Richards was dominant while throwing 2.2 innings in a simulated game Wednesday against a quartet of teammates, Juan Toribio of MLB.com reports. "I don't know if we saw the best of Trevor at any point last year, but his stuff is pretty unique," manager Kevin Cash said. "That changeup from behind almost looks like a breaking ball the way it drops. The changeup is going to be the big equalizer. When we see that pitch on, he's generally on track for a pretty good outing."
The 27-year-old could be set to fill a number of different roles during this coming regular season, and Wednesday's outing certainly inspired confidence he could thrive in whatever capacity he's deployed. Richards completely flummoxed the foursome of Brandon Lowe, Willy Adames, Mike Zunino and Ji-Man Choi -- who each took two at-bats against him -- by impressively ringing up seven total strikeouts and only allowing one of his 34 pitches to be put in play.