DAYTONA BEACH — Dylan Simmons asked the doctors to wait two weeks.
In the spring of 2019, the Jacksonville native had a lump in his groin, and the medical staff wanted to cut his lymph node out for testing.
But he also had playoff baseball coming up. And as a star Florida State commit who pitched and played first base, he felt his Trinity Christian Academy team needed him. Plus, he didn’t want to worry about his health yet.
“I was like, ‘Even if it's something bad, I don't want to know about it until my season is done,’” Simmons said. “It could've been nothing.”
Doctors obliged.
Simmons suited up throughout the Conquerors’ run. They blazed to district and regional championships. In the region finals on May 17, he tossed 6⅔ innings, striking out 10 batters while holding Episcopal to two hits and two runs.
A couple of days after falling to American Heritage in the 4A state semifinals on May 24, Simmons went in for testing.
Dylan Simmons' diagnosis
Simmons committed to Florida State before even appearing in a high school game.
He always played up a year. The Seminoles’ coaching staff noticed him at a camp when he was in eighth grade. They watched him again as a ninth grader and were sold. They offered him a scholarship.
Simmons grew up a Georgia fan, but he figured his chances of the Bulldogs recruiting him were slim because he was an out-of-state prospect. He talked to FSU and Florida and decided on the Seminoles.
By the time he graduated from Trinity Christian, he stood 6-foot-3 and weighed 220 pounds. Perfect Game ranked him the No. 1 first baseman recruit in the state. He could dial his fastball above 90 miles per hour.
He was supposed to move to campus in Tallahassee during the summer of 2019.
But there was that lump.
Simmons remembers discovering it one day and it feeling sore. He didn’t know what it was, so he showed his mom. They saw the doctor in early May.
First, they tried antibiotics. Those didn’t work.
After the high school baseball playoffs ended, Simmons had his lymph node removed.
“It didn't hurt or anything,” he said. “It was really quick. It was like a 15-minute surgery. They put me under.”
A few days later, on a Saturday, he received an 8 a.m. phone call. It woke him up. The doctor on the other line told him he had to return to the hospital.
He had stage 1 lymphoma.
Simmons' treatment lasted four months
“I was just like, 'All right, let's just get this over with,’” Simmons said. “I didn't really understand the severity of it at the time. I was just like, ‘This will be a three-month little thing. Let's just get it over with so I can go play baseball.’”
His doctors created a plan. Three months of chemotherapy, then one month of radiation treatment, with frequent scans along the way.
Simmons began chemo almost immediately. He lost his hair but got sick only one time.
He finished his chemo treatments July 24.
After a two- or three-week break in August, he kicked off radiation. He developed a routine.
Each day for more than a month, he got up at 6 a.m. and drove straight to the UF Health Proton Therapy Institute. He aimed to be the first one on the table for treatment.
“It was almost like I was in college doing a 6 a.m. lift,” Simmons said. “It was just preparing me for that.”
After completing his radiation for the day and grabbing a coffee, he headed to his old high school for a workout. He visited there often during his treatment. He wanted to stay in shape and retain what muscle mass he could.
He also enrolled at Florida State College at Jacksonville. He signed up for a couple of classes toward his pre-med major — though he switched to a finance degree before long — and took live at-bats to ease the transition to college-level pitching.
In October, he got a scan. All clear.
“It really wasn't like that movie scene-ish,” Simmons said. “It was just like, ‘You're going to come back in six months, and we're going to do another scan.’”
So in six months, he went in for another scan. A year later, another scan. A year after that, another scan.
All three produced the desired results — no cancer.
Florida State, Pittsburgh and the college journey
When Simmons arrived in Tallahassee in January of 2020, the first pitch he hurled on campus registered at 94 mph.
Once games rolled around, he continued impressing. He doubled home a run in his first at-bat.
He earned a Freshman All-American distinction with a .387 batting average and seven RBIs in 13 games and three appearances (10.12 earned run average) on the mound.
That was his best year in garnet and gold.
