Keegan Akin 2023

[Frobby]

I was surprised to see that there’s been no thread on Akin this year.  He’s struggled this year and could be the guy who gets sent down when Givens is ready.   

Yesterday, I thought he had his best stuff and command I’ve seen from him this season.  Unfortunately, he threw one terrible pitch that Luke Raley deposited into the RF stands for a solo HR in the 9th.  Otherwise, he retired the other 6 batters he faced, striking out 3 and needing only 25 pitches to get through 2 innings, 19 of them strikes.  The three batted balls that became outs had xBAs of .000, .010 and .100.

Its the first time this year that Akin pitched 2 innings, after doing it 27 times last year.   I hope last night was a harbinger that he’s turning things around, even though he did allow that homer to Raley on the one bad pitch he threw.   We could use another guy who can go 2+ innings.  

[Spy Fox]

Last year he was above average at preventing strong contact: 

 

This year he's allowing a ton of hard contact, look at these ice cold ratings in the top two rows: 

 

I'm curious about his batted ball metrics being so much worse while his some of his stuff metrics like whiff and chase rates are slightly better than last year. Is that a signifier of something? Or just noise in a 10.2 IP sample. 

[Aristotelian]

Hyde seems to have little confidence in Akin. Even last year when he had a low ERA he was used mostly in low leverage situations. This year they have been using him in perhaps higher leverage situations but more as a LOOGY, with fewer IP than appearances going into last night. I think they extended him last night just to get some innings before optioning him for the next man up. We'll see. For his career, lefties are .670 vs righties .809 against him. I think his primary job is LOOGY, with occasional long relief in low leverage. That's not really a full time job so he will be optioned back and forth. 

[maybenxtyr]

It sounded like he was really hitting his spots last night except for that one pitch that you mentioned. On the radio they said it was center cut pretty much. The good ones don't miss them often.

[Frobby]

What an outing from Akin on Sunday.  He came in with one out and one on in the 7th, and struck out 6 of the 9 hitters he faced, closing out the game by only allowing one baserunner in 2.2 innings.  It was great to see him finish that game with zero drama and let the rest of the bullpen have the day off.  Now we can go into the Blue Jays series with a very well-rested bullpen.  

One thing I like about Akin is he doesn’t fool around.  He works quickly, and throws 72% strikes.  Yesterday it was 78%.   He doesn’t always succeed, but I like his approach.  
 

[AnythingO's]

IMO that's what Akin is best at, multi-innings in the middle of the game when your SP only goes 5ish. He is not a matchup guy or just a loogy.

[interloper]

2022 Akin is re-emerging right when the bullpen really needs it. I thought he got off to a bad start but then was kind of unfairly optioned without being given a chance to round into form. Mostly that's because Perez doesn't have options, so it is what it is, but I've felt all year that the team has been kind of weirdly reluctant to use him. 

I know his 2022 was a tale of two halves, but... he proved he could be very good for long stretches. I'm glad to see them finally utilizing him a bit more. Why wouldn't you when he's a guy who is used to pitching multiple innings and throws 95 as a lefty? 

Edited June 12, 2023 by interloper

[Tony-OH]

56 minutes ago, Frobby said:

What an outing from Akin on Sunday.  He came in with one out and one on in the 7th, and struck out 6 of the 9 hitters he faced, closing out the game by only allowing one baserunner in 2.2 innings.  It was great to see him finish that game with zero drama and let the rest of the bullpen have the day off.  Now we can go into the Blue Jays series with a very well-rested bullpen.  

One thing I like about Akin is he doesn’t fool around.  He works quickly, and throws 72% strikes.  Yesterday it was 78%.   He doesn’t always succeed, but I like his approach.  
 

That was he role we thought he could perform. I'm seeing Hyde allowing guys to longing out there in the pen and that's a great thing. Maybe he's making some adjustments for his bullpen usage. Akin can be a big part of that if used this way.

[Frobby]

1 minute ago, Tony-OH said:

That was he role we thought he could perform. I'm seeing Hyde allowing guys to longing out there in the pen and that's a great thing. Maybe he's making some adjustments for his bullpen usage. Akin can be a big part of that if used this way.

It helps when he actually gets outs, like he did yesterday.  I still thought Hyde was too quick with his hook on Gibson,  pitching with a 4 run lead and one runner on base and only at 90 pitches.  Same with Irvin the day before, pulled with one out in the 6th with a 3-run lead and one runner on, at 72 pitches.  It worked out okay, but I’d have challenged the starters a bit more in both instances.  

[maybenxtyr]

I don't want this to sound as bad as it does, but Hyde actually let the game kinda happen yesterday without micromanaging. Obviously it helps when it's a blowout. Excellent job by Akin.

[tntoriole]

Pretty bad outing last night  .. this middle bullpen has no reliability at all 

Against Mariners at the yard.. 7 runs on 6 hits in 0.2 inning … oof! 

[SteveA]

9 minutes ago, tntoriole said:

Pretty bad outing last night  .. this middle bullpen has no reliability at all 

Against Mariners at the yard.. 7 runs on 6 hits in 0.2 inning … oof! 

I'm not going to try to claim it wasn't a bad outing, but man, so many grounders that just found holes, balls that just fell in, ball in front of Hicks who plays super deep CF.   And almost all of it with 2 outs.

I man, obviously, if you are a good P you find the way to get that 3rd out.   But in a game that was out of reach, with a lot of the hits being cheap -- I just chalk this up to it wasn't our night.   It doesn't change my opinion of Akin -- that he is adequate for the #3 LH reliever spot in the bullpen.   Doubt we have anyone better in Norfolk.

[Aristotelian]

10 minutes ago, SteveA said:

I'm not going to try to claim it wasn't a bad outing, but man, so many grounders that just found holes, balls that just fell in, ball in front of Hicks who plays super deep CF.   And almost all of it with 2 outs.

I man, obviously, if you are a good P you find the way to get that 3rd out.   But in a game that was out of reach, with a lot of the hits being cheap -- I just chalk this up to it wasn't our night.   It doesn't change my opinion of Akin -- that he is adequate for the #3 LH reliever spot in the bullpen.   Doubt we have anyone better in Norfolk.

I bet Akin is optioned when Vespi is available.in a couple days.

[banks703]

Do I remember reading someone’s research on Akin’s struggles when pitching back-to-back games? 
 

He’s really struggled this year and tonight sucks big time for him and the team but I swear someone on here had the data on how ineffective he is on b2b days. 
 

This probably is more suited for the questioning Hyde thread but here we are. 

[Brooks The Great]

DFA. I question Elias' competence if he doesn't DFA Akin for another arm tomorrow, which the team will definitely need for the next few games. Definitely never want to see Akin in an O's uniform ever again.