Former Royals pitcher lands with division-rival Guardians

The AL Central arms race has heated up this offseason, from the Kansas City Royals signing closer Carlos Estévez to the Detroit Tigers adding reliever Tommy Kahnle and starter Jack Flaherty. Now, the Cleveland Guardians — who already bolstered their bullpen with Paul Sewald at the end of January — have made their latest move, and this time, it's a former-Royal joining their pitching staff.

On February 13, ESPN's Kiley McDaniel reported that the Guardians had agreed to a one-year, $4.5 million deal with swingman Jakob Junis for the 2025 season, pending physical. Cleveland's 40-man roster is currently full, meaning that a corresponding move will need to be made in order to add Junis. The Guardians have not yet confirmed the deal.

Former KC Royals pitcher Jakob Junis in agreement with Cleveland Guardians

Although he'd already committed to play college baseball at North Carolina State University, Junis instead signed with the Royals after they selected him in the 2011 MLB Draft. Beginning his professional career with the organization's Rookie-level affiliate in 2012, Junis spent the next five seasons working his way up through the minors, reaching Triple-A in August 2016. The right-hander finished 2016 with a 10-10 win-loss record, 4.05 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, and 143 strikeouts in 149 innings of work split between Double-A and Triple-A, and was added to the 40-man roster at the end of the season.

Junis made his MLB debut for the Royals on April 12, 2017, and after being shuttled between the minors and majors for a few months, he was called up to stay in August. In 98.1 innings for Kansas City in 2017, he went 9-3 with a 4.30 ERA and 80 strikeouts, and his 9 hit batsmen were the 10th most in the AL that season — a control issue that continued to plague him over the seasons that followed.

In 2018, Junis' 15 hit batsmen were the third most in the AL, fourth most in MLB, and marked a Royals franchise record. The next year, he hit 11 batters with pitches, ranking sixth in the AL and ninth in MLB.

In 2020 and 2021, Junis worked on his control — at least to the extent that he stopped hitting so many batters with this pitchers — but he still struggled overall. Two stints on the IL during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season limited him to just eight appearances (six starts), and he finished the year with a disappointing 6.39 ERA in 25.1 innings of work. In 2021, he again spent time on the IL, and after accumulating a 2-4 win-loss record and 5.26 ERA in 39.1 innings across 16 appearances (six starts), he was outrighted off of the Royals' 40-man roster.

Junis rejected the outright assignment to become a free agent in November 2021. Over his five-season major league tenure with the Royals, he went 29-35 with a 4.82 ERA, 1.53 WHIP, and 468 strikeouts in 515.1 innings across 105 games.

Since leaving Kansas City, the right-hander's stats have steadily improved. He spent 2022 and 2023 with the San Francisco Giants, accumulating a 4.18 ERA and 194 strikeouts in 198.0 innings across the two seasons. Junis started last year with the Milwaukee Brewers before being traded to the Cincinnati Reds on July 30, and even though injuries limited him to just 67.0 innings between the two teams, he finished the 2024 season with a career-best 2.69 ERA and 0.85 WHIP.

Now, Junis is returning to the AL Central. With experience as both a starter and reliever, the 32-year-old offers depth to the Guardians' rotation — which they are likely to need while Shane Bieber returns from Tommy John surgery — though he'll need to prove himself at spring training. Otherwise, he could slot into the team's famously fierce bullpen, who led MLB in both ERA (2.57) and WHIP (0.96) last season.

Either way, Junis isn't much of a threat to the Royals. Even with improved starts over the last few seasons, he's been unreliable on the mound, and his value to the Guardians is far more in his versatility than consistency.