Keegan Akin said today that he’s feeling much better after straining his left groin muscle while warming for the last exhibition game in Florida.

Akin is on the 15-day injured list retroactive to last Sunday.

“A lot better than the initial incident,” he said. “Looking good so far.”

Akin slipped in the bullpen at Ed Smith Stadium, noticed the discomfort and didn’t pitch. Nothing else happened in camp earlier that caused his injury.

“Actually, I kind of joked about it because I said it was probably one of the best days I felt all spring training and then this happened,” he said. “So I guess I better not jinx it next time and say that.”

The progress that Akin is making allows him to play catch and run.

“Kind of like full-go, just not 100 percent right now,” he said. “Like I said, it’s feeling a lot better obviously than the initial incident, so we’re kind of pushing it a little bit and seeing where we’re at.”

Teammate Jackson Holliday is in Triple-A Norfolk on a rehab assignment, but Akin is waiting for find out his itinerary.

“Don’t really know yet on that,” he said. “It’s gonna be more how I feel the next couple days and we’ll try to put some type of timeline together.”

The Orioles are carrying left-handers Grant Wolfram and Dietrich Enns in their eight-man bullpen. Wolfram didn’t allow a run in spring training and is expected to move into more of a high-leverage role in Akin’s absence.

“You’re looking at a guy who can really defend himself against left-handed hitters,” said pitching coach Drew French. “He should be one of the first guys who gets that opportunity against that pocket later in the game. We’ve had him up a couple times the last couple days and he should find his way into the game today.

“This should be our left-handed chainsaw for those types of pockets. The definition of the breaking ball has been really important for him, but just his ability to learn that he can do this job. As hard as it may not appear from the outside, like 12 games in a row for a reliever, being on every single day, sitting down there never knowing when your number’s gonna be called unless you’re told you’re down, it’s a tough psychological job. It’s not the physical job but it’s the psychological job that sometimes guys have to get over. And he learned a lot about himself last year, so I feel like that’s just a springboard for him to be really good for us in ’26.”

Wolfram signed with the Brewers as a free agent on Dec. 12, 2024 and the Orioles acquired him in a April 7 trade for outfielder Daz Cameron and cash.

The moment that really opened eyes in the organization last year among Wolfram’s 21 appearances as a rookie also led to his first major league win. He replaced starter Charlie Morton on July 10 against the Mets and struck out four batters in two scoreless innings,  including Juan Soto to lead off the eighth on the seventh pitch of the at-bat.

“I think the Juan Soto, yeah, that was it,” French said.

“I met with him in the offseason prior. We were trying to make him an O earlier than he was an O, so I got to know him a little bit and he’s got the same agent as a couple of our guys already. So just getting to know him really, really early on, I was a big fan when we met initially and he went a different route, but ultimately all roads lead to Baltimore, so it’s good to have him.”

*The Rangers have adjusted their rotation for this week’s series against the Orioles after Jacob deGrom was scratched yesterday with neck stiffness.

Jack Leiter is listed for Monday night, but the next two spots are TBA.