Photo Courtesy of Power Showcase

Mets 2018 second round draft pick Simeon Woods-Richardson received an overslot bonus to not only entice the 17-year-old to commit to being a pitcher, but to also forego his commitment to the University of Texas.  Three games into his professional debut, the Mets and Woods-Richardson both look smart for their respective decisions.

Right off the bat, Woods-Richardson has wowed with his velocity.  In his first professional appearance, he reportedly reached 99 MPH as he recorded the save.  What is really important with him is he has maintained a high velocity as he has received more and more work.

The reason this is important is Woods-Richardson did not show much consistency maintaining a high velocity heading into the draft. In fact, Perfect Game noted Woods-Richardson had issues maintaining velocity not just from outing-to-outing but also inning-to-inning.  As Perfect Game noted, “At the Tournament of Stars, he was 86-88 mph one inning and 90-93 the next inning.”

Still Perfect Game notes that he has become more consistent as the year has progressed. On this issue, MLB Pipeline did note these issues could have been attributable to a midseason tonsillectomy.

Regardless of what the issues were heading into the drat, Woods-Richardson has consistently maintained a mid-90s velocity in his brief time with the the Mets organization, and he is combining that with an impressive 11-5 curveball which he is throwing nearly 15 MPH slower than his fastball.

https://twitter.com/JTScouting/status/1025054156304863232

Yesterday, Woods-Richardson impressed in his first professional start. In three innings, he allowed no earned on two hits while walking one and striking out four.

Overall, Woods-Richardson has not allowed a run in his six professional innings.  Incredibly, he has struck out seven batters while walking two and allowing just two hits.  Overall, he has a 0.667 WHIP, 10.5 K/9, and a 3.50 K/BB ratio.

While this is all impressive in and of itself, it is important to remember, Woods-Richardson is 3.4 years younger than the competition, and he will not turn 18 for another month-and-a-half. What he is accomplishing at such a young age and with him finally focusing purely on pitching as opposed to being a two-way player shows just how much of a ceiling he truly has.