Tigers' Simon shows 'nasty stuff' in bullpen sessions

LAKELAND, Fla. – Alfredo Simon was just being a team player.

Early in the right-hander's first live bullpen session of the spring — facing hitters on a back field at TigerTown — he left a fastball up to Yoenis Cespedes.

And Cespedes did what the Tigers acquired him to do.

He hit it over the left-centerfield fence on field No. 1 for his first "home run" as a Tiger.

"It's better for me to get him ready because they're going to have him in the games soon," Simon said. "I try to throw it so he can get some swings in there, too."

But there were swings and misses and weakly hit foul tips during his 60-pitch day on the mound, facing Cespedes, Ian Kinsler, J.D. Martinez and Nick Castellanos.

"It was really good," Simon said. "My arm feels really good, and I'm just trying to keep working on my breaking ball and my two-seamer."

And while the results don't matter — pitchers are light-years ahead of hitters at this point in spring training — the feedback he received from a veteran like Kinsler did.

More than once, Kinsler called out a good pitch — nodding his head at the big right-hander — and was the second player to greet him off the mound with a fist-bump.

And the first player to greet him, catcher Alex Avila, liked what he saw.

"He's got nasty stuff," Avila said. "It wasn't just from catching him today noticing that — it was catching him from his first bullpen sessions and watching video.

"He's got nasty, electric stuff, and with him, it's always about being able to throw it for strikes, and today, he looked good. It looks like he's getting ready for the season."

Simon throws a number of pitches, some disguised as others.

His two-seamer sometimes acts like a sinker, other times a cutter. He also throws a splitter and a curveball.

"His ball is not straight at all," Avila said. "He doesn't throw anything straight. It's one way or another."

Simon is ahead of most pitchers on the pitch-count scale. In his most recent bullpen session before Wednesday, he threw 75 pitches, by far the most on the team.

"I just try to keep my arm ready to go," Simon said. "That's why I throw so many pitches, because I try to throw to make my arm stronger to make it feel like a normal thing."

Simon, 33, was acquired from the Reds this off-season in a trade for shortstop Eugenio Suarez and pitching prospect Jonathon Crawford.

Simon was 15-10 with a 3.44 ERA last season and earned an All-Star appearance with a strong first half. But he faded down the stretch in his first full season as a starter, with a 4.52 ERA in the second half.

"It's different when the season starts," Simon said. "Then you know how to work the hitters."

But Wednesday, he was working with them.

Contact Anthony Fenech: afenech@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @anthonyfenech.