Woods Richardson will likely start Friday's game for the Twins in Anaheim, Bobby Nightengale of the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports.
Louie Varland was dispatched to Triple-A St. Paul on Monday, and manager Rocco Baldelli confirmed that Woods Richardson is lined up to join the big-league rotation. Woods Richardson was effective in his lone MLB start earlier this season at Detroit, and he averaged 93.4 mph with his fastball in that outing after sitting at 91 mph with that pitch in 2022 and 2023. If Woods Richardson can just tread water in this role, he could stick in the big-league rotation indefinitely, given Minnesota's lack of viable options behind him on the organizational depth chart.