A's Claim Pitcher From Houston Astros

Jason Burke | Sep 1, 2024

Mar 2, 2024; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Milwaukee Brewers starting pitcher Janson Junk (56) throws around between batter in the second during a spring training game against the Los Angeles Dodgers at American Family Fields of Phoenix. Mandatory Credit: Allan Henry-USA TODAY Sports / Allan Henry-USA TODAY Sports

The Oakland A's have claimed right-handed reliever Janson Junk off waivers from the Houston Astros after Houston designated him for assignment earlier in the week. The A's will be Junk's third organization of 2024, after starting the year with the Milwaukee Brewers.

Junk was originally selected by the New York Yankees in the 22nd round of the 2017 MLB Draft by the New York Yankees, and he stayed with them until the 2021 season when he was part of the Andrew Heaney trade with the Los Angeles Angels. The other player that came back to the Angels was righty Elvis Peguero.

Junk made his MLB debut with the Angels that September as a starter. He made four starts with the Halos, tossing 16 1/3 innings while holding a 3.86 ERA. He struck out ten batters and walked just two.

In November of 2022, the Angels traded him (and Peguero) to the Brewers in the Hunter Renfroe deal. In his two seasons with Milwaukee, he tossed 15 1/3 innings and held a 5.87 ERA, making one start in seven appearances.

The standout feature for Junk is that he has excellent command, walking just 5% of the batters he's faced at the big-league level. His cumulative ERA across four seasons is 5.18, while his FIP is slightly better at 5.07. His xFIP (expected FIP) could be what the A's are seeing here, as it sits at 4.02. While that's not a shutdown reliever by any means, that's a nice depth arm to have in the system. Junk has one option year remaining.

Junk has tinkered with his pitch mix in his big-league career, throwing as many as six pitches as recently as 2023. This year he's down to five, having dropped his seldom-used splitter. His fastball sits at 94 and will get the bulk of the work, followed by his 89 mph slider, 83 mph curveball, 94 mph sinker, and a 81.6 mph sweeper.

The trick for Junk could be as simple as finding the right sequence of pitches. He has a good chase rate (36.2%) in 2024, but he has a tendancy to get hit hard when batters make contact. They don't necessarily barrel him up, but he gives up a good amount of hard contact, averaging a 90.6 mph exit velo this season. Obviously it's a small sample size, but that's what the numbers say.

The reason that he could work with Oakland is the same reason anyone works with the A's: Opportunity. Both the Brewers and Astros are in postseason contention and don't have innings available for a guy trying to find himself at the MLB level, but the fact that those two pitching factories were interested in him is a good sign. While the A's are playing better, they're not going to be playing in October this year. They have a month worth of big-league games to give him a shot to carve out a spot in the bullpen for next season.