Roster move: Akin optioned

[Moose Milligan]

2 minutes ago, ChuckS said:

Yeah, I don't think you understand the meaning of organizational filler.  Organization fillers are guys who are used to fill out minor league rosters and will be lucky to get a cup of coffee in the majors. 

Akin is a real prospect.  Not one of our better ones, but has a solid shot at being some type of contributor.  Whether that is as a starter or multi-inning reliever out of the pen remains to be seen. 

We'll see how he ends up.  I'm betting on slightly better than filler.  You?

[ChuckS]

1 minute ago, Moose Milligan said:

I believe you're partially correct. 

The thing is, I'm not sure what separates Akin from being a AAAA type.  I'm too lazy to look up his stats and peripherals, but from what I've seen and the scouting reports I've read, he doesn't seem to be too far removed from that profile.  If someone can explain to me what significantly separates Akin from an Eshelman/Wojo type, I'd love to hear it.

An above average fastball from the left side and two solid average secondary pitches.  He led the international league in strike outs last year as a 24 year old.  That's not nothing. 

Maybe if you are too lazy to look up stats and scouting reports on minor league players you shouldn't provide such definitive commentary on them.  

[ChuckS]

6 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

We'll see how he ends up.  I'm betting on slightly better than filler.  You?

Not an organizational filler.  He's always had trouble going deep into games.  It's unlikely he can put it together as  a starter.  But I think he's got a good chance to be a 2-3 inning bullpen guy throwing 95 from the left side (rare) and can get both lefties and righties out.  Those guys are valuable in today's game. 

[Moose Milligan]

1 minute ago, ChuckS said:

An above average fastball from the left side and two solid average secondary pitches.  He led the international league in strike outs last year as a 24 year old.  That's not nothing. 

Maybe if you are too lazy to look up stats and scouting reports on minor league players you shouldn't provide such definitive commentary on them.  

Ooooookay.  Well, before going to bed,  I just looked up his scouting report on 2080baseball.com and saw that his future offerings profile to a 50 on the 20 to 80 scale.  So, average.  The fastball that you claim to be average sits at 91-92, can hit 94.  So, average.  

Everything else, delivery, athleticism, pitchability is average to below average.  Mound presence is a plus, that's great.

OH's own @Luke-OH back in November was slightly more generous and his fastball/change 55s.  With the ceiling as a #4 starter.

That's his CEILING.  That's if everything goes RIGHT for him.  It's rare that everything goes right for a player.  The baseball landscape is littered with many players that things did not go right for.  

I wouldn't bet that everything goes right for someone with average stuff.  But if you're excited about average pitchers, I don't know what to tell you.  

 

 

[ChuckS]

11 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

Ooooookay.  Well, before going to bed,  I just looked up his scouting report on 2080baseball.com and saw that his future offerings profile to a 50 on the 20 to 80 scale.  So, average.  The fastball that you claim to be average sits at 91-92, can hit 94.  So, average.  

Everything else, delivery, athleticism, pitchability is average to below average.  Mound presence is a plus, that's great.

OH's own @Luke-OH back in November was slightly more generous and his fastball/change 55s.  With the ceiling as a #4 starter.

That's his CEILING.  That's if everything goes RIGHT for him.  It's rare that everything goes right for a player.  The baseball landscape is littered with many players that things did not go right for.  

I wouldn't bet that everything goes right for someone with average stuff.  But if you're excited about average pitchers, I don't know what to tell you.  

 

 

There is more to having a good fastball than velocity, his of which is above average for a lefty.  Generates a lot of swings and misses up in the zone.  Has already shown to play up (95-96) in shorter outings in the Arizona Fall League.  So it's above average by most accounts.  

I never claimed he would reach his ceiling or that everything would go right for him.  In fact, I said I expected him to end up in the pen.  So I'm not sure where you are going. 

Also, if you haven't been paying attention we could use some pitchers with average big league stuff. Am I excited about him?  Not really.  I was just trying to point out the absurdity of you calling him organizational filler. 

[Moose Milligan]

49 minutes ago, ChuckS said:

There is more to having a good fastball than velocity, his of which is above average for a lefty.  Generates a lot of swings and misses up in the zone.  Has already shown to play up (95-96) in shorter outings in the Arizona Fall League.  So it's above average by most accounts.  

I never claimed he would reach his ceiling or that everything would go right for him.  In fact, I said I expected him to end up in the pen.  So I'm not sure where you are going. 

Also, if you haven't been paying attention we could use some pitchers with average big league stuff. Am I excited about him?  Not really.  I was just trying to point out the absurdity of you calling him organizational filler. 

