A goal for Royals right-hander Jakob Junis is to leave Arizona with a change-up he can readily use.
Last season, Junis threw his slider 40 percent of the time, followed by a four-seam fastball (33.3 percent) and sinker (20 percent), according to data from Baseball by Brooks. Junis relied on his change-up just 6 percent of the time, but he hopes to increase the usage this season.
That, of course, means Junis is relying on it more in spring-training games. That was case in the Royals’ 5-4 loss Thursday to the Texas Rangers at Surprise Stadium.