The Blue Jays announced that they have recalled right-hander CJ Van Eyk. Fellow righty Simeon Woods Richardson has been designated for assignment as the corresponding move.
Woods Richardson, 25, was in his second Blue Jays stint of the season. The former top prospect was bounced from the Twins’ rotation and roster earlier this year after some prolonged struggles. The Blue Jays, who originally traded Woods Richardson to Minnesota in the 2021 José Berríos deal, reacquired the 6’3″, 210-pound righty in exchange for cash after the Twins designated him for assignment. They’ve since DFA’ed Woods Richardson themselves and successfully passed him through waivers. He was selected back to the majors on Aug. 10.
Though he’s generally pitched well in his return to the Jays organization (3.93 ERA in 18 1/3 innings), Woods Richardson was rocked for six runs in one inning against the Royals in his most recent outing. He’s also walked an untenable 15.8% of his opponents against an 18.4% strikeout rate that’s about four percentage points shy of average.
From 2024-25, Woods Richardson was a solid if unspectacular back-end starter for the Twins. He combined to pitch 245 innings with a 4.11 earned run average, 21.5% strikeout rate and 9% walk rate. Woods Richardson has below-average velocity on a relatively straight four-seamer that doesn’t miss many bats, so home runs have regularly been an issue. At his best, he’s missing enough bats with his splitter and (to a lesser extent) slider to overcome that flaw, but this year’s 13.2% strikeout rate and 6.9% swinging-strike are both career-lows and bottom-of-the-scale marks that haven’t been able to mask his penchant for serving up maximum-damage contact on the heater.
The trade deadline has come and gone, so the Blue Jays will now place Woods Richardson on waivers. Other teams will have 48 hours to claim him. He’s out of minor league options, so any club who picks him up will have to plug him right onto the major league roster. He could latch on with a team needing some rotation depth or length in the bullpen, although the Blue Jays themselves are in need of both such skill sets and nonetheless cut Woods Richardson loose.
If Woods Richardson goes unclaimed, he’ll have the right to reject an outright assignment to Triple-A in favor of free agency. Even if he accepts a minor league assignment, he’ll be able to become a minor league free agent at season’s end.
