Keegan Lee Akin (born April 1, 1995) is an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

for the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. As one of the American League's eight charter ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2020.

Amateur career

Akin attended Bullock Creek High School in

Midland, Michigan Midland is a city in and the county seat of Midland County, Michigan. The city's population was 42,547 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Midland Micropolitan Statistical Area, part of the larger Saginaw-Midland-Bay City Com ...

, and

Western Michigan University Western Michigan University (Western Michigan, Western or WMU) is a public research university in Kalamazoo, Michigan. It was initially established as Western State Normal School in 1903 by Governor Aaron T. Bliss for the training of teachers ...

, where he played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional p ...

for the

Western Michigan Broncos The Western Michigan Broncos are a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I program representing Western Michigan University (WMU) in college athletics. They compete in the Mid-American Conference in men's baseball, basketball ...

. He played collegiate summer baseball with the

Chillicothe Paints The Chillicothe Paints are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Chillicothe, Ohio, in the United States. The team is a member of the summer collegiate Prospect League. The Paints previously played in the professional independent Frontier Lea ...

of the Prospect League in 2014. In 2015, he played collegiate summer baseball with the

Bourne Braves The Bourne Braves are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Bourne, Massachusetts. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) and plays in the league's West Division. The Braves play their home games at Doran Park on the ca ...

of the Cape Cod Baseball League.

Professional career

Minor Leagues

The

selected Akin in the second round of the

2016 Major League Baseball draft The 2016 Major League Baseball (MLB) First-Year Player Draft began on June 9, 2016, to assign amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The draft order is the reverse order of the 2015 MLB season standings. In addition, compensation picks will be di ...

. He signed with the Orioles, receiving a $1.17 million signing bonus. Akin made his professional debut with the

Aberdeen IronBirds The Aberdeen IronBirds are a Minor League Baseball team based in the city of Aberdeen in Harford County, Maryland. They are the High-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles and compete in the South Atlantic League. They were previously members of the ...

and spent all of 2016 there, posting a 1.04 ERA in 26 innings. He spent 2017 with the

Frederick Keys The Frederick Keys are a collegiate summer baseball team of the MLB Draft League. The Keys are based in Frederick, Maryland. The franchise is named for "Star-Spangled Banner" writer Francis Scott Key, a native of Frederick County. A new team masc ...

where he pitched to a 7–8 record and 4.14 ERA in 21 starts, and he spent 2018 with the Bowie Baysox, going 14–7 with a 3.27 ERA in 25 starts. He spent 2019 with the

Norfolk Tides The Norfolk Tides are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles. They are located in Norfolk, Virginia, and are named in nautical reference to the city's location on the Chesapea ...

, going 6–7 with a 4.73 ERA and 131 strikeouts over innings. The Orioles added Akin to their

40-man roster A Major League Baseball roster is a list of players who are allowed, by league agreement, to play for a Major League Baseball (MLB) team. Each MLB team maintains two rosters: an active roster of players eligible to participate in an MLB game, an ...

following the 2019 season.

Major Leagues

Akin was promoted to the major leagues on August 8, 2020. He made his major league debut on August 14 against the

Washington Nationals The Washington Nationals are an American professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C.. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. From 2005 to 2007, the team played in RFK Stadiu ...

. Akin finished his first MLB season with a 1-2 record and a 4.56 ERA and 35 strikeouts over 8 games and 25.2 innings pitched. The following season, Akin pitched to a 2-10 record and 6.63 ERA in 24 appearances for Baltimore. His season ended on September 24, when he was shut down for the remainder of the year after suffering a left adductor strain and requiring abdominal surgery.

References

External links

Western Michigan Broncos bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Akin, Keegan 1995 births Living people Aberdeen IronBirds players Baltimore Orioles players Baseball players from Michigan Bourne Braves players Bowie Baysox players Frederick Keys players Major League Baseball pitchers Norfolk Tides players People from Alma, Michigan Salt River Rafters players Western Michigan Broncos baseball players