Keegan Akin 2021

[Hank Scorpio]

His fastball command and velocity was outstanding. He was 94-95 touching 96 and painting. That's obviously the key for him. Commanding this fastball. 

[ChuckS]

22 minutes ago, Hank Scorpio said:

His fastball command and velocity was outstanding. He was 94-95 touching 96 and painting. That's obviously the key for him. Commanding this fastball. 

The velocity may be key for him as well.  He seems to get hit around when he's 91-93. 

[jabba72]

26 minutes ago, Hank Scorpio said:

His fastball command and velocity was outstanding. He was 94-95 touching 96 and painting. That's obviously the key for him. Commanding this fastball. 

Yeah, where did that come from? Im skeptical Akin can keep it up but his FB was impressive. 

[Frobby]

9 hours ago, Sports Guy said:

No, I would agree that he hasn’t been “good”.  But an ERA of just over 5 looks way better.  I’m not sure where it stands now but I believe the average ERA for a 5th starter is around 5.25, or at least it has been in the recent past.

I think he can be better than that..say something in the 4.5-4.8 range.

Not talking about some world beater but if he can go 5 IP and give up 2-3 runs a game (on average), that is good enough for a back end guy.

That’s what I was hoping for when the season began, and based on his MiL track record and his major league performance last year, it seemed like a reasonable hope.   I’m not giving up on it after one bad year,  but I’m definitely less optimistic he can achieve that.  

[Ripken]

Command was pretty good last start.  He's frequently up in the zone during those disastrous outings.

[Il BuonO]

Sure would be nice to see him string together a majority of good starts going into next year.

[Frobby]

Second straight nice outing from Akin tonight: 5 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 5 K’s.   He only threw 85 pitches, but Hyde decided 5 innings was enough.   

Really nice to see Akin having some success.   
 

[BohKnowsBmore]

42 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Second straight nice outing from Akin tonight: 5 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 5 K’s.   He only threw 85 pitches, but Hyde decided 5 innings was enough.   

Really nice to see Akin having some success.   
 

Wonder if Hyde was worried about him running out of steam or wanted him to be able to stack strong outings. Maybe a combination of the two. 

[Ripken]

33 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Second straight nice outing from Akin tonight: 5 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 5 K’s.   He only threw 85 pitches, but Hyde decided 5 innings was enough.   

Really nice to see Akin having some success.   

This is a spot to see what Elias can do.  Akin finished last year reasonably well, enough to rely on him this year, and he's been terrible, right up until he was good again.  There's a month left but the ups and downs are difficult to judge.  I hope the advanced metrics show something that helps explain the successes and failures, such that these guys can improve.  

Sulser and Wells looked great tonight.  There was a time Fry and Scott looked great... right up until Fry's arm exploded off his body.  There were times Tate and others gave us hope and then struggled.  This pitching staff has been awful so Elias needs to have some success navigating all these options going forward about who stays and where (rotation/pen, Baltimore/Minors) and who goes. 

 

[HowAboutThat]

1 hour ago, Frobby said:

Second straight nice outing from Akin tonight: 5 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 5 K’s.   He only threw 85 pitches, but Hyde decided 5 innings was enough.   

Really nice to see Akin having some success.   
 

His last outing was 92 pitches, but he went 7 innings. 85 and five is just fine. I’m happy with how things might be changing for Akin. I was one of many who wanted to give his innings to Wells or someone else, but maybe he can actually be a useful rotation guy next season? And a lefty to boot?

[LA2]

On 8/27/2021 at 9:30 AM, Hank Scorpio said:

His fastball command and velocity was outstanding. He was 94-95 touching 96 and painting. That's obviously the key for him. Commanding this fastball. 

Does anyone have a take on how Akin's fastball was today? Thanks.

[Aristotelian]

Good line against a tough lineup. 

[waroriole]

Let’s see if he learned his lesson and comes into spring training in better shape. Fastball location is the difference for him. When he has it, he can be an actual ML pitcher. 

[Can_of_corn]

23 minutes ago, waroriole said:

Let’s see if he learned his lesson and comes into spring training in better shape. Fastball location is the difference for him. When he has it, he can be an actual ML pitcher. 

Your comment makes it sound as if you think the two are connected.

[Sports Guy]

His str% was down and he didn’t miss a ton of bats.  Probably smart of Hyde to get him out after even though the pitch count wasn’t terribly high.

Be nice to see him close the season being able to keep the team in games, give up 3 runs or less and give us 5ish innings a start.