Keegan Akin 2022

[Frobby]

It’s too soon to draw any conclusions based on two outings, but I’m very impressed with his pitch efficiency so far.   5.2 innings, 66 pitches, 51 strikes.   This from a guy who always seemed to be reaching his pitch limit in the 5th inning.   I don’t expect him to continue at that level of efficiency, but if he can stay in the 15 pitches per inning range, I’d be in favor of trying him as a starter again.   

[yark14]

4 hours ago, Sports Guy said:

Clearly him being out of shape is effecting him!

It looks like he is getting into better shape.  Looks trimmer than he did at the start of camp.

Hopefully he keeps pitching like this, we need all the arms we can get.

[Tony-OH]

16 hours ago, Il BuonO said:

Wonder if he gets any consideration for a start. Looks much more comfortable out there.

I say don't mess with what works. 

[Frobby]

Two clean innings from Akin last night, albeit in a low leverage situation down 5-1 late.    Still, you have to like 25 pitches, 21 strikes.   On the year, that’s 7.2 IP, 91 pitches, 72 strikes.    Incredibly efficient, in stark contrast to what we’ve seen from him the last few years.

[interloper]

He hit 96. 

96!!

[Sports Guy]

On 4/13/2022 at 2:22 PM, Tony-OH said:

I say don't mess with what works. 

Considering the team has a few rotation holes and could have easily used Akin to start last night or tonight and chose not to tells me that he is a reliever going forward.

[waroriole]

Remember when John Parrish was The Truth for about a month. I hope this isn’t the case here. 

[interloper]

On 4/13/2022 at 2:22 PM, Tony-OH said:

I say don't mess with what works. 

Yeah he clearly is enjoying himself right now. Improved command, improved stuff, improved confidence. He also said he likes it. Having Akin become a very good multi inning reliever would be a huge player development success considering he was always a fringey SP prospect. And with Grayson et al on the way, there's no sense in ping ponging him between starting and relieving.

[interloper]

2 minutes ago, waroriole said:

Remember when John Parrish was The Truth for about a month. I hope this isn’t the case here. 

It is still early, for sure.

[wildcard]

I like Akin as a reliever.   He and Perez may end up has the O's best lefty relievers for the season.    And they could be part of the future.

[Il BuonO]

2 hours ago, interloper said:

He hit 96. 

96!!

I was already asleep by the time he came in, but yeah, impressive. I just watched a replay and I don’t know what light clicked on for him, but he looks more confident on top of his level of performance. 

He was at 95 mph on the second batter he faced and didn’t lose any command-two balls at 95 and 96 on the inside corner and his other pitches were well placed, a slider for strike three in on the hands of a RHB and one low and away to a lefty. Even his misses were in good spots. 

[LookinUp]

2 hours ago, Sports Guy said:

Considering the team has a few rotation holes and could have easily used Akin to start last night or tonight and chose not to tells me that he is a reliever going forward.

For now. I think they're just letting him establish some success. Teams usually will try to make starters out of guys with that developmental profile if it looks like they have a decent chance.

At least historically. Nowadays I'm not sure that's the priority the way teams use openers, piggy backs and long relief. Maybe it's a moot point and the "starter" designation just isn't that important.

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

6 minutes ago, LookinUp said:

For now. I think they're just letting him establish some success. Teams usually will try to make starters out of guys with that developmental profile if it looks like they have a decent chance.

At least historically. Nowadays I'm not sure that's the priority the way teams use openers, piggy backs and long relief. Maybe it's a moot point and the "starter" designation just isn't that important.

The way baseball is going I'm just waiting for the first team to go screw it and assemble a pitching staff of players that can be used interchangeably. Because the days of a starting pitching going into the 7th or 8th inning is dead. You're lucky if a starting pitcher makes it through 5 innings now to be eligible for the decision.

 

 

[MurphDogg]

2 hours ago, waroriole said:

Remember when John Parrish was The Truth for about a month. I hope this isn’t the case here. 

I remember when John Parrish was an effective reliever from his return from knee injury in August 2003 until he injured his elbow in June 2005 and needed Tommy John surgery.

He had a 3.10 ERA over 119 innings across 84 appearances despite having a BB/9 over 6.

Eyeballing his game log, I am guessing that August 19, 2003 (his third appearance post-injury) through the end of the season was his The Truth month, as he had a 1.27 ERA during that stretch and a 3.0 BB/9.

Gotta say, I would be pretty happy if we got 84 solid relief appearances and a 1.9 rWAR across the next one and two-thirds seasons from Akin, even if it never earned him a cool nickname. That would be the makings of a nice career, especially if he can avoid blowing out his elbow like Parrish did.

[Tony-OH]

5 hours ago, interloper said:

He hit 96. 

96!!

I've seen him do that a few times in the minors, but wasn't sure was a hot gun. Either way, it has come together for him in this role and it's a role they need to keep him in. It's almost like a role I suggested for him since Bowie.