Alfredo Simon revealed to reporters that he’s been pitching hurt all season.
He’s been dealing with a knee condition called patella tendinosis which stems from overuse and puts stress on the knee.
Simon is headed for free agency this winter and isn’t expected to return to the Detroit Tigers.
The right-hander went 13-12 with a 5.05 earned run average and 1.439 WHIP in 31 starts. Simon told Chris Iott of MLive Media Group that it’s been a struggle all season.
“It’s a tough situation this year because I went back and forth,” Simon said. “One day, I threw good. On other days, it’s just back and forth. I have a big problem with my knee. … I’m just going to work hard and come back strong.”
More from Rand on Alfredo Simon: “If he was structurally hurt, he wouldn’t have been pitching.”
— Jason Beck (@beckjason) October 3, 2015
Interestingly, manager Brad Ausmus told Iott that the front office knew about the injury prior to making the trade to acquire him from the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for two prospects.
“We knew when we traded for him that there had been a knee issue and it was something that had been treated at the end of the year in Cincinnati,” Ausmus said. “But I hadn’t really heard anything about it this year.”
The rotation has been a sore spot for Detroit this season and ranks No. 28 in Major League Baseball with a 4.81 ERA.
With Simon’s season finished, he left the team to head back to Detroit to begin preparing for rehabilitation.
“He wanted to go home at the end of the season,” trainer Kevin Rand told Iott. “So he made his last start, he’s headed back to Detroit and he’ll undergo that procedure to prepare him for the offseason. That way he gets that, he rests for a month and then starts his normal offseason conditioning program just like normal.”
Chris Hauler is a Senior Writer for Outside Pitch MLB. Follow him on Twitter.
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