Keegan Akin 2020

[InsideCoroner]

I really enjoy watching him pitch. His poise, control, the mix of pitches, nasty off-speed stuff that misses bats... Akin is basically the polar opposite of Mike Wright. 

[Just Regular]

Jim Hunter memorial cherry-picked leaderboard strain:

https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=sta&lg=all&qual=10&type=1&season=2020&month=0&season1=2020&ind=0&team=0&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0&startdate=2020-01-01&enddate=2020-12-31&sort=7,d

Keegan Akin 5th in K% among MLB starters with 10 innings pitched.

The zero HR yielded so far is a nice feature - I wouldn't look for that to keep as he works on filling up the zone more.

Even if I ding him for the walks and toggle to K-BB% he lingers in the first page of 30.

[Sports Guy]

Gotta love how he bounced back last night.  His rough start the other night wasn’t totally his fault, so for him to get past that first mental hurdle and perform as well as he did against that offense is pretty impressive to see.

The pitch count got elevated but he threw 67% of his pitches for strikes and had a 30% swingstr%.  Outstanding numbers.  

[Moose Milligan]

He was great to watch last night.  

Two starts left for him, maybe 3?  

[orioles22]

1 minute ago, Moose Milligan said:

He was great to watch last night.  

Two starts left for him, maybe 3?  

If I did the math right, Kremer could have three starts left counting tonight. Two for everyone else.

[interloper]

I joke about wanting Akin to be Bedard, but last night he literally looked like Bedard:

• Pounding the fastball in to right-handers, something Bedard excelled at
• Tons of swings and misses on the sweeping curve. It's not the Bedard 12-6 hammer, but it was working for him.
• Devastating change-up down and away to righties. I'm fuzzy on Bedard's change up or lack there-of, but that's 3 pitches he had working to rack up Ks.
• Left after 5 innings 

[weams]

18 minutes ago, interloper said:

I joke about wanting Akin to be Bedard, but last night he literally looked like Bedard:

• Left after 5 innings 

I've hoped that Akin would fulfill his potential. I've seen him a lot and I think he is real. 

[interloper]

4 minutes ago, weams said:

I've hoped that Akin would fulfill his potential. I've seen him a lot and I think he is real. 

Yeah it's interesting, I didn't see a whole lot I liked in the random ST appearances and such but last night was certainly eye-opening. Couple of 95s at the top of the zone for swings and misses and 2 really good off-speed pitches. 

[Frobby]

“Keegan Akin started in the bullpen this year with the Baltimore Orioles but has since moved to the rotation. So far it has been paying off for the Orioles as the rookie has been nothing short of impressive. In four starts Akin has produced a 2.35 ERA, 1.62 FIP, 36.4 K%, and 15.5 SwStr%. What is even more impressive is who he put those numbers up against. In those four starts he has faced the Yankees twice, the Braves, and the Blue Jays. All very formidable offenses. 

“The only issue with Akin besides the small sample size is that he lives in the zone a little too much. He has a low O-Swing% of 26.3% which means hitters aren’t chasing him outside of the zone. With command issues stemming from the minors he also might be hesitant to live outside the zone and risk walking too many hitters. This is definitely something we have to monitor.  

“Akin’s main strength is his fastball which has above average movement in both vertical and horizontal movement. While it doesn’t have much velocity the movement of the pitch makes up for it. He also places it well trying to place it high in the zone as often as possible. That fastball is paired with a changeup that straight up fools hitters. It comes in 10 mph slower than his fastball with late vertical drop at the bottom of the zone. His changeup currently holds an impressive 20.3 SwStr%.

“As for 2021 Akin will be an interesting pitcher to evaluate. A very small sample size alone puts a lot of this into question. But with what looks like a solid fastball/changeup combination he will be worth a shot towards the end of drafts.”

https://fantasy.fangraphs.com/analyzing-rookie-pitchers-part-ii/

[OFFNY]

o

 

BOSTON RED SOX  ))))) (SEPTEMBER 22nd)

Alexander Verdugo - RF

Rafael Devers Calcano - 3B

Xander Bogaerts - SS

Julio Daniel "J.D." Martinez - DH

Christian Vazquez - C

Jackie Bradley, Jr. - CF

Robert Dalbec - 1B

Michael Chavis - LF

Jonathan Arauz - 2B

Nicholas John Carlo "J.C" Pivetta - RHP )) (0-0, 15.88 ERA) ) *

 

* )) [PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES]

 

https://www.mlb.com/starting-lineups

 

o

[Frobby]

Tonight: 4 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 6 K’s.    

Akin’s pitch count got out of whack in a protracted second inning that featured a leadoff throwing error by Ruiz and a particularly egregious dropped fly ball by Stewart that would have been the third out of the inning.   A much longer inning than it needed to be.  

That said, Akin wasn’t that sharp tonight, especially with his breaking stiff.   He missed middle-middle several times and paid the price.   When he hit his spots, he was effective.  

[ChuckS]

Command wasn’t sharp. Fastball velocity was down. A lot of 90-91 when we’ve been seeing 92-94 from him. 

Still, without all those errors in the second he had a good chance of going 5 innings with only 2 runs allowed. Not bad for a pitcher who wasn’t bringing his premium stuff. I was amazed how many fastballs at 91 he was blowing by guys. 

[Sports Guy]

6 Ks, no BBs, 22 swingstr% and 62% str%

[OFFNY]

o

 

Keegan Lee Akin )has ceded 10 free Passes (9 Walks and 1 Hit Batsman) in only 22.67 Innings Pitched  ....... on the other hand, he has yielded only 1 Home Run in those 22.67 frames.

 

 

TORONTO BLUE JAYS )))))) (SEPTEMBER 27th)

Cavan Biggio - 3B

Bo Joseph "B.J." Bichette - SS

Vladimir Guerrero Ramos, Jr. - DH

Randall Grickuk - CF

Lourdes Yunielky Gurriel Castillo, Jr. - LF

Travis Shaw - 1B

Jonathan Rafael Villar Roque - 2B

Jonathan R. "J.R." Davis - RF

Daniel Jansen - C

Tanner B. Roarke - RHP )) (2-3, 7.01 ERA) ) *

 

 * )) Leads the American League in Home Runs Ceded (14)

 

https://www.mlb.com/starting-lineups

 

o