He spent two more seasons at Florida State, hitting .225 in 30 games in 2021 (only one pitching appearance) before switching to a full-time pitcher in 2022. He made 17 appearances out of the Seminoles’ bullpen with a 12.00 ERA.
“I wasn't all for (becoming a pitcher only) originally, but then, obviously, as the competition gets better, you don't hit as well,” Simmons said. “I felt like, if I was going to make a career out of baseball, it was going to be on the mound.”
After the 2022 season, FSU head coach Mike Martin Jr. was fired and the staff turned over. Simmons entered the transfer portal.
“I still wanted to be in a competitive conference,” Simmons said. “But I really wanted someone that was going to focus on me as a pitcher. I really didn't know that many people because I committed (to FSU) so early. I didn't make a ton of connections with other coaches.”
Luckily, one familiar coach did reach out to him. Pittsburgh’s Mike Bell.
Bell was a former Florida State assistant who helped recruit Simmons to Tallahassee. Now, he ran his own program.
Simmons migrated to Pittsburgh and found success.
In 2023, he trotted out of the bullpen 24 times and posted a 4.58 ERA. He struck out 60 batters in 39⅓ innings. Against No. 2 Wake Forest in April, he threw three scoreless innings. He added two shutout frames against No. 11 Miami during a May showdown.
He also polished off his finance degree.
Simmons knew he was not going to be selected during Day 1 of the 2023 Major League Baseball Draft. Beyond that, he didn’t have any predictions.
“I didn't know if I'd go like late Day 2, early Day 3,” Simmons said. “I didn't know if I'd get drafted at all. I was just kind of sitting there by my phone, hanging out.”
He watched the proceedings with his family, his now-wife Haylie and her family. He got the call during the 15th round.
He was a Cincinnati Red.
TORTUGAS:New shortstop Sammy Stafura makes quick impact
For the Tortugas, Simmons plays only an hour from his hometown
Daytona manager Julio Morillo met Simmons for the first time in the instructional league last fall. To kick off his first professional campaign, Simmons was assigned to the Single-A Tortugas this spring.
“Amazing person,” Morillo said. “He's a leader in the bullpen. I really like him. He's doing really good for us, too.”
That could be considered an understatement.
In his first 14 games and 25⅔ innings, all in relief, he dominated to a 2.45 ERA. That ranked second on the team among pitchers with at least two appearances. He struck out 27 batters and walked nine.
Simmons utilized only three pitches in college. Since coming to Daytona, he has increased his repertoire to five — four-seam fastball, two-seam fastball, slider, changeup and curveball.
“My preparation and coaching I got at Pitt definitely helps,” Simmons said. “Also, after I was drafted, my Pitt coaches kind of talked to me about like, ‘Hey, this is probably what they're going to try to do with you. Be open to everything.’ I think that was a good suggestion.
“Just be open, try everything at least once, and if it doesn’t work for you, then be open and communicate well. That's what we've really been doing with (Tortugas pitching coach Willie Blair) and some of the coordinators.”
There’s also a comfort level here.
Simmons never trekked to Jackie Robinson Ballpark in high school despite living an hour away. His teams traveled to Orlando for occasional contests.
But Daytona’s proximity to home allows Simmons’ loved ones to watch him. A few of his friends have made the trip down I-95. His family shows up about every other homestand.
He’s even gone home twice on off days.
But if the 23-year-old keeps pitching like this, he may not be here much longer.
“He's a guy that he seems to be in the moment most of the time,” Morillo said. “I don't think he gets more up and down. He has the same attitude whether he pitched well or not. That's really good to see. I think the younger guys in the bullpen really benefit from him.”
Welcome to the pros
Simmons’ first live at-bat served as his welcome-to-the-pros moment.
He settled onto the mound and paid no attention to who he was facing. He was simply trying to locate his pitches and get outs, which he did.
A couple of groundouts and a couple of popouts later, he walked off the mound. His teammates made a big deal of it.
“Everyone was like, ‘Dude, that's a great job,’” Simmons said. “I was like, ‘What do you mean?’”
Then, a coach told him who the batter was: seven-year big-league veteran Kevin Newman.
Hardly the toughest opponent he’s faced, though.
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