Left-hander Keegan Akin struggled through the first half of the 2023 season before eventually being shut down for the year. He had been one of the Orioles’ more effective relievers in 2022. Right-hander Dillon Tate didn’t pitch at all in the major leagues a year ago due to forearm/elbow injuries. Like Akin, Tate was one of the Orioles’ most reliable bullpen arms in 2022.
Akin posted a 6.85 ERA with 27 strikeouts and seven walks across 23.2 innings (24 appearances) in 2023 before hitting the injured list with lower back discomfort on June 29. The night before, the 6-foot, 240-pound lefty had allowed four runs (two earned) on three hits in an extra-inning loss to the Cincinnati Reds.
Akin had rehab stints on July 31 and Aug. 3, but that was it. He was transferred to the 60-day injured list on Aug. 23, leaving him to watch as his teammates chased an American League East title.
“I just wanted to be a part of that,” Akin said. “It killed me a little bit, honestly, to sit down here [in Sarasota] and have to watch it for a couple months and know that there’s really nothing I can do about it. It was obviously a little bit of motivation to get my butt into gear in the offseason to try to be with the team all this year.”
Akin rested for the first two months of the offseason, then picked up his normal routine. He has allowed one hit in 7.1 Grapefruit League innings, striking out 10 and walking one. The tempo of his delivery, life on his fastball and the strike-throwing is all reminiscent of his 2022 season, when he posted a 3.20 ERA in 81.2 innings with the Orioles — almost exclusively in relief.
Akin is pleased with where he is at this point of camp.
“I’d say I probably feel the best I’ve felt in a few years, to be honest with you,” Akin said. “The ball’s coming out a little easier. I’m just moving a little better, I feel like. Obviously I’m pain-free and healthy, so at this point, that’s kind of all that matters to me.”
Akin, who turns 29 on April 1, has one minor league option remaining and is part of a crowded bullpen competition, but he could prove to be a valuable arm for the Orioles if he reverts back to top form. Back in 2022, Orioles manager Brandon Hyde used Akin as a multi-inning weapon and had confidence in him to get out both left- and right-handed hitters.
Developed through the minor leagues as a starter, Akin had 27 outings of six outs or more in 2022.
“To see him healthy right now, to see the way he’s throwing the baseball, this is the best I’ve seen him, honestly — the way he can keep his velocity, how quick his arm is, the secondary stuff has really, really improved, so he’s had a really good camp,” Hyde said. “He looks like he’s in great shape. This is the best he’s looked for me. He did a great job this offseason of getting healthy, getting right and preparing for the season. He’s really performed well this spring.”
Tate, however, didn’t even make it to a major league mound a year ago. The offseason following the 2022 campaign, he was hampered by forearm/flexor strain that lingered into spring training. He then made nine rehab outings beginning from late April to late May, at which point he was sidelined by a stress reaction in his throwing elbow.
Tate then made three rehab appearances in June, his final outings of the season. That meant he was done before he ever really got started, unable to help a team in the midst of its first 100-win season since 1980.
“I think if anything the added level of frustration came from not being able to help in any sort of capacity,” Tate said. “Honestly, I just felt embarrassed just about every day that I would go to the field, because I’m getting treatment but I’m not progressing. The training staff was really patient with me. It just sucks that I couldn’t be there to help.”
Tate, who turns 30 on May 1, was originally acquired by the Orioles in the 2018 trade that sent Zack Britton to the New York Yankees. The 6-foot-2, 190-pound right-hander posted a 3.05 ERA with 60 strikeouts and 16 walks across 73.2 innings (67 appearances) in 2022, sporting a 57.4 percent ground-ball rate to boot. He was particularly effective against right-handed batters, who hit .190/.241/.283 against him in 2022.
Tate has allowed one hit in 6.0 Grapefruit League innings, striking out four, walking one and showing off the sinker-slider combination that made him so tough two years ago.
“That was a big loss for us last year, not being able to get him back,” Hyde said. “He looks great. Two years ago, he was for me one of the better right-on-right relievers, especially in the American League. The way he threw the heavy sinker and how he’s able to play off of that, it’s a really tough matchup for a lot of hitters. To get him back to where he was a couple years ago, it’s great, and it looks like he’s on the right track.”
Tate has two minor league options remaining but figures to head north with the Orioles if he can get through camp healthy. Assuming he does, he will be able to bounce ideas off of two veteran pitchers acquired by the Orioles this offseason in ace Corbin Burnes and closer Craig Kimbrel.
Tate will have a lot of time in the bullpen to have conversations with Kimbrel, who is eighth on the all-time saves list with 417.
“Every baseball player is going to have a different outlook on how they go about their work, but his is insightful and somebody that’s done it for three times as long as I’ve been around — same thing with Burnesy,” Tate said. “These guys just have a lot of information, being that they’ve done it at a high level for a long period of time. We’re all trying to be consistent at the end of the day, and these are some of the guys that have had more of that than I’ve experienced, so I’m trying to get those answers from those guys.”