Kansas City Royals: Jakob Junis continues to add hope

Jakob Junis continues to add hope for the Kansas City Royals rotation. As he continues to mature, he is showing the ability to be a top of the rotation type player.

I went into Sunday fully expecting to write about Jason Adams  and how the local prospect from Overland Park had a very high spin rate.

And then Jakob Junis took the mound for the Kansas City Royals again. In typical fashion, Junis continue to impress. While the Adams story is a great one, I think I’m going to focus on Junis today.

Jakob Junis seems to be continuing where he left off in 2017

After bouncing between Omaha and Kansas City for most of the year, August saw a permanent stay for Junis. During that time he posted a 3.68 ERA over 62.1 innings, resulting in a 6-1 record over 11 games.

Going into 2018 the hope was that this would continue. And man has it. So far this season, Junis has posted a 3.18 ERA over seven starts. In those games he has gone 7.0 innings for more four times.

Junis has a very bright future ahead of him. The fact that he is able to go deep into games will greatly benefit this ball club. He has shown the ability to make to the 7th or 8th inning most starts and the thought of going straight from Junis to Kelvin Hererra is very exciting. Especially with how dominant Herrera has been this year.

Final Thoughts

Junis, who is arbitration eligible through 2023, should be around for next waves of young talent to come through the Royals system. I’m putting a stamp on 2021 as the next year the Royals will truly compete again. Junis would be a fantastic two or three starter on a championship caliber team.

Junis will be a fun guy to root for over the next five or so seasons. I know Rob Manfred will be rooting for more guys to speed up the game like Junis does. It was a warm day for the beginning of May and watching a game under 3 hours was rather refreshing.

So what do you think Royals fans? Are you impressed with Junis? What are you expectation for him? Let us know below!