Simeon Woods Richardson

Simeon Woods Richardson (born September 27, 2000) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Minnesota Twins of Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for the United States national baseball team in the 2020 Summer Olympics.

Amateur career
Woods Richardson attended Kempner High School in Sugar Land, Texas. He committed to attend the University of Texas at Austin to play college baseball. The New York Mets selected Woods Richardson in the second round of the 2018 Major League Baseball draft with the 48th overall selection.

New York Mets
Woods Richardson was assigned to the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League Mets, and later promoted to the Rookie Advanced Kingsport Mets, and posted a 1–0 win–loss record, 1.56 earned run average (ERA), and 26 strikeouts in $17 1/3$ innings pitched. He began the 2019 season with the Class-A Columbia Fireflies of the South Atlantic League. He was promoted to the Advanced-A St. Lucie Mets of the Florida State League (FSL) in July 2019.

Toronto Blue Jays
Before Woods Richardson could report to St. Lucie, the Mets traded him and Anthony Kay to the Blue Jays for Marcus Stroman. The Blue Jays assigned Woods Richardson to the Advanced-A Dunedin Blue Jays following the trade. Over 26 starts between Columbia and Dunedin, Woods Richardson pitched to a 6–10 record, 3.80 ERA, and 126 strikeouts in $106 2/3$ innings. He opened the 2021 season with the New Hampshire Fisher Cats of the Double-A Northeast.

Minnesota Twins
On July 30, 2021, Woods Richardson was traded to the Minnesota Twins along with Austin Martin in exchange for José Berríos. He was assigned to the Wichita Wind Surge of the Double-A Central. Over 15 games (14 starts) between the two teams, he went 3–5 with a 5.91 ERA, 77 strikeouts, and 34 walks over $53 1/3$ innings. He opened the 2022 season back with Wichita, and the Twins promoted Woods Richardson to the St. Paul Saints of the Triple-A International League in August.

On October 2, 2022, Woods Richardson was promoted to the major leagues for the first time. He made his MLB debut for the Twins the same day against the Detroit Tigers. Upon his debut, he surpassed seven players for the longest last name in MLB history with 15 characters. This was surpassed on July 17, 2023, by Christian Encarnacion-Strand of the Cincinnati Reds, setting the new mark at 17 characters.

Woods Richardson was optioned to Triple-A St. Paul to begin the 2023 season. He made only one appearance for Minnesota, allowing five runs on seven hits with five strikeouts across $4 2⁄3$ innings of work. Woods Richardson was again optioned to Triple–A St. Paul to begin the 2024 season.

International career
In May 2021, Woods Richardson was named to the roster of the United States national baseball team for qualifying for baseball at the 2020 Summer Olympics. After the team qualified, he was named to the Olympics roster on July 2. The team went on to win silver, falling to Japan in the gold-medal game.