This Royals pitcher will make his MLB debut in Friday’s home opener vs. White Sox
Last July, pitchers Kris Bubic and Brady Singer represented the Kansas City Royals in the MLB All-Star Futures Game in Cleveland. They served as symbols of hope, selected as rising stars among hundreds of players in the minors chasing big-league dreams.
Friday night, in the Royals’ home opener against the Chicago White Sox and less than one week after Singer made his MLB debut, Bubic will take the mound at Kauffman Stadium for first start in the majors.
Royals manager Mike Matheny announced Thursday morning that 22-year-old Bubic, a 6-foot-3, 220-pound left-hander, will join the major-league club. A roster move is expected before Friday’s game.
Singer was tapped to start Thursday night’s game against the Detroit Tigers. The Royals added left-hander Mike Montgomery to the injured list this week with a lat strain. He joins projected starters Brad Keller and Jakob Junis on the IL.
“I’m excited to watch him,” Matheny said of Bubic. “He’s done everything to show us that he’s ready. He’s done a great job, did a great job all through both camps. Obviously, he was phenomenal last year, and everything we saw has shown us he’s ready for this opportunity.”
The Royals drafted Bubic with the 40th overall pick in 2018 out of Stanford as part of the same class that included pitchers Jackson Kowar (No. 33), Daniel Lynch (No. 34) and Singer (No. 18). That quartet of first-rounders, along with a bevy of other young pitchers with intriguing potential, have become the core of the Royals’ rebuilding efforts in recent years.
Bubic made 10 starts in the rookie-level Pioneer League following the 2018 draft and pitched for both Low-A Lexington (nine starts) and High-A Wilmington (17 starts) last season. He won the organization’s Paul Splittorff Award as pitcher of the year.
Baseball America ranks Bubic the 10th-best prospect in the Royals’ farm system and their fifth-best pitching prospect, while MLBPipeline.com ranks him their sixth-best prospect and fourth-best pitching prospect.
“It’s a number of eyes and opinions and evaluators,” Matheny said of the decision to promote Bubic. “From the first time he got on the rubber in (spring camp), it was just a different-looking bullpen. He had an idea of exactly what he wanted to do. Then it’s kind of watching the development as we got to see more of, ‘What weapons does he have here that could help at the major-league level?’ It’s backed by statistics from last year.
“I think he got overlooked last year, in my mind, maybe even in our organization, as far as what he was able to do last year. Whether it’s the swing-and-miss, whether it’s the controlling of the counts, but you’re talking four pitches when you’re mixing fastballs on both sides of the plate, an above-average breaking ball and a plus-plus changeup that he uses to lefties and righties ...
“That’s a repertoire that’s different, and he’s throwing those in the strike zone.”
Matheny said he and the coaching staff kept testing Bubic during the spring training camps, and Bubic kept responding.
The coaching staff closely watched how each young pitcher handled himself through camp, Cactus League games, the time of quarantine and bullpen sessions. Matheny lauded Bubic’s makeup and professionalism.
Bubic throws a fastball ranging from 90-94 mph as well as a highly regarded changeup and a curveball that he has worked to improve since joining the Royals’ organization.
In March in Arizona, Bubic told The Star he credited his Lexington pitching coach, Mitch Stetter — now the club’s manager of pitching performance — for helping him refine his curveball. He also pointed to his Idaho Falls pitching coach, former big-leaguer Jeff Suppan — now a roving pitching coach — for driving home the importance of using his curve and not relying so heavily on his fastball.
“I had a good fastball, but I don’t throw 100 or something like that,” Bubic told The Star in March. “I probably threw about 70-75 percent fastballs at the time. At the time, (Suppan) told me I needed to mix it up a little bit more and be a little bit more unpredictable on the mound. Because when in doubt, I was just hopping back to the fastball when I had good off-speed pitches. I’m not sure why I was relying so much on the fastball.
“Going through last year, I almost switched that a full 180. I think my fastball usage went down, and I had more success as the year went along. So that kind of allowed me to discover maybe I could pitch backwards more often, or use my off-speed (pitches) in different counts that maybe not everybody does. I feel I have confidence in all three pitches to throw in any count. So why not do that and keep a hitter off-balance? I feel like as a pitcher I can nickel-and-dime guys, but when I have to attack you with a fastball, I’ll attack you with a fastball.”
Last season, Bubic led the minors with 185 strikeouts, the most by a Royals minor-leaguer since 2000. He also posted an 11-5 record with a 2.23 ERA and 0.97 WHIP over 149 1/3 innings in 26 starts at Lexington and Wilmington.
He took a no-hitter into the ninth inning of an Aug. 15, 2019 start for Wilmington, finishing a shutout having allowed just one hit and one walk while striking out 11 batters.
“I always go back to the Idaho Falls conversation with Suppan and him telling me to mix it up a little bit more,” Bubic said of his progress in 2019. “That’s when my pitch counts were extremely high, and that was because I was probably throwing too many fastballs and guys were fouling them off, getting into deep counts.”
This story was originally published July 30, 2020 at 2:24 PM.
