Keegan Akin 2021

[27outs]

On 8/5/2021 at 9:57 AM, interloper said:

Could literally not be more wrong. LOL He's a great dude, would love him on my team. 

https://deanblundell.com/sports/mlb/blue-jays/why-everyone-hates-marcus-stroman/
 

You have no idea if he’s a great guy unless you know him personally. I know a couple guys who have. They agree with me. And there’s PLENTY of criticism online about him. If you don’t know about it then you must not want to know about it.  There’s a lot of guys who don’t like him.  A LOT. 

Edited August 11, 2021 by 27outs

[waroriole]

5 hours ago, 27outs said:

https://deanblundell.com/sports/mlb/blue-jays/why-everyone-hates-marcus-stroman/
 

You have no idea if he’s a great guy unless you know him personally. I know a couple guys who have. They agree with me. And there’s PLENTY of criticism online about him. If you don’t know about it then you must not want to know about it.  There’s a lot of guys who don’t like him.  A LOT. 

This is the stupidest thing I’ve ever read. I mean he has a list of 4 things he hates and he can’t even go in numerical order. 1,2,4,3

Ignoring that, it’s just some shock jock douche who gives sports radio reasons why he doesn’t like someone. He has a clothing line, he’s ok with being short, he argued with his manager about coming out of a game once. I’ll also ignore the subtle context of why he really hates him. 

[Moose Milligan]

51 minutes ago, waroriole said:

This is the stupidest thing I’ve ever read. I mean he has a list of 4 things he hates and he can’t even go in numerical order. 1,2,4,3

Ignoring that, it’s just some shock jock douche who gives sports radio reasons why he doesn’t like someone. He has a clothing line, he’s ok with being short, he argued with his manager about coming out of a game once. I’ll also ignore the subtle context of why he really hates him. 

You mean this subtle context? https://www.totalprosports.com/2021/07/17/marcus-stroman-says-mets-fan-hate-him-because-hes-african-american-after-benches-clearing-brawl-tweet/ He said it, so it has to be true.

Anyway, in regards to Keegan Akin, I'm perfectly fine never seeing him in an Orioles uniform ever again.  Had some great moments last night, but those were offset by the fact that the Tigers were hitting his stuff like it was sitting on a tee.  

[Sports Guy]

Lots of strikes, struck out 5 and only walked 1.  However, he only had a swingstr% of 15%.  He has to miss more bats to eliminate the possibility of the balls being put in play.

This is obviously a lost year for him but as I said before, what is the issue?  I don’t believe that he is just a terrible pitcher.  He might be a terrible starting pitcher but I really don’t believe that either.  Is he nothing more than a starter who gives you a 4.5-5.25 ERA? Sure, that I can see but that’s not terrible.  It’s someone you might want to replace but it’s not, take you out of games by the 4th inning bad. What he is doing now is terrible.  So, why is it this bad?  
 

I am wondering if we hear some stuff in the offseason about him…poor conditioning?  Bad attitude?  Mechanics out of whack?  Pitching through some kind of an injury?  Did 2020 throw him off somehow?  
 

I’m  not trying to find an excuse for him but I just wonder if there is more to this than simply pitching poorly.
 

Guys have lost years..that’s not uncommon.  The Os have unfortunately had a lot of guys like that this season.  

[Moose Milligan]

18 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

Lots of strikes, struck out 5 and only walked 1.  However, he only had a swingstr% of 15%.  He has to miss more bats to eliminate the possibility of the balls being put in play.

This is obviously a lost year for him but as I said before, what is the issue?  I don’t believe that he is just a terrible pitcher.  He might be a terrible starting pitcher but I really don’t believe that either.  Is he nothing more than a starter who gives you a 4.5-5.25 ERA? Sure, that I can see but that’s not terrible.  It’s someone you might want to replace but it’s not, take you out of games by the 4th inning bad. What he is doing now is terrible.  So, why is it this bad?  
 

I am wondering if we hear some stuff in the offseason about him…poor conditioning?  Bad attitude?  Mechanics out of whack?  Pitching through some kind of an injury?  Did 2020 throw him off somehow?  
 

