Jakob with a K

Right-handed pitcher, Jakob Junis, has spent the last two seasons with the Kansas City Royals. He has accumulated an 18-15 record, 244 strikeouts in 275 innings pitched. Last season Junis went 9-12 with a 4.37 ERA and was 35th among qualified starters in strikeouts per nine innings pitched (K/9). Starting August 6th to the end of the season, Junis went 3-1 with 2.95 ERA and a strikeout to walk ratio (K/BB) of 7.25. This made him the fifth best starter in K/BB during this time frame behind Miles Mikolas, Hyun-Jin Ryu, Justin Verlander and Jacob deGrom.
Jakob at nineteen-years-old started his professional career in Burlington, NC, in 2012 with the Burlington Royals, after being a twenty-ninth round draft pick by the Kansas City Royals. He started the 2012 season against the Pulaski Mariners, throwing five shutout innings with two strikeouts. The Royals went on to win the game 8-1 with John Walter getting the win. He went on to have a 2-2 season with a 4.15 ERA in 7 games pitched and had a K/BB of 4.4 with Burlington.