Keegan Akin 2021

[Tony-OH]

Ok, let's stop the DFA talk. As you can see in flashes, Akin can get major league hitters out with quality stuff.

The thing is, he's miscast as a starter because he's always had the ability to show four (on different days) plus pitches. The problem has always been the same for Akin. He takes a lot of pitches to get guys out and he's inconsistent with his command, sometimes, batter to batter.

He's doing exactly what I saw him do in the minors which is cruise through a few innings then suddenly implode. He's actually pitched decently at times which is why his xERA is 5.35 compared to his 8.23 ERA. 

So what do you do with a wildly inconsistent pitcher? Most smart teams will try them in a different role and see what it looks like there. Now, I'm not saying Akin's inconsistencies may not continue out of the pen, but I will say you lesson the chance of you burning through your bullpen because you have to pull him after three innings. 

With Zimmermann coming back, hopefully they can send Akin to the pen and not back to the minors unless the plan is to send him back and work in relief. While SG and I disagree on whether to use him as  starter or not, I do agree with him that there is nothing more for Akin to learn in AAA. The Orioles need to put him in his most likely role and see what he looks like this year and probably next.

I think he can become a Paul Fry type of reliever and who could occasionally bridge a starter for three innings before giving it up to the closer in the 9th (ala Arthur Rhodes).

[Sports Guy]

2 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

Ok, let's stop the DFA talk. As you can see in flashes, Akin can get major league hitters out with quality stuff.

The thing is, he's miscast as a starter because he's always had the ability to show four (on different days) plus pitches. The problem has always been the same for Akin. He takes a lot of pitches to get guys out and he's inconsistent with his command, sometimes, batter to batter.

He's doing exactly what I saw him do in the minors which is cruise through a few innings then suddenly implode. He's actually pitched decently at times which is why his xERA is 5.35 compared to his 8.23 ERA. 

So what do you do with a wildly inconsistent pitcher? Most smart teams will try them in a different role and see what it looks like there. Now, I'm not saying Akin's inconsistencies may not continue out of the pen, but I will say you lesson the chance of you burning through your bullpen because you have to pull him after three innings. 

With Zimmermann coming back, hopefully they can send Akin to the pen and not back to the minors unless the plan is to send him back and work in relief. While SG and I disagree on whether to use him as  starter or not, I do agree with him that there is nothing more for Akin to learn in AAA. The Orioles need to put him in his most likely role and see what he looks like this year and probably next.

I think he can become a Paul Fry type of reliever and who could occasionally bridge a starter for three innings before giving it up to the closer in the 9th (ala Arthur Rhodes).

But would they try them in a different role with the SSS of starter innings he has at this level, especially if they are a bad team.

To me, you keep him as a starter the rest of the year until you are willing to bring up other arms.  If they want Bradish and Baumann in the rotation over him, I am good with that.  At that point, he would be losing his spot in the rotation for good reason.  Right now, I think its just too little of a sample size.

[Tony-OH]

2 hours ago, Sports Guy said:

But would they try them in a different role with the SSS of starter innings he has at this level, especially if they are a bad team.

To me, you keep him as a starter the rest of the year until you are willing to bring up other arms.  If they want Bradish and Baumann in the rotation over him, I am good with that.  At that point, he would be losing his spot in the rotation for good reason.  Right now, I think its just too little of a sample size.

We've had this discussion. We don't agree. You think its easy for starting pitcher to just one day wake up and be a reliever, while I think learning to change your warm up routines, finding out how long he takes to recover, and whether he can pitch often are things you can only find out when tried in relief. Not every failed starter can pitch in relief.

It's time to find out whether Akin can.

 

[Sports Guy]

7 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

We've had his discussion. We don't agree. You think its easy for starting pitcher to just one day wake up and be a reliever, while I think learning to change your warm up routines, finding out how long he takes to recover, and whether he can pitch often are things you can only find out when tried in relief. Not every failed starter can pitch in relief.

It's time to find out whether Akin can.

 

Thanks for putting words into my mouth.  I never said it was easy.

I said him getting relief appearances the rest of this year vs waiting until next ST isn’t going to change the trajectory of his relief career.

Unless you have evidence that suggests otherwise?

[wildcard]

For now the O's have 5 starters without using Akin in the rotation.  Means, Matt Harvey, Lopez, Watkins, and Zimmermann. 

[HowAboutThat]

7 hours ago, wildcard said:

For now the O's have 5 starters without using Akin in the rotation.  Means, Matt Harvey, Lopez, Watkins, and Zimmermann. 

Ummmm Zimmermann isn’t back yet and Lopez is only good for 5 innings at the most, with 3(?) happy exceptions. And Harvey’s dead cat bounce is done.

[Frobby]

6 hours ago, Philip said:

Ummmm Zimmermann isn’t back yet and Lopez is only good for 5 innings at the most, with 3(?) happy exceptions. And Harvey’s dead cat bounce is done.

