Left-hander Keegan Akin lost his arbitration hearing against the Orioles, per Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. He will earn $2.975MM in 2026. Akin filed at $3.375MM but will earn $400K less than that figure in his final trip through arbitration. Akin is a client of All Bases Covered Sports Management.
The 30-year-old (31 in April) has thrown 368 innings for the Orioles since debuting in 2020. He spent his first two seasons in 2020-21 as a swingman before converting to a full-time reliever in 2022. He had a 3.20 ERA in 81 2/3 innings that year and stood out with a 49.3% groundball rate and just a 6.1% walk rate. He struggled mightily in 2023, posting a 6.85 ERA in 23 1/3 innings and missing most of the season with a lower back injury. He had his best season in 2024. Akin had a 3.32 ERA in 78 2/3 innings that year while posting career-best strikeout and walk numbers (24.9% K-BB rate).
This is the first instance of a team winning an arbitration hearing this offseason. Players had been 5-for-5 before Akin’s defeat. The left-hander is in his final year of arbitration. He made $825K in his first trip through the process, then $1.475MM last season. Akin and the Orioles were able to come to an agreement before heading to an arbitration hearing the first two times.
Akin stepped into the closer’s role over the final two months of the 2025 campaign after Felix Bautista went down with a shoulder injury and Seranthony Dominguez was shipped to Toronto at the trade deadline. The lefty picked up eight saves across August and September, though he also blew three opportunities. Akin’s handedness and middling velocity don’t make him an obvious closer candidate, but he entered the offseason as the potential favorite for the role. Baltimore then added a pair of backend arms in Ryan Helsley and Andrew Kittredge, all but guaranteeing Akin will slide back into a role geared toward the 7th and 8th innings.
Last season saw Akin make a pair of pitch arsenal adjustments. He bumped his changeup usage to a career-high 19.9%. The pitch held opponents to a measly .103 batting average. It was his most effective offering in terms of Run Value (+6). Akin also tweaked the movement of his fastball, adding two inches of horizontal break and more than an inch of vertical drop. That tweak did not go so well, as hitters slugged .566 against Akin’s heater. It generated a negative Run Value for the first time in his career.
More like Keegan ACHIN, after that judicial beatdown
You’ve became my favorite poster! You are very witty lol
🥰
now kith
Technically an arbiter beatdown, but yeah.
Yes judicial sounded better to me, even if it’s not completely apt.
It does sound much better
He needs to win some Cy Young awards if he wants to win his arbitration.
Finally, the teams win.
Rooting for the wrong side there, guy.
Did I make it sound like it’s a good thing. Oh wait, I worded it wrong. Whoops.
Oof. Bad look.
Wow look it’s the Astros owner!
I am not a billionare.
If you go to a court like hearing with your employer and you’re not an owner, side-piece, wife, relative or highly essential employee, you may as well start looking for a new job..fairly soon.
He’s an impending free agent, so he very likely will be looking for a new job in the next 8-10 months.
Even the arbitration panel recognizes that the Orioles need to sign a left-handed bullpen piece bc what they have isn’t gonna do it.
He might want to find a new career besides baseball.
Why?
Akin made a fool move. His walk rate was way too high. If he were a free agent he’d have gotten maybe 1.5 mil. Now if he has a bad spring, Baltimore cuts him and only owes him one sixth of his salary. His agent gave him very poor advice not to have taken the guaranteed salary.
Didn’t have Akin a good year in 2025 and collect several saves? I really doubt that a left-handed reliever with his track record won’t get a better contract than $ 1.5m.
Gruß,
BSHH
At BSHH Akin had 8 saves last season his bWAR was 1.0 his fWAR was -0.5. I thinker Wilmer is exaggerating/being sensational
The difference was $400k
That’s akin to falling face first in the mud & getting kicked in the head w/ a steal toe boot, no that’s a bit strong. It’s akin to being sucker punched on the subway after a tough Yankee loss, no, that’s still wrong. Now I got it, it’s akin to spending your last few bucks on a cold beer then having some drunk Mets fan stumble into you & spill it all over your new Judge jersey. Yea, that’s what it’s akin to!! 🤣
1 war
Congrats to the Orioles for being the first team to win an arbitration case this offseason!
Poor Keegan came when the score was 5-0 and the arbitrators had to throw the owners a bone.
I hate the arbitration system. It’s a scam to the players. The dude is 30 in his final year of arb? To me, that’s nuts. They should have an age cut off also to that system.
Squabbling over 400k. I think they should have given it to him as a gift for being the closer, which he’s not suited to be. I guess they’re penny-pinching since the Nads are leaving MASN
It’s more about the % raise than the actual dough. Other cases use these precedents as examples in future arb cases which could result in millions going one way or another. It’s dumb but it’s the system they came up with.
If his career goes kaput maybe Keegan can start a new career with other displaced athletes like Jordan Poole of Golden State. Maybe improv or stand up comedy. Keegan and Poole, what say you
118 ERA+
And he posted a sub-3.00 FIP and xERA in almost 25% more innings in 2024.
He’s not prime Aroldis Chapman or anything, but he is obviously a decent LHRP.
The adds are covering up the reading material, is anyone else having this problem?? it’s becoming real disheartening!!