Bringing opposites together in Akin and Kremer

No one is going to mistake Keegan Akin and Dean Kremer for carbon copies as pitchers and personalities, but they seem destined to be linked. It's hard to separate them and there's no real motivation to attempt it. Not as long as their talents and energy are so vital to the current playoff run and the future success of the organization.

Two highly touted prospects making their major league debuts in 2020. Working back-to-back in the rotation last weekend. Doing it again this week, with Kremer following Akin in the series against the Yankees that began with last night's rainout.

Akin arrives and the immediate question is how much longer for Kremer. And it would have worked in reverse, though the left-hander always has been ahead due to his experience at the Triple-A level.

The former second-round draft pick, the Michigan kid who does his off-season throwing inside a barn built with his father, was a "definite" to debut this summer. Kremer, with his California roots, was listed as "probable." And the others stood further back in line.

"Very different, personality-wise," said pitching coach Kennie Steenstra, who moved up from Double-A Bowie to Norfolk prior to the cancellation of the minor league season and has been working as an instructor at the alternate camp site.

"Keegan's more laid back and just kind of go-with-the-flow kind of guy, and Dean's a little more, in a good way, uptight and wanting to make sure he's doing everything correctly. Keegan works hard in his own way, but it's different than what Dean does. They're not what I would call comparable in a lot of ways. They don't even pitch real similarly, but that's just who they are personality-wise."

Kremer, 24, came from the Dodgers in the 2018 Manny Machado trade and led the minors in strikeouts that year. He's the outsider compared to Akin, 25, selected in 2016 from Western Michigan University.

Steenstra worked with Kremer in Bowie immediately after the trade and again last summer before the right-hander's promotion to Norfolk. He also watched Kremer hold the Yankees to one run and one hit in Sunday's much-anticipated debut outing.

"When he first got here in '18 he was primarily fastball-curveball, and you saw a lot of that against the Yankees the other day, as well," Steenstra said. "That's kind of his bread-and-butter pitches. The things he's been working on, he's added a cutter and then trying to get his changeup in the mix a little bit more, especially as a starter, having that fourth pitch for the left-handers.

"He did a really nice job of taking what we talked to him about in spring training and utilizing a lot of that while he was home and working on it during the shutdown. He did a job of working on that while he was home, and then when he got here he just continued with that same work, and it's really come along."

Akin, meanwhile, is more fastball-changeup with an occasional slider and inclined to work higher in the zone with his heat.

"He's starting to see a lot to success with pitching down and then going up, which is something we've talked to him about for the last couple years was, you've got that good riding fastball, but when you can spot it at the knees, like you saw the other day, and then go off that line and the up line, that really makes him a formidable opponent for anybody," Steenstra said.

"The biggest thing with him has been finding the trust in his off-speed pitches and throwing those in any count."

It can be challenging to convince a young pitcher that stats don't matter as much as development while people in the organization keep referencing his high walk totals as a reason for staying in the minors.

Akin mentioned after his last start that the emphasis on his off-speed stuff made him a better pitcher and more prepared to attack major league hitters. The process worked.

"I had him here at Bowie a couple years ago and he could literally go through the lineup throwing 80 percent fastballs, but that was something that we knew, as time progressed, he wasn't going to be able to do," Steenstra said.

"He still has a great fastball, but when you get to the big leagues you're going to have to be able to mix it up a little bit and show some guys different things. And (former pitching coach) Mike Griffin's last year, when he had him at Norfolk, he did a good job of making sure that he threw some pitches he was uncomfortable with, and that's a tough thing to sell a guy. 'Hey, you're going to struggle with this a little bit, your numbers aren't going to look as good as they might, but this is something you're going to have to do to succeed at the big league level.'

"To his credit, he's taken advantage of that. It's always a balance we walk. Player development is, these are things you've got to do to get better and pitch in the big leagues, and yet it may change your numbers here and be a tough thing to live with in the moment. But we talk to these guys all the time about, we're not worried about your minor league stats, we're worried about making you be the best you can be when you get to the big leagues. And I think, ultimately, he knew he would be there at some point, so just being able to keep pushing him that direction was the right way to go."

Kremer doesn't lack in hair or confidence. They both flow.

"He's a real confident kid," Steenstra said. "I think a lot of that comes from his background of going through junior college and having to fight his way through there. He came to us that way and that's one of the things I really liked about him when he got here was there was never having to build him up and try to tell him how good he was. He knew he had the ability. It was just a matter of putting it together."

The only glitches in the secondary camp instruction can be blamed on the weather. Rain ruined a simulated game Wednesday that would have given center fielder Austin Hays his first live at-bats since fracturing his rib, and yesterday's forecast offered little relief.

"They've done great, great work down there," said manager Brandon Hyde. "Everything I'm hearing about what's going on at our alternate site has been fantastic. I've asked a lot of players. I just asked (Ryan) McKenna, taxi squad, how everything is going. Everybody's giving rave reviews about how it's structured, the teaching that's going on, the energy and the work and the talent, as well. The talent that's in our secondary site, the pitching these guys see on a daily basis with our prospects there.

"So really happy with how our guys have come out of that secondary site and performed. And I think kudos to our organization and kudos to the people who are putting a lot of work in behind the scenes in Bowie."

"It's going well," Steenstra said. "The guys who are here have definitely taken advantage of everything that's been offered to them and getting good work in here. And we've done a nice job of sticking with the guys who haven't been here, making sure they're following their plans and doing all the things they can do while they're home, to the best of their ability, anyway."

Alexander Wells and Cody Sedlock, the latter chosen one round ahead of Akin out of the University of Illinois, didn't make the 60-man pool due to space limitations. But the instruction also reaches them.

It's happening up-close with the next level of prospects that includes first-round picks Grayson Rodriguez and DL Hall, as well as Zac Lowther and Bruce Zimmermann. Michael Baumann also was impressive in camp before the Orioles shut him down with some minor forearm soreness.

"We've got a great group of guys still here, and some guys who are home who probably deserve to be here, but we just didn't have room," Steenstra said. "I think we've got a nice little wave of guys coming. Guys are working tremendously hard here. We've got a lot of talent. There's two or three more guys that probably are deserving of having their shot right now, but I just don't know if there's that room. Probably best for their development to give them a little bit more time."

Two of the pitching acquisitions from the Angels in the Dylan Bundy trade, Isaac Mattson and Kyle Bradish, "have been very impressive here," Steenstra said.

"We kind of forget about some other guys, the (Eric) Hanholds and (Chandler) Shepherds and some of the other guys that are here. We've got a nice, talented staff here."