It looks like the New York Mets may have found some potential gems in the 2018 draft. The Mets’ first round pick, outfielder Jarred Kelenic, has drawn all the headlines after his domination of the Gulf Coast League earned him a quick promotion to Kingsport. The guy selected after Kelenic, right handed pitcher Simeon Woods-Richardson, drew some solid reviews for his upside as a starter. Woods-Richardson’s first foray into professional baseball makes him the focus of this week’s edition of Minor League Mondays.
Like Kelenic, the Mets assigned Woods-Richardson to the Gulf Coast League to begin his career. Woods-Richardson made five appearances for the Mets’ rookie league affiliate and was great, tossing 11.1 shutout innings while racking up 15 punch outs and a win in the process. The Mets chose to limit Woods-Richardson’s innings since he pitched a full high school season, but he showed enough to earn a late season promotion to Kingsport. Woods-Richardson made two starts for the K-Mets, allowing three runs in six innings of work while picking up 11 more strikeouts.
MLB.com is also intrigued by Woods-Richardson, rating him as the 22nd best prospect in the Mets’ farm system. The scouting reports indicate that Woods-Richardson relies on his fastball, which touched 95 miles per hour in the summer of 2017, and utilizes a curveball and changeup as his secondary pitches. The key to Woods-Richardson’s development is if he can continue to hone those secondary pitches, and if he can’t that would limit his potential as a starter. The Mets have a long time to figure out how to use Woods-Richardson, however, since he only made it to Kingsport this year. Expect Woods-Richardson to start next year at Kingsport and potentially end up in Brooklyn by the end of the 2019 campaign.
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