Semantics.  IMO, filler is a quad A guy that gets shuttled back and forth.  And when you have a team as crappy as ours, they might stick around for a season or two in the bigs for lack of a better option.

Glad you're not really excited about Akin.

[Frobby]

9 hours ago, Moose Milligan said:

Semantics.  IMO, filler is a quad A guy that gets shuttled back and forth.  And when you have a team as crappy as ours, they might stick around for a season or two in the bigs for lack of a better option.

Glad you're not really excited about Akin.

I think it’s best to adopt an approach of humility when assessing how a prospect might fare in the long run.    We’ve seen highly touted guys fail miserably and unheralded guys carve out good careers at times.    We have a lot of decent pitching prospects at the upper levels of the minors right now and it’s anybody’s guess which ones will become decent or better major league pitchers.   But I do have hopes that the group of Akin, Zimmermann, Kremer, Lowther, Wells and Baumann will yield some successful pitchers.    It’s the best group we’ve had in a decade or so even if no one guy stands out.    

[Moose Milligan]

11 minutes ago, Frobby said:

I think it’s best to adopt an approach of humility when assessing how a prospect might fare in the long run.    We’ve seen highly touted guys fail miserably and unheralded guys carve out good careers at times.    We have a lot of decent pitching prospects at the upper levels of the minors right now and it’s anybody’s guess which ones will become decent or better major league pitchers.   But I do have hopes that the group of Akin, Zimmermann, Kremer, Lowther, Wells and Baumann will yield some successful pitchers.    It’s the best group we’ve had in a decade or so even if no one guy stands out.    

Frobby, my approach of assessing prospects, especially Orioles prospects, is that they're all going to fail, and fail miserably. 

Until they don't. 

That's not humility, that's treating everyone equally.

[Frobby]

8 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

Frobby, my approach of assessing prospects, especially Orioles prospects, is that they're all going to fail, and fail miserably. 

Until they don't. 

That's not humility, that's treating everyone equally.

I can’t blame you for taking that approach. Back in the day, one of my nicknames for Nick Markakis was The Boy Who Lived, because he was the one success in a sea of developmental failures in his era.   

[Moose Milligan]

2 minutes ago, Frobby said:

I can’t blame you for taking that approach. Back in the day, one of my nicknames for Nick Markakis was The Boy Who Lived, because he was the one success in a sea of developmental failures in his era.   

With exceedingly low expectations, any measure of success is a pleasant surprise.  

[Chuck A]

1 hour ago, Frobby said:

I think it’s best to adopt an approach of humility when assessing how a prospect might fare in the long run.    We’ve seen highly touted guys fail miserably and unheralded guys carve out good careers at times.    We have a lot of decent pitching prospects at the upper levels of the minors right now and it’s anybody’s guess which ones will become decent or better major league pitchers.   But I do have hopes that the group of Akin, Zimmermann, Kremer, Lowther, Wells and Baumann will yield some successful pitchers.    It’s the best group we’ve had in a decade or so even if no one guy stands out.    

This is where I stand.  Akin has a chance to be as high as a #4 starter which is nothing to sneeze at.  The O's have been a team of #5's for too long.  So yeah I am mostly an optimist.  If this was the DD era (which I know Akin came from), he would've been rushed to the big leagues last year to fail.  Spring brings hope eternal.  Robert Frost type crap.  I subscribe to this.  Akin has decent stuff he just needs to find some consistency and probably confidence in his off speed pitches.

[interloper]

My view of Akin has actually improved somewhat during this ST. I know he didn't pitch well, but he appeared to carry better stuff than I realized. I love that he was throwing 95, and he did get a bunch of Ks. He just needs to locate better. 

A #4 is probably right, but I'm not sure why he couldn't do better than that if a couple things click. Especially as a lefty. 

I do think Zimmermann has passed him though. 

[weams]

13 hours ago, Moose Milligan said:

We'll see how he ends up.  I'm betting on slightly better than filler.  You?

Brian Matusz or better career. 

[Moose Milligan]

14 minutes ago, weams said:

Brian Matusz or better career. 

If he can get David Ortiz out like that, I'll consider it a success.

[DrungoHazewood]

13 hours ago, ChuckS said:

An above average fastball from the left side and two solid average secondary pitches.  He led the international league in strike outs last year as a 24 year old.  That's not nothing. 

Maybe if you are too lazy to look up stats and scouting reports on minor league players you shouldn't provide such definitive commentary on them.  

He led the international league in walks, too.  In just 112 innings.  He was 6th in the IL in K/9 among pitchers with 10+ starts.  In the 10+ start group he was 27th in the league in ERA.