Jakob Junis’ scorching second-half is cementing his status for Guardians' 2026 roster

While Jakob Junis may not be the biggest name in the Cleveland Guardians’ bullpen, he’s slowly becoming one of the most valuable. 

After getting off to a bit of a slow start at the beginning of the season, Junis has been lights out for the Guardians since the All-Star Break, which has helped him rise from bullpen afterthought to a key component in Stephen Vogt’s trust tree. 

And while the Guardians will have plenty of things to figure out in the off-season (especially in their bullpen), re-signing Junis should be one of their main priorities. 

Jakob Junis’ scorching second-half is cementing his status for Guardians 2026 roster

The Guardians signed Junis to a one-year, $4.5 million contract in the offseason in the hopes that the Guardians would be able to help him reach new levels in the middle of his career in the same way they did for Ben Lively and Matthew Boyd.

And it’s worked. 

Although he’s a bit of a different pitcher than Lively or Boyd, he had worked in nearly every role possible for a pitcher, which is a profile the Guardians often covet in free agent pitchers.

He broke into the professional ranks as a starter for the Kansas City Royals before shifting into a bit of a swingman role with the Giants in 2024. 

He opened last season as a reliever with the Brewers before working almost exclusively as a starter in the second half after he was traded to the Cincinnati Reds.

The Guardians signed him in February as the team was beginning to report to Arizona for spring training, and he’s rewarded them with a 2.93 ERA in 58 1/3 innings out of the bullpen. He’s been even better as of late, as he’s had a 1.43 ERA in 18 1/3 second-half innings.

While Junis has done a bit of everything out of the bullpen, he’s been a solid multi-inning option as of late, as six of his last nine appearances have gone longer than an inning. 

He’s never going to be mistaken for a swing-and-miss savant (17th percentile in strikeout rate) but he’s among baseball’s best at limiting hard contact (82nd percentile in barrel rate) and pairs a strong slider with a wipeout changeup. 

Junis’ signing has been an outright win for the Guardians, and it should set Junis up for a bit of a raise in free agency. A raise that should come from the Guardians. 

Cleveland’s bullpen will likely look a lot different next year as they work through the fallout of Emmanuel Clase’s suspension, but they had some solid high-leverage options already in the form of Cade Smith, Erik Sabrowski and Nic Enright. 

Their biggest need — as will most teams — will be flexible middle-leverage arms. Junis has spent the past five months showing the Guardians front office how adept he is at filling that role. 

There’s no reason he shouldn’t be filling that role for the Guardians next year.