The Ascension of Kris Bubic

After being selected 40th overall in the 2018 draft out of Stanford by the Kansas City Royals, Kris Bubic was expected to be a key player in the Royals' rotation for years to come. However, he struggled to find his footing in the major leagues and posted a 4.85 ERA in his first four seasons in the majors, pitching in both the rotation and bullpen. In 2024, he began to reach his potential. In 27 games out of the bullpen, Bubic posted a 2.67 ERA along with a 1.95 FIP. His underlying numbers were extremely good, as his Statcast peripherals show he was excellent at limiting hard-hit balls at 28.6% along with a 59.6% ground ball rate. He struck out 32.2% of batters and only walked 4.1% of them.

Photo Courtesy of Athlon Sports

Bubic's promising results out of the bullpen convinced a lot of people he would be a breakout candidate since he was going to be moved to the rotation. So far in 2025, he's lived up to expectations and is currently having a breakout year as a member of the Royals' rotation. He's posted a 2.12 ERA, which ranks 5th in the entire league among qualifiers, and a 2.52 FIP. Along with that, he's given up three home runs the entire season in 85 innings pitched, which is the fewest given up in the entire league.

Despite his strong performance, the Royals are 38-40 and are currently two games out of a playoff spot. Without Bubic's strong performance, they would probably be farther out of a playoff spot than they currently are. If they want to make the playoffs for the second straight year, they're going to have to lean on Kris Bubic, who's been their best pitcher this season.

• https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/savant-player/kris-bubic-663460?stats=statcast-r-pitching-mlb

• https://www.fangraphs.com/players/kris-bubic/21455/stats?position=P

• https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/bubickr01.shtml