The Royals intend to use Kris Bubic as a starting pitcher in 2025, write Will Sammon, Katie Woo and Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic. The southpaw pitched out of the bullpen this past season after a 14-month layoff rehabbing Tommy John surgery.
Kansas City presumably always intended for Bubic’s relief role to be a short-term measure to avoid placing too much stress on his arm shortly after surgery. The southpaw’s excellent performance in short stints could’ve at least made it tempting to keep him there. Bubic was dominant over 27 relief outings, turning in a 2.67 earned run average across 30 1/3 innings. He struck out 32.2% of opponents against a minuscule 4.1% walk rate. Bubic got whiffs on nearly 15% of his offerings, well above the 11.6% league average for relievers.
That’s a relatively small sample, but Bubic was arguably K.C.’s best setup option in front of closer Lucas Erceg. The bullpen remains a concern. Chris Stratton struggled in the first season of his two-year free agent deal, while deadline pickup Hunter Harvey barely pitched for K.C. because of back issues. John Schreiber and Sam Long had solid seasons, but neither profiles as a lockdown setup man. Former top prospect Daniel Lynch IV could be well-suited to a bullpen move. He pitched well in 13 relief outings, though he spent the majority of the season as rotation depth at Triple-A Omaha.
Kansas City’s rotation is more established. Cole Ragans, Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha form an excellent front three. After trading Brady Singer for Jonathan India, Kansas City has some combination of Bubic, Alec Marsh and Kyle Wright (who is returning after losing the ’24 season to shoulder surgery) to fill out the back of the staff. All three still have a minor league option. Bubic should be on the MLB roster in some capacity, seemingly as a starter, but either of Marsh or Wright could begin the year in Omaha if everyone is healthy coming out of camp.
While Bubic was excellent in relief, his track record as a starter is less impressive. The Stanford product has a career 4.99 ERA with a middling 20.1% strikeout rate over 297 2/3 innings out of the rotation. It’s possible he was about to turn a corner before the surgery. Bubic made a trio of starts in April 2023. He struck out 16 batters in as many innings while working to a 3.94 ERA. He had a 14.7% swinging strike rate — essentially matching this past season’s relief work — in those three appearances. If that was the sign of an impending breakout, it was put on hold when Bubic’s elbow blew out.
He’ll get another opportunity to see if he can maintain that newfound swing-and-miss as a starter. The Athletic writes that the Royals could limit his innings count to 140-150 next season to avoid overworking him. That’s not far below the workload expected of most modern starters, especially those who occupy mid-rotation roles, so it doesn’t seem as if he’ll be too restricted. Sammon, Woo and Rosenthal suggest that K.C. could look to add a swingman to strengthen their depth, though that’s not as pressing as their goal of adding an impact hitter on the trade market.
He thed boob itch
He should name his daughter Areola Bubic
Royals just got a little worse in two areas.
You never know with this stuff but he was never a good starter and he was a terrific reliever. I think i would keep him in the pen
I think it’s worth trying him out as a starter. I’d want to see if he can come close to maintaining his improved K and BB rates over the course of 25-30 starts.
Two years ago the Royals had the worst approach to pitcher development in the majors, if you’ll recall the infamous expose in The Athletic. They completely overhauled their coaching staff. I believe the new pitching coaches deserve the benefit of the doubt with Bubic after their success with the rotation last season
As a Braves fan, I wish Kyle Wright well, but the Royals are smart not to expect too much from him in 2025 after not pitching for nearly 2 years.
Typically only star players can come back from those big injuries, wright had a bad last season when he pitched
Isn’t he a knuckleballer? If so he doesn’t even need an arm to keep pitching!
They had similar numbers from Wade Davis as a starter then turned reliever. Learn from it KC and leave him in the bullpen!
Still think Bubic might be trade bait for a bat, with KC positioning him as an SP to enhance his value.
Does this make them better?
It can’t hurt to give a shot at starting, can always move him back to the pen. I remember those 3 starts before the injury and I was impressed with the improvement from the previous season, felt like he was about to turn the corner.