Prospect profile: Keegan Akin made a strong pro debut

As a highly drafted pitcher, there were some high expectations on left-hander Keegan Akin before he even threw one pitch as a professional. But he produced such good numbers last summer at short-season Single-A Aberdeen that Akin met those expectations in his debut season and has quickly become one of the Orioles' top pitching propsects.

Drafted in the second round (54th overall) last June out of Western Michigan University, Akin got a signing bonus of $1.177 million. Last year in college, Akin went 7-4 with a 1.82 ERA and set a single-season school strikeout record with 133 in 109 innings. Akin pitched Western Michigan to its first NCAA tournament appearance since 1989 and was a third-team All-American.

Then at Aberdeen, he was limited to three-inning outings but still showed what he can do. He went 0-1 with a 1.04 ERA. Over 26 innings, he walked seven, fanned 29 and allowed a .161 average against. He ended the year with 20 consecutive scoreless innings and retired 22 of the last 23 batters he faced.

Per Baseball America, he is the No. 6 ranked Orioles prospect and third pitcher after Cody Sedlock and Hunter Harvey. ESPN ranked Akin as the No. 3 Orioles prospect, while MLBPipeline.com and Baseball Prospectus rated him No. 6.

In an interview late last year in Aberdeen, Akin said he was thrilled to be drafted so highly.

"I was very happy with that," he said. "When some of the pre-draft publications came out, I was not that high (in some rankings). It was very exciting to get taken there and it meant a lot to me."

He throws two- and four-seam fastballs that sit at 92-93 mph, touching 96-97 at times, with a changeup and slider. The slider, at 82-85 mph, is his best secondary pitch, and the changeup lags behind and was a pitch he had not used much in college ball.

In that interview last August, then Aberdeen pitching coach Justin Lord said Akin had made a solid impression on him

"I like what I see right now," Lord said. "Has a good left-handed arm, throws three pitches and lot of strikes. He's had some games where both secondary pitches were real good. I think as his secondary stuff gets more consistent, he will really continue to progress. He's got a very simple delivery. It is fairly clean and repeatable, which is always good."

It didn't take Akin long at all to get on the Orioles' radar, quickly moving among their top six prospects. This year we'll see if he can keep the momentum going. He should start the year in the rotation at either Single-A Delmarva or Single-A Frederick.