Why Royals pitcher Kris Bubic sees some ‘good news’ in going on injured list
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Royals placed left-hander Kris Bubic on the 15-day injured list retroactive to Friday.
- Bubic called it mild forearm or flexor soreness rather than classic elbow pain.
- Bubic expects the IL stint to last a few weeks and anticipates a minimal absence.
There are certain milestones a starting pitcher can attain each season, such as 20 wins, 180 innings pitched and 200 strikeouts.
Royals left-hander Kris Bubic doesn’t aim for any of those. He has one focus each year, and on the surface it seems simple — but it’s not: Be ready to take the ball every five days.
Bubic won’t be able to do that after being placed on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to Friday.
“It’s frustrating,” Bubic said. “I want to be available. A big goal of mine, I don’t set many numericals, but in terms of just being available, I wanted to make a full season of starts this year. And the goal is to keep this at a couple weeks, which we should. But yeah, it’s frustrating. I’m not gonna lie.”
This is the fourth straight season Bubic has been placed on the IL. He missed part of the 2023 and ‘24 seasons after having Tommy John surgery. A year ago, a strained left rotator cuff ended his season early.
The Royals said Bubic had a scan done Monday and he was headed to the IL with left-elbow soreness.
Bubic said he felt more sore after his most recent start, last week against the White Sox in Chicago. And he told the Royals’ training staff.
“This one I wouldn’t necessarily call elbow,” he said, “just a little more kind of flex (flexor muscles) or forearm region