Trevor Richards

Richards was well-traveled in 2021, spending time with the Rays, Brewers and Blue Jays. He was unable to crack Tampa Bay's Opening Day roster after a rough spring, but made his season debut for the Rays in mid-April in a multi-inning relief role. He was sent back down two weeks later, then subsequently traded to Milwaukee who deployed him similarly out of their bullpen. Desperate for relief help, Toronto acquired Richards via trade in early July. The 28-year-old found success with the Blue Jays, posting a 3.31 ERA, 0.80 WHIP and 37:10 K:BB over 32.2 innings with the club. Overall, he tallied seven wins, six holds and one save with serviceable ratios. The big blemishes on Richards' 2021 profile were his 46.4% hard hit rate (bottom 4% of the league) and 1.7 HR/9, which ranked eighth-worst among qualified relievers. He projects to serve a similar multi-inning swingman role in 2022.

Richards' 5.91 ERA and 1.72 WHIP from the 2020 season were a disaster, due in large part to a 1.7 HR/9 rate. His changeup, which is regarded as his best pitch, was the primary culprit for his struggles, accounting for four of the six long balls he allowed. However, results serve as a reminder to discount 2020 surface stats. First, he managed only a 66.5% strand rate and surrendered a .358 BABIP. His changeup also remained a strong pitch despite poor results, limiting batters to a .370 xSLG, with an actual slugging percentage of .519. The pitch also generated a 37.1% whiff rate. Finally, despite posting a career-best 12.2% overall swinging strike rate, Richards managed only an 18.0 K%. Heading into 2021, he could fight for a primary pitcher spot after Blake Snell was dealt away. If he follows an opener, Richards could be a sneaky waiver wire add in deeper leagues.

Richards earned a spot in Miami's Opening Day rotation but was shifted to the bullpen and then sent to Tampa Bay at the trade deadline. He ended his time in a Marlins uniform with a 4.50 ERA and 1.38 WHIP, but he found significantly more success after joining the Rays with a 1.93 ERA and 1.20 WHIP. Richards cut his walk rate in half (5.2%) and increased his strikeout rate over three percentage points (24.7%) after changing teams. He has a low-90s fastball and relies heavily on his changeup (38.4% usage) to keep batters honest. Richards is unlikely to have a real chance to crack the Rays' starting rotation in 2020 with Ryan Yarbrough, Brendan McKay and Yonny Chirinos all vying for back-end spots. However, if his success as a multi-inning reliever after the trade is any indication, he could provide fantasy managers with good ratios, plenty of strikeouts and the occassional win.

Richards rose from obscurity to become a capable major leaguer in 2018. An undrafted Division II product whose journey to affiliated baseball included two years in the independent Frontier League, Richards made 25 turns in the Marlins' rotation, posting a 4.42 ERA. Despite a near complete lack of prospect pedigree, his peripherals support his performance and suggest he should be able to stick in the rotation. He managed to mostly offset a mediocre 35.8% groundball rate and 9.9% walk rate with a 23.8% strikeout rate. His changeup in particular looked quite good, being worth 14.8 runs according to FanGraphs' Pitch Values, a total which ranked second behind only Kyle Hendricks. It would be surprising to see him as anything better than a back-end starter, and his team context limits his ability to pick up wins, but the fact that he looks like a starter at all is quite the achievement given his background.

The Marlins' dramatic teardown gives opportunities to players like Richards who might not otherwise receive them. The 24-year-old's journey to the big leagues is a remarkable one. Undrafted out of Division II Drury University in 2015, Richards pitched for the Gateway Grizzlies of the Frontier League for parts of two seasons before joining the Marlins' organization in July 2016. He shot from short-season to Double-A ball in just two seasons, posting a 2.52 ERA in 200.1 minor-league innings during that span while posting 9.5 K/9 and 2.1 BB/9 rates. Despite his minor-league success and inspiring story, he isn't considered much more than a fringe prospect whose long-term future will likely be in relief. That would be an impressive result for an undrafted player, no doubt, though not enough to make him much of a fantasy asset.