Keegan Akin’s debut

[Can_of_corn]

Just now, makoman said:

That’s fair. I‘m hoping deception/spin make up for some velocity. I had higher hopes than I was reading I this thread, basically a lefty Hess, and it seemed like some too quick decision making. I’d certainly like to see him get plenty of innings the rest of the year to see more of what we’ve got.  

Obviously we are talking about an extremely small sample size and things can change.  This was just first opinion stuff.  I'm not going to go out there and say he has no chance to be a viable starting pitcher based off of last night.

Also you have to keep in mind I'm in favor of limiting pitchers times through the order as a general policy.

[weams]

2 hours ago, Beef Supreme said:

Akin looks like a LOOGY to me. But the was legislated out, for the most part. So, not sure he has a role in MLB.

As someone who has seen a lot of Akin, I disagree. 

[Beef Supreme]

This year notwithstanding, how do you foresee his MLB future?

[makoman]

1 hour ago, Can_of_corn said:

Obviously we are talking about an extremely small sample size and things can change.  This was just first opinion stuff.  I'm not going to go out there and say he has no chance to be a viable starting pitcher based off of last night.

Also you have to keep in mind I'm in favor of limiting pitchers times through the order as a general policy.

That’s a good policy in general. Especially if you’re going to carry around 19 pitchers on the roster. 

[Frobby]

2 hours ago, weams said:

As someone who has seen a lot of Akin, I disagree. 

Reliever, maybe, LOOGY, no.   Last year at Norfolk, RHB hit .226 off him, LHB .340.    The year before, RHB .232 LHB .211.    2017, RHB .230, LHB .269.    

[DrungoHazewood]

1 minute ago, Frobby said:

Reliever, maybe, LOOGY, no.   Last year at Norfolk, RHB hit .226 off him, LHB .340.    The year before, RHB .232 LHB .211.    2017, RHB .230, LHB .269.    

I'd guess many/most LOOGYs have fairly typical splits when used in other roles, but when asked to specialize they take additional steps like dropping down sidearm and throwing more breaking pitches which make their splits more extreme.

[Frobby]

2 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

I'd guess many/most LOOGYs have fairly typical splits when used in other roles, but when asked to specialize they take additional steps like dropping down sidearm and throwing more breaking pitches which make their splits more extreme.

I think they’re usually asked to specialize because they’re ineffective in other roles, like Matusz.   But you may be right that some guys alter their approach.

[Beef Supreme]

1 hour ago, DrungoHazewood said:

I'd guess many/most LOOGYs have fairly typical splits when used in other roles, but when asked to specialize they take additional steps like dropping down sidearm and throwing more breaking pitches which make their splits more extreme.

Akin's slurve is quintessentially LOOGY. Despite last year's MiLB splits, I think he could become far more effective against LHBs.

[Aristotelian]

Do we think they are going to change the rules back? I thought LOOGYs were no longer a thing.

[Can_of_corn]

2 minutes ago, Aristotelian said:

Do we think they are going to change the rules back? I thought LOOGYs were no longer a thing.

You can have a guy in the bullpen that is there to get left handers out.  You just have to be more precise in using them.

[makoman]

6 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

You can have a guy in the bullpen that is there to get left handers out.  You just have to be more precise in using them.

Yeah, it’s fine if he’s great vs LH and ok vs RH. It’s just harder to use a guy now if he’s great vs LH and awful vs RH. 

[Frobby]

10 minutes ago, makoman said:

Yeah, it’s fine if he’s great vs LH and ok vs RH. It’s just harder to use a guy now if he’s great vs LH and awful vs RH. 

Which is not Akin’s track record.    Will be interesting to see what happens with the Donnie Harts of the world.    

[rudyrooster]

I like Aiken!  I imagine his heart was in his throat as he got his first taste of MLB.  I still believe he has the stuff to be a mid to back-end rotation starter.  You gotta believe!  Just got to!

[DrungoHazewood]

11 hours ago, Aristotelian said:

Do we think they are going to change the rules back? I thought LOOGYs were no longer a thing.

 

11 hours ago, Can_of_corn said:

You can have a guy in the bullpen that is there to get left handers out.  You just have to be more precise in using them.

You can bring in a LOOGY with two out to end the inning and remove him between innings, right?  So you can guarantee that some manager Joe Girardi is now carving out a role for a 60-game, 20-inning-a-year, last-out-of-the-inning LOOGY.

[Frobby]

12 hours ago, Can_of_corn said:

You can have a guy in the bullpen that is there to get left handers out.  You just have to be more precise in using them.

Last year there were only three LH pitchers in MLB who pitched 40+ innings and saw LHB more than half the time.     Using a pitcher to face less than 3 batters while an inning is still ongoing didn’t really occur that frequently — I think the O’s did it 14 times last year  (major league average was 26).   Six of our 14 were Paul Fry, who threw 57 innings last year.   This year he’s on pace for 53.