Keegan Akin 2021

[Frobby]

So what are we to make of Akin’s night last night?   He allowed 8 runs, all considered “earned,” in 5.2 IP.    But that’s kind of misleading.    We all know the defense contributed a lot to the third inning mess, though when you look at the PBP, it shows that the first six batters all reached base so maybe it made no difference.    Then he left the game with two on and two out in the 6th and Harvey immediately yielded a triple.   

This feels like one of those games a young pitcher goes through and hopefully learns from.   He threw a ton of strikes (71 in 96 pitches) but still somehow walked three batters.  The hits really piled up that one inning and maybe the bad defense rattled him.   But overall, there were some things to like in this outing.   
 

[Sports Guy]

4 minutes ago, Frobby said:

So what are we to make of Akin’s night last night?   He allowed 8 runs, all considered “earned,” in 5.2 IP.    But that’s kind of misleading.    We all know the defense contributed a lot to the third inning mess, though when you look at the PBP, it shows that the first six batters all reached base so maybe it made no difference.    Then he left the game with two on and two out in the 6th and Harvey immediately yielded a triple.   

This feels like one of those games a young pitcher goes through and hopefully learns from.   He threw a ton of strikes (71 in 96 pitches) but still somehow walked three batters.  The hits really piled up that one inning and maybe the bad defense rattled him.   But overall, there were some things to like in this outing.   
 

The 3 walks are crazy considering he only threw 25 balls all night.  The swingstr% was good to see as well.

 

[Aristotelian]

Did not watch but from what I've seen he is not a great pitcher and is going to get hit hard on occasion.

[Moose Milligan]

The big inning certainly wasn't all his fault.  But don't be mislead, he was getting hit and he was getting hit hard.

He rebounded nicely and had a good stretch before giving up a couple more bullets in the 6th before being pulled.

His stuff is average, there's no two ways about it.  That said, I'd prefer to see someone like him instead of Harvey so I hope they keep giving him chances in the rotation.

[Sports Guy]

10 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

The big inning certainly wasn't all his fault.  But don't be mislead, he was getting hit and he was getting hit hard.

He rebounded nicely and had a good stretch before giving up a couple more bullets in the 6th before being pulled.

His stuff is average, there's no two ways about it.  That said, I'd prefer to see someone like him instead of Harvey so I hope they keep giving him chances in the rotation.

The stuff is average but yet he can get a lot of Ks and swing and misses off of it.

If he has command, he will be good in the long run.

[Moose Milligan]

Just now, Sports Guy said:

The stuff is average but yet he can get a lot of Ks and swing and misses off of it.

If he has command, he will be good in the long run.

I can't tell if it's lack of command or if he's nibbling.

The slider does appear to be a decent pitch.  If he can back-foot that thing to RH batters, he might have something.  

[Sports Guy]

2 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

I can't tell if it's lack of command or if he's nibbling.

The slider does appear to be a decent pitch.  If he can back-foot that thing to RH batters, he might have something.  

I don’t know that he has nibbled his whole career and he definitely had control/command issues in the minors.

Up here?  I’m sure he is nibbling some too though.

[interloper]

4 hours ago, Moose Milligan said:

I can't tell if it's lack of command or if he's nibbling.

The slider does appear to be a decent pitch.  If he can back-foot that thing to RH batters, he might have something.  

He reminds me a lot of early Bedard, albeit with less talent. lol 

[Ruzious]

6 hours ago, Frobby said:

So what are we to make of Akin’s night last night?   He allowed 8 runs, all considered “earned,” in 5.2 IP.    But that’s kind of misleading.    We all know the defense contributed a lot to the third inning mess, though when you look at the PBP, it shows that the first six batters all reached base so maybe it made no difference.    Then he left the game with two on and two out in the 6th and Harvey immediately yielded a triple.   

This feels like one of those games a young pitcher goes through and hopefully learns from.   He threw a ton of strikes (71 in 96 pitches) but still somehow walked three batters.  The hits really piled up that one inning and maybe the bad defense rattled him.   But overall, there were some things to like in this outing.   
 

And hopefully the team around him going from terrible now to good at some point - will make him look much better as it improves.  Right now, they're making him look worse than he is.  And it wouldn't surprise me if his ultimate role is in the bullpen - especially if that leads to an uptick of a couple MPH's in velocity.    

[Aristotelian]

1 hour ago, interloper said:

He reminds me a lot of early Bedard, albeit with less talent. lol 

I mean, they are left handed and throw the baseball. Beyond that I'm not seeing much similarity. 

[Frobby]

5 hours ago, Moose Milligan said:

I can't tell if it's lack of command or if he's nibbling.

The slider does appear to be a decent pitch.  If he can back-foot that thing to RH batters, he might have something.  

He reminds me a little bit of Bedard when he came up, in the sense of him learning how to use his stuff effectively and limit his pitch counts.   I am by no means suggesting that Akin is or ever will be as good as Bedard.   I’m just saying it took Bedard two years to figure things out and it think Akin may be similar.  I wouldn’t be shocked if he becomes as good as, say, Bud Norris.  Not much of a compliment but the guy did spend 10 years in the majors and made 188 starts and 167 relief appearances.   

PS - I just saw Interloper’s remark about Bedard.   Great minds think alike (and so do ours).
 

[Three Run Homer]

He seems like another in the long line of O's hopeful starters who have ok velocity, ok command and no out pitch.  Even when they are able to limit runs, they are rarely able to go deep in games because hitters can string together long at-bats against them.  

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

I guess Akin continues to get chances out of the bullpen, but he's a bad relief pitcher in addition to starter. If I had to guess Akin gets optioned when Means gets reactivated. 

[Frobby]

30 minutes ago, OsFanSinceThe80s said:

I guess Akin continues to get chances out of the bullpen, but he's a bad relief pitcher in addition to starter. If I had to guess Akin gets optioned when Means gets reactivated. 

He did not pitch badly today.  One of his runs was an very soft bloop to RF and another came when Plutko allowed an inherited runner on 1B to score.   

[accinfo]

I think it makes sense to use an opener and bring in Akin in the the third inning.  Lets face it NONE of these guys with the exception of John Means are pitching past 4 or 5 innings.   See if a Tate can pitch two innings maybe get a lead and bring Akin in.