Aggie pitcher is on player watch list

Daniel James (D.J.) Simon has built himself up from a place of relative obscurity to having his name placed among the best pitchers in college baseball.

Simon is the only undefeated pitcher in the Western Athletic Conference with at least 10 starts; he leads the WAC with eight wins, is fourth in the WAC with a 3.52 earned run average and sixth in strikeouts with 53.

As of Tuesday, Simon has a new commendation. He is one of 50 players named to the College Baseball Foundation Pitcher of the Year Award Watch List.

Simon is in his junior year but this is the first time he has been eligible for this award. His first two years of eligibility were spent at Lassen Community College, building his abilities.

LCC is in Susanville, Calif. - Simon's hometown that has a population of about 14,000.

"In a small town with a lack of competition you really get down and learn the grit of the game," Simon said.

Having laid a gritty foundation at home, it was time for Simon to enter new, more brightly lit type of field.

And after two years of honing his skills in junior college, New Mexico State baseball coach Rocky Ward came calling the well-accomplished ball player.

"When we recruited him we knew he also plays shortstop and center [field]. One thing you like about guys who play skill positions is their competitiveness," Ward said. "He's just a quality athlete and we'll probably start him Sunday out in center."

The Sunday game against Houston Baptist wrapped up the series that began with Simon having one of his roughest starts of the season. In game one Friday, Simon gave up five runs in five innings (9.0 ERA), a far cry from his season ERA of 3.52.

But Ward is confident in Simon bouncing back in time for the WAC Championship that begins May 20.

Ward recognized the importance in the psychological aspect of playing pitcher and excused his best pitches poor performance.

"It's hard to disconnect and go compete with looming finals," Ward said.

For Simon and all students, finals will be long gone by WAC Championship time. And for the Aggies, ranked second in the WAC (behind Nevada), the pressure is starting to mount.

Perhaps some of the Hollywood mentality seeped all the way to Northeast, Calif., where Simon resided until about a year ago.

"Pitchers are in the spotlight 90 percent of the game. I really think Simon lives for the attention and handles it well," Ward said.

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