According to MLBbro.com, a dedicated website spotlighting Black and brown pro baseball players, there are nine Black MLB pitchers this season. The Minnesota Twins joined the Cincinnati Reds a couple of months ago as the only teams with two Black pitchers.

Taj Bradley Credit: MN Twins

Taj Bradley was acquired on July 31 from Tampa Bay in a trade for pitcher Griffin Jax. He was the team’s third starter for the first time this season with the Rays. After a stint with Triple-A St. Paul, the 6’2” hurler joined 6’4” Simeon Woods Richardson in the Twins’ starting rotation.

The two hurlers both started last week against the New York Yankees at the Twins’ downtown ballpark. Woods Richardson gave up two hits and struck out a career-high 11 for his seventh win of the season, a 7-0 shutout Sept. 15.  

However, Bradley allowed seven runs in four innings, only the fourth time he’d done so this season, and was tagged with the 10-5 loss to the Yankees Sept. 17.

Simeon Woods Richardson Credit: MN Twins

We witnessed both performances in person  and talked to Twins skipper Rocco Baldelli about both pitchers.  “He went out there and he just simply beat them,” said Baldelli of SWR’s win over the visiting Yankees battling for a playoff spot. “He has the ability to do this often, and he has good stuff.”

When told that we would be seeing Bradley pitch in person for the first time, Baldelli pointed out, “After you see him, you’ll see really elite ability, the stuff that you can turn into a guy that can go pitch in these important games, that have the type of ability to beat any lineup on any given day.”

Later, after Bradley’s performance last week, Baldelli told reporters during his post-game comments, “His stuff is so good that his success comes with the ability to mix and mix [pitches] in all counts. A lot of the time if he’s mixing and throwing his off speed pitches in the zone and just below the zone, he’s going to have a lot of success.”

The Los Angeles native was a fifth-round draft pick by Tampa Bay in 2018, the same draft in which Woods Richardson was selected by the New York Mets in the second round. Last season Bradley set career highs in nearly every major category and led the Rays in strikeouts, wins, and quality starts.

“I put myself in good spots to make the roster for three years,” explained Bradley. “I just feel like sometimes I’ve been a little bit inconsistent. That’s what I need to better myself and figure out more about myself going into the next start.

“Once the season ends, going into the off season is figuring out who I can be as a pitcher and what makes me good,” he stressed.

“He’s adapted really well to this organization,” said Woods Richardson of Bradley. “I’ve got to pick his brain a little bit because again [there’s] not too many of us, just the way he attacks hitters, the way he has confidence. It’s been a tremendous help to the rotation, to the organization.”

Hunter Greene and Chase Burns (Reds), Jack Flaherty (Tigers), Kumar Rocker (Texas), Taijuan Walker (Phillies), Josiah Gray (Washington), and Marcus Stroman, who was released by the Yankees on August 1, are the other Black pitchers in the majors.

“I just feel like it’s great to have common ground like this,” said Bradley.

“I’m glad we’re making history,” said Woods Richardson, who will wrap up his second season with the Twins later this week when the 2025 season concludes. “I’m glad they’re out there. [I wish] more teams like us had more African American Black pitchers.”

Charles Hallman welcomes reader comments to challman@spokesman-recorder.com.

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