Blue Jays: Simeon Woods-Richardson heading to the Tokyo Olympics

Last month, the United States national team won the Baseball America’s Qualifier tournament, with the team booking its ticket to playing at the Tokyo Olympics in late July. In the Blue Jays minor league system, a few different players were taking part in the qualifying tournament, with top pitching prospect Simeon Woods-Richardson being named to Team USA.

During the tournament, Woods-Richardson would appear in only one game against Puerto Rico, with the game not counting statistically due to it being canceled via weather conditions. He would go 4.1 innings giving up four hits with one earned run while not allowing a walk and striking out five.

The United States announced their roster for the Olympics yesterday, with Woods-Richardson once again making the team and will be making the journey to Tokyo in the upcoming weeks. Players who are not on a major league team 40-man roster are eligible to be named to Olympic rosters.

Toronto Blue Jays top prospect Simeon Woods-Richardson has been named to the United States roster for the upcoming Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

So far this year, the right-hander sports a 4.13 ERA with 15 earned runs through eight starts and 32.2 innings pitched, throwing 18 walks compared to his 50 strikeouts down in AA.

The Texas native had a great start to the year, surrendering only three earned runs through his first three games while striking out 23 batters. SWR has been roughed up in his two most recent outings, giving up a combined nine earned runs while walking eight batters and giving up one home run through 7.2 total innings.

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SWR and the rest of Team USA will report to training camp on July 16th and then head to Tokyo where they will play Isreal and South Korea before potentially moving on in the tournament.

Currently ranked #68 on MLB Pipeline, the hard-throwing right-hander will miss a significant amount of time while representing his country, meaning the chances of seeing him potentially in a Blue Jays uniform this season are most likely nil. There had been a longshot late September call-up potential for the right-hander but missing game time while away with Team USA will most likely see the former New York Mets prospect promoted to AAA before the end of the season rather than a big-league call-up.

It was wishful thinking before the roster announcement but now it seems like it will be too much development time missed. Not impossible, just more improbable at this point.

Being named to an Olympic team is a big accomplishment and hopefully, Simeon Woods-Richardson will be able to showcase his talents at one of the biggest international stages. The United States team does have the potential to head towards the medal rounds, so here’s hoping that SWR comes back to the Blue Jays system with some hardware for his troubles.

Congrats to Woods-Richardson and good luck in Tokyo!