Jakob Benjamin Lee Junis (born September 16, 1992) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball (MLB). He was drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the 29th round of the 2011 Major League Baseball draft and made his MLB debut with them in 2017.
Junis made his professional debut in 2012 with the Burlington Royals where he went 2–2 with a 4.15 ERA in seven games (six starts). He pitched in 2013 with the Idaho Falls Chukars where he posted a 2–6 record and 7.39 ERA in 13 starts and was 8th in the Pioneer League with 55 strikeouts.
In 2019 for the Royals, Junis pitched to a 5.24 ERA with a 8.4 K/9 and 3.0 BB/9 in 175 1/3 innings across 31 starts, and was 6th in the AL with 11 hit batsmen. He became the first pitcher in the major leagues to win at least nine games in each of his first three seasons since Masahiro Tanaka (2014-16), and the last pitcher younger than Junis to do that was Gerrit Cole (2013-15).
With the 2020 Kansas City Royals, Junis appeared in eight games (six starts). He compiled an 0-2 record with a 6.39 ERA and 6 walks and 19 strikeouts in 25.1 innings pitched. He was on the injured list twice.
Junis made 16 appearances (six starts) for the Royals in 2021, posting a 5.26 ERA with 41 strikeouts in 39.1 innings of work, and was on the injured list twice. He was on the injured list twice. His salary was $1.7 million. On November 5, 2021, Junis was outrighted off of the 40-man roster, but rejected the outright assignment and elected free agency.
Junis and his wife, Brianne, have been married for years now, the beautiful couple has three children together. They reside in Scottsdale, Arizona.