Janson Junk

The Angels acquired Junk from the Yankees in July of 2021 as part of the trade that sent Andrew Heaney to New York. Junk had an up-and-down initial taste of the majors, posting a 3.86 ERA and a 10:2 K:BB over 16.1 innings that season. He spent most of 2022 with Triple-A Salt Lake but had three scattered outings with the Angels. The right-hander looked good in his first start of the campaign, striking out eight batters in five scoreless innings but faltered in his next (and final) appearance, yielding six runs in 2.1 frames. Junk relies primarily on a fastball-slider combo -- the slider is the better offering, but the fastball is thrown with enough spin to be effective despite sitting in the low-to-mid-90s. He enjoyed a breakout campaign in 2021 at Double-A while in the Yankees system, posting a 1.78 ERA and 0.97 WHIP over 14 appearances. However, that performance looks like an outlier, as none of his his seasons before or since are on the same radar. That's not to say Junk won't be an effective big-leaguer, but he's not likely to evolve into a front-of-rotation starter. The Angels moved Junk to Milwaukee in November as part of a trade to acquire Hunter Renfroe. He's likely slated to start 2023 at Triple-A or in the big-league bullpen. Read Past Outlooks