Royals pitching prospect Kris Bubic sees positives in rough start against White Sox
For whatever reason, Kansas City Royals pitching prospect Kris Bubic didn’t catch many breaks in his first start of the Cactus League season Sunday afternoon.
Bubic gave up four runs in 1 1/3 innings against a Chicago White Sox split squad lineup that featured bonafide major-league everyday players in the first five spots of batting order, with Tim Anderson, Yoan Moncada, Jose Abreu, Edwin Encarnacion and Eloy Jimenez against the young left-hander.
The Royals went on to lose 5-4 in the Ballpark at Camelback Ranch. While Bubic’s day looked bad statistically — four earned runs on four hits (one home run), one walk and a balk — he was reasonably encouraged by the way he pitched overall and called it a “positive outing.”
“I actually thought I threw the ball pretty well despite the box score,” Bubic said. “I felt like everything was coming out fine, even in the bullpen, and in the game, as well.”
Anderson hit a fastball back up the middle to start things off, and Bubic got called for a balk on a pick-off attempt with Moncada at the plate. Bubic quibbled with home plate umpire Tripp Gibson’s definition of a balk, but did so somewhat deferentially.
“I think that’s actually a first for me,” Bubic said. “Going through the minor leagues and in college, I don’t think I’d ever been called for a balk — at least not in that manner. We talked about it after the inning was over. He described that it was too far to the home plate side and you need to be a little more committed to first base, I guess.”
Moncada hit what could have been a double play ball to second base, but the balk eliminated the double play and Anderson advanced from second to third. Then Abreu hit a 3-2 pitch down the third base line, and Royals third baseman Maikel Franco threw home in an unsuccessful attempt to cut the runner off at the plate.
In the second inning, after a lead-off fly-out to right field, Luis Robert’s soft roller almost came to a stop on the infield grass before it crawled to Franco for an infield single. The next batter, Zack Collins, hit a 3-2 fastball that kept carrying over the left-center field wall for a two-run homer.
Then Blake Rutherford hit a soft grounder toward third that made it to the outfield grass for a double against an infield defense shifted heavily to the first base side. Bubic issued a five-pitch walk to Leury Garcia to end his outing.
“A couple unlucky breaks,” Bubic said. “I gave up a leadoff single, that was probably the hardest-hit ball I gave up. Then the swinging bunt by Robert and the shift-beater. That set up the home run, which I thought I was hit decently well but obviously a little wind-aided. Overall, I’m not mad about anything.”
Royals hitters Hunter Dozier, Bubba Starling and Gabriel Cancel each hit solo home runs in the eighth inning.
Fifth starter
Royals manager Mike Matheny said his current approach to the fifth-starter spot is to stretch out as many guys as possible, including potential Triple-A starters and long relievers in the major-league bullpen.
“The more options we have, the more guys we have stretched out and the more we throw them out there, the more we believe it will be obvious,” Matheny said. “Just gotta let them keep competing.”
Matheny said the more urgent question is which 13 pitchers will break camp with the club and how they fill different roles, as opposed to a fifth-starter role that won’t be required for the first few weeks of the season.
Because of extra off-days in the beginning of the season, the Royals won’t play on five consecutive days during the regular season until April 8, the finale of a three-game series with the Detroit Tigers at Kauffman Stadium.
The door still remains wide open as far as candidates, and the potential for an opener also continues to linger.
“You break with a guy, or it could be two or could be three guys that are in the pen that could all be stretched,” Matheny said. “We’re not eliminating that idea we talked about earlier — have the guy come in early who matches up well with this particular front end of a lineup and bring in the stretched-out guys behind him. Call it opener. Call it whatever you want. I think that’s a real possibility for a team like ours right now.”
On the mend
Royals Rule 5 Draft pick and Stephen Woods Jr. remains sidelined by a sprained left ankle he suffered while running to cover first base in a start against the Seattle Mariners at Peoria Stadium on Feb. 29.
Matheny said Woods has been doing rehab, but has been pretty much “hands off” from the point of view of the coaching staff.
Left-hander Eric Skoglund, who’d been dealing with some tenderness in his throwing arm, should throw off a mound again soon, according to Matheny. He’s not likely to appear in a game soon.
Pitching plans
Left-hander Mike Montgomery will start Monday’s Cactus League game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Salt River Fields. Greg Holland, Trevor Rosenthal, Josh Staumont, Yunior Marte, Arnaldo Hernandez, Ofreidy Gomez, Kevin McCarthy, Jesse Hahn and Randy Rosario are all scheduled to pitch Monday.
The Royals play a pair of split-squad games Tuesday — against the Milwaukee Brewers at Surprise Stadium and against the Oakland Athletics in Mesa. Brad Keller will start for the Royals in Surprise, while Jorge Lopez will start on the road in Mesa.
