richardson passed through waivers unclaimed after his recent DFA, per Mitch Bannon of The Athletic. He’s been assigned outright to Triple-A Buffalo. Woods Richardson lacks the prior outright assignment or service time needed to reject an outright in favor of free agency, so he’ll remain with the organization as a depth piece.
The Jays acquired Woods Richardson early this month in a cash swap with the Twins, who’d designated the right-hander for assignment. He pitched 10 shutout innings across three appearances with the Jays. That might make the subsequent DFA surprising, but Woods Richardson also yielded four hits and seven walks against only five strikeouts in those 10 scoreless frames. His 6.2% swinging-strike rate and 17% opponents’ chase rate were down from his already-low marks in 47 2/3 innings with Minnesota. The Jays seemingly didn’t buy into his ability to continue with his success, and it seems the rest of the league felt similarly.
Woods Richardson, 25, was a well-regarded prospect at one point. The Mets selected him in the second round, 48th overall, back in 2018. He was a key piece in a pair of notable trades, first going from New York to Toronto (alongside Anthony Kay) in exchange for Marcus Stroman and then going from Toronto to Minnesota (alongside Austin Martin) in exchange for José Berríos.
Though he’s had some success in the majors, Woods Richardson never really developed into the mid-rotation arm some thought he could a few years back. He posted decent fourth/fifth starter results in Minnesota from 2024-25, combining for 245 innings with a 4.11 ERA. Woods Richardson fanned 21.5% of his opponents against a 9% walk rate in that time, but he was too prone to homers and struggled when facing opponents a second and third time through the order.
Woods Richardson entered the 2026 season out of minor league options, which put him in a strong position to hold a rotation spot in Minnesota. He indeed broke camp with a starting gig and had a pair of strong outings to begin his season. After holding opponents to three runs in his first 11 2/3 frames of the season, Woods Richardson was bludgeoned for 38 runs with more walks (12.2%) than strikeouts (11%) over his next eight appearances. Even a Twins club that’s been hit hard by the injury bug felt it hat to cut bait, and a similarly beleaguered Blue Jays staff didn’t feel compelled to find a way to keep him on the roster.
That will wind up working out to the Jays’ benefit, at least for now. Woods Richardson heads to Buffalo, where he can try to get back on track in a lower-pressure, more developmental setting. If he can right the ship, he’ll be an option for Toronto’s rotation in the event that the Jays’ injury woes continue. Toronto could also try to look at Woods Richardson in a relief role down in Buffalo, which would potentially create an even broader path back to the majors.