The only thing WC did was explain why we don’t need Akin in the rotation right now.   There’s zero doubt that Zimmermann is joining the team before his next start, having just thrown 5 shutout innings for Norfolk in his last rehab start.   Lopez isn’t great but he’s had two good starts in a row and is a better option than Akin right now.   Harvey’s last start was meh but he’s also better than Akin presently.   So this isn’t about whether these guys are good, it’s about whether they are better options than Akin.   Right now, they are.  

I say this as someone who still believes that Akin has a shot at being a major league pitcher.   But I don’t think he should be getting major league starts right now.  
 

[HowAboutThat]

14 minutes ago, Frobby said:

The only thing WC did was explain why we don’t need Akin in the rotation right now.   There’s zero doubt that Zimmermann is joining the team before his next start, having just thrown 5 shutout innings for Norfolk in his last rehab start.   Lopez isn’t great but he’s had two good starts in a row and is a better option than Akin right now.   Harvey’s last start was meh but he’s also better than Akin presently.   So this isn’t about whether these guys are good, it’s about whether they are better options than Akin.   Right now, they are.  

I say this as someone who still believes that Akin has a shot at being a major league pitcher.   But I don’t think he should be getting major league starts right now.  
 

I haven’t given up on Akin even though he hasn’t been great. I’m pretty confident Lopez has shown his virtues and flaws in enough quantity. I don’t know why Lopez hasn’t been paired with Akin as tandem pitchers. I don’t know why that isn’t a workable solution or at least why it isn’t worth a try. Yeah it does take up an extra spot but that’s the only negative I can think of. 
very excited to have Zimm back and hope Watkins does well tomorrow.

[sportsfan8703]

It’s looking like he’ll get until next trade deadline to try and be a starter, at least in AAA. Reason being, as long as we have Scott and Fry, we really don’t need a 3rd lefty, especially when there is a glimmer of hope that he could still “develop”. 
 

For Elias not to have traded Fry, he must’ve really been offered peanuts. 

[Tony-OH]

On 8/11/2021 at 4:12 PM, Sports Guy said:

Thanks for putting words into my mouth.  I never said it was easy.

I said him getting relief appearances the rest of this year vs waiting until next ST isn’t going to change the trajectory of his relief career.

Unless you have evidence that suggests otherwise?

I thought you wanted to start winning next year like I do? Why not try him now when it doesn't matter then run him out there next year in a role no one knows he can handle?

[Sports Guy]

Just now, Tony-OH said:

I thought you wanted to start winning next year like I do? Why not try him now when it doesn't matter then run him out there next year in a role no one knows he can handle?

Because you may need him to start some next year.  I want to win next year but I don’t have any delusions of a playoff team.   I want them to be pushing 500.  You can easily do that with Akin getting starts next year or not having him be a reliever until next year.

At this point in the season, he may get what? 30 innings I’m of relief..maybe?

I don’t see how that makes or breaks his career as a reliever.  He isn’t going to fail or succeed as a reliever because the Os put him in the pen in the middle of August.

[Tony-OH]

4 hours ago, Sports Guy said:

Because you may need him to start some next year.  I want to win next year but I don’t have any delusions of a playoff team.   I want them to be pushing 500.  You can easily do that with Akin getting starts next year or not having him be a reliever until next year.

At this point in the season, he may get what? 30 innings I’m of relief..maybe?

I don’t see how that makes or breaks his career as a reliever.  He isn’t going to fail or succeed as a reliever because the Os put him in the pen in the middle of August.

If the Orioles need to start Akin next year, they are either decimated by injuries or Elias failed.

It's also about learning whether he can be used as reliever. Don't need even 30 innings to find out.

[Il BuonO]

Pretty good outing today for the second time in a row. 
 

7 IP

3 H (one was a bunt)

6 SO 

2 BB

1 HBP

72 pitches through 4 IP and then cruised w/ 20 over the next three.

Looked very comfortable.

 

[SteveA]

Just now, Il BuonO said:

Pretty good outing today for the second time in a row. 
 

7 IP

3 H (one was a bunt)

6 SO 

2 BB

72 pitches through 4 IP and then cruised w/ 20 over the next three.

Looked very comfortable.

 

By far the best outing of his major league career.   Nothing even close.

9 up 9 down on 20 pitches his last 3 innings, unreal.   Of course I think the Angels were already mentally on the plane back to Disneyland, their spirits were broken in the 97 degree heat after losing last night.   (Although the 5th inning, the first inning where they went down quickly, the score was 1-1).

And not only was one of the 3 hits a bunt, wasn't one a fly ball that DJ Stewart lost in the sun?   I followed the game on Gameday so I don't know that for sure, but that's how it was described to me in the game thread.   So the only "clean" hit was the Ohtani HR.   And one of the walks was to Ohtani too, I have no problem walking him every time up.   He also hit a batter.

[Aristotelian]

Did not watch it but that is a great line. Will need to see a lot more before I have any sort of confidence but 7 innings with no runs against a MLB lineup is no small accomplishment.