The Milwaukee Brewers continued their busy off-season by trading away rightfielder Hunter Renfroe to the Los Angeles Angels in exchange for a trio of young pitchers: Janson Junk, Elvis Peguero and Adam Seminaris.
None are considered to be top prospects in the Angels system but the move provides the Brewers with pitching depth in 2023.
Here's a look at what to expect from each of the three arms the Brewers got in return:
Janson Junk will give Brewers depth in their rotation
Of the three pitchers acquired, Junk might have the highest chance of impacting the Brewers next season.
Junk, 26, made his MLB debut with the Angels in 2021 and has made six starts and one relief outing over the last two seasons.
He has a four-pitch mix but primarily relies on a slider (thrown 45.3 percent of the time) and four-seam fastball that is high-spin and plays well when elevated. The slider sits 81-83 mph on average with late, sweeping life and has shown the ability to generate weak contact. He also features a curveball and a sparingly-used changeup.
Junk was not a high-strikeout pitcher in the minors, averaging 8.3 strikeouts per nine innings across 355 innings, but flashed potential in that regard last year by striking out 11 hitters in 8⅓ innings. His swinging strike numbers were still below league-average in both AAA and the majors in 2022, however.
Junk could be a potential late-bloomer. His breakout minor-league season came in 2021 at the age of 25 when he posted a 1.78 ERA across 65⅔ innings at Class AA. His command has improved notably in the past two seasons. Junk walked 9.6 percent of batters he faced across his first three pro seasons, but just 6.9 percent over the past two.
Of Junk’s 85 appearances in the minors, 61 came as a starter. He provides rotational depth for the Brewers, something they didn't have enough of in 2022.
Elvis Peguero can give Brewers depth in the bullpen
Peguero, 25, adds bullpen depth as a low-slot reliever with a slider and sinker combination. The slider is his predominant pitch, being thrown more than 60 percent of the time, with plenty of velocity at 91 mph on average – only five ticks below his average fastball. The slider is biting and doesn’t get much horizontal break, but has shown a propensity for generating swings and misses thanks to its velocity and somewhat unique shape.
Peguero’s sinker plays well off the slider and can reach the high-90s. Peguero, at 6 foot 5 and 208 lbs., throws it with easy arm action and gets excellent extension. Sinkers by nature are lower swing-and-miss pitches compared to other offerings and Peguero’s is no different, but he has generated high ground ball rates with it throughout his career.
Because Peguero’s slider is thrown with such frequency, though, he has accumulated above-average swinging strike rates on the whole throughout his minor-league career and struck out 30.1 percent of batters in 2021.
Peguero ran into home run issues in 13 appearances with the Angels last year but that was an aberration from what he has shown throughout his career. In 258 minor-league innings, he allowed only 0.8 homers per nine innings.
There’s a potential for two plus offerings within Peguero’s profile, but much of his future success relies on the slider generating swings and misses, which it will do as long as it is commanded well at the knees and below.
Adam Seminaris helps the Brewers replace the loss of Brent Suter
The Brewers may have lost Brent Suter to waivers last week, but Tuesday they gained the player with perhaps the closest thing to a mirroring scouting report of The Raptor’s.
Seminaris is a soft-tossing lefty who pounds the zone and challenges hitters in spite of a lack of velocity. His fastball isn’t unusable, though, with some cutting action that gives it some unique shape in addition to typically being well-located.
Command is Seminaris’ strong suit and also critical to him eventually carving out a role in the big leagues. He walked more than four batters per nine innings across 16 starts combined at AA and AAA, though, which would be a barrier to him finding big-league success down the road.
The Long Beach State University product has a crisp, fading changeup that he displays plus feel for. It is a legitimate plus offering but the lack of velocity might make it hard for him to remain a starter.