Here’s why the Kansas City Royals should be encouraged by Kris Bubic’s latest outing
A huge part of this Kansas City Royals season will be measuring the progress made by the young pitchers who have been the centerpiece of the team’s recent rebuilding efforts.
Much of that progress likely will be cumulative and intangible.
But sometimes it may come in very distinct moments. For left-hander Kris Bubic, the 40th overall pick in the 2018 MLB Draft who debuted in the majors last season, progress could’ve come in one pivotal curveball Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium.
“We watched Kris Bubic take a huge step forward (Tuesday) in his career,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “I think it was one pitch that may have changed the trajectory of his career (Tuesday) where he, in the biggest spot that he could be put into, trusted a pitch that we need to see the usage improve on. A lot of it has to do with faith, believing in it to make the other pitches good.”
Bubic, 23, came in out of the bullpen to replace his draft classmate Brady Singer in the fourth inning with two outs and the bases loaded in a tie game.
The batter? Giancarlo Stanton.
Yes, that Giancarlo Stanton. The 6-foot-6, 245-pound chiseled right-handed hitting former MVP, four-time All-Star and two-time Silver Slugger with five 30-homer seasons and one 59-homer campaign under his belt.
Bubic threw the behemoth-with-a-bat a first-pitch curveball.
It’s important to note that Bubic’s professional career to this point has been largely characterized by his reliance on his fastball and changeup.
The curveball has been a looming topic discussion, a source of consternation, a symbol of potential and a constant reminder of the growth that remains possible.
The curveball also happens to be the pitch he has thrown the least, 12 percent of the time this season and 16 percent last. It’s also where his confidence wavers the most.
“I was just trying to make a decent pitch,” Bubic said. “I think I probably surprised everybody throwing a curveball for the first pitch.”
Stanton swung and grounded meekly to third base to end the inning and leave the bases loaded and the score tied.
While the situation made that play crucial in that particular game — the Royals went on to win a one-run game on the road — it also may resonate much longer for Bubic.
He went on to throw 2 1/3 scoreless without allowing a hit or a walk.
“That’s an outing I probably want to bottle up and kind of remember for a while,” Bubic said. “That’s probably the best combination of everything I’ve had this year. I know it was only 20, 21 pitches. It’s not a huge sample. It was enough where it was one time through the order basically. Everything was where it needed to be.”
The left-hander began this season off the major-league roster and had to work through some things in the minors/alternate training site.
When Bubic did come up, he pitched out of the bullpen. That’s after having made the successful jump from Single-A to the major-league rotation a year ago.
Bubic had two dazzling long relief outings and earned his way back into the rotation. He made six starts. The first three were strong and encouraging. In the last three, he couldn’t make it past the fifth inning and gave up a combined eight home runs.
Shying away from his curveball has been a big part of the equation.
“I’ve had pretty good feel for it this year, for the most part, but maybe relying too much on the fastball-changeup combination at times has not allowed me to maybe throw it as successfully or as much as I wanted to,” Bubic said.
What convinced Bubic to let it rip on Tuesday night? Was he told upon entering the game to throw a curve to force the issue? Did one of the coaches use reverse psychology to make him think he wanted to throw the curve?
No. Bubic looked in for the sign from catcher Salvador Perez, and he threw what Perez signaled.
“It was a little more spur of the moment than you might think,” Bubic said. “He called it, and I trusted it and I just threw it. Didn’t really think too much of it. Was it the first pitch I was expecting to be thrown down? Probably not.”
So when Bubic said he surprised “everybody” with that pitch selection, should we include him among the surprised?
“Yeah,” Bubic said. “You can if you want.”
This story was originally published June 25, 2021 at 9:14 AM.
