Keegan Akin had much smaller plans for his afternoon.
He and his fiance didn't have many groceries at their apartment, so they made plans to go to the store before Akin's phone rang.
The call was for Akin, and it was to let him know he was being called up to the Orioles for the first time in his career.
"I said, ‘Well, I guess we're not going grocery shopping.'"
Akin, who said he was blindsided by the call, then called his parents and made sure they were set up with the MLB package to see his games and joined the team in Washington for their final two games of a series against the Nationals.
Akin, 25, made 24 starts last season at Triple-A Norfolk and posted a 4.73 ERA with a 1.513 WHIP. He's spent the last few weeks in the alternate site at Double-A Bowie, where he got into his five-day rotation as a starting pitcher. There, he was able to stay on somewhat of a regular schedule even without games.
"Obviously, it's a little different from years past with everything going on, but the focus was come into the alternative site in Bowie and get on my five-day rotation as a starter and slowly build up," he said. "I faced some of the hitters down there and basically get going and get after it and get things working."
The plan for the Orioles is to use him as a long-reliever for the series, with Asher Wojciechowski starting for the team on three days of rest. He'll be available on both Saturday and Sunday.
"Continuing to work on command and work on some things we talked with him about in summer camp," manager Brandon Hyde said. "(He's) going to give us some length."
A focus of his this year, and in year's past, was building his off-speed pitches. Now, he's hopeful he's got a full arsenal for his major league debut - whenever it may happen.
"I would say that was kind of my main focus coming into spring this year," Akin said, "And obviously with the shutdown being home, I knew I had to just work hard on those and kind of keep those as priority, knowing that if this day came, I guess, the pieces would all be there and everything would work out and I would have those pitches and everything would work out for them."
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Keegan Akin called up by Orioles, ready for major league debut originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