I’m  not trying to find an excuse for him but I just wonder if there is more to this than simply pitching poorly.
 

Guys have lost years..that’s not uncommon.  The Os have unfortunately had a lot of guys like that this season.  

C'mon, stop trying to be the smartest guy in the room.  Dude's terrible.  

[Frobby]

15 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

C'mon, stop trying to be the smartest guy in the room.  Dude's terrible.  

It’s always a head scratcher for me when I see a guy who was relatively successful as he moved up the ladder in the minors who suddenly can’t get outs in the majors.    Plus, he looked pretty good last year in his brief major league time.   

I think all we can really do at this point is let him work on stuff over the winter, try to regain his footing, and hope we get a better version next year.   It’s too soon to DFA him based on his prior track record.   
 

[Moose Milligan]

1 minute ago, Frobby said:

It’s always a head scratcher for me when I see a guy who was relatively successful as he moved up the ladder in the minors who suddenly can’t get outs in the majors.    Plus, he looked pretty good last year in his brief major league time.   

I think all we can really do at this point is let him work on stuff over the winter, try to regain his footing, and hope we get a better version next year.   It’s too soon to DFA him based on his prior track record.   
 

Well you must be scratching your scalp raw after being an Orioles fan for the past 25 years.  

I'm fine with keep giving him chances as every other young starting pitcher we've brought up this year has been awful. It's not like there are other amazing options out there. I'm not saying we should DFA him, that would be a bit silly, however I don't see how he's part of the future.  

[Sports Guy]

2 minutes ago, Frobby said:

It’s always a head scratcher for me when I see a guy who was relatively successful as he moved up the ladder in the minors who suddenly can’t get outs in the majors.    Plus, he looked pretty good last year in his brief major league time.   

I think all we can really do at this point is let him work on stuff over the winter, try to regain his footing, and hope we get a better version next year.   It’s too soon to DFA him based on his prior track record.   
 

Frobby, stop making sense.  It’s far more productive to be over the top and ignore everything!!

But yea, this is obviously the way to go.  Whether it ends up amounting to anything is tbd but that doesn’t mean you don’t try.

After all, we do have a wizard as a pitching coach!

[Frobby]

1 minute ago, Moose Milligan said:

Well you must be scratching your scalp raw after being an Orioles fan for the past 25 years.  

I'm fine with keep giving him chances as every other young starting pitcher we've brought up this year has been awful. It's not like there are other amazing options out there. I'm not saying we should DFA him, that would be a bit silly, however I don't see how he's part of the future.  

I’m not optimistic either.   

[Frobby]

13 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

After all, we do have a wizard as a pitching coach!

Somewhere, Doug Brocail is laughing his a@@ off.

[SteveA]

3 hours ago, Frobby said:

Somewhere, Doug Brocail is laughing his a@@ off.

And Leo Mazzone is gently rocking back and forth

[Aristotelian]

4 hours ago, Moose Milligan said:

C'mon, stop trying to be the smartest guy in the room.  Dude's terrible.  

+1, he underachieved in AAA too. Some guys just aren't good and Akin appears to be one of those guys. I think Lopez is too. Maybe they are fixable by some genius coaching move. Seems like magical thinking to me.

[interloper]

It's weird. Akin looked really, really on point earlier in the game. And even when he got hit around, he was still locating pretty well and the stuff looked sharp. I like that he abandoned the full windup and I think that's helping him. Kind of a head scratcher outing for me, he looked better than he has all year IMO but still got his teeth kicked in.

But I'd like to see more. He seems more focused out there of late. 

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

7 minutes ago, SteveA said:

And Leo Mazzone is gently rocking back and forth

A lot of pitching coaches would be geniuses too working with Maddux, Smoltz and Glavine. I think Mazzone was a decent pitching coach, but a chef can only do so much when the only ingredients are spoiled produce from the dollar store. 

[NCRaven]

I've seen Akin pitch 4 or 5 times and he was bad all five.  Is that a small sample size?  Would he do better if I didn't watch?  If you want me to cut him, I'll just say it's not him, it's me.  I'm sure he'll feel better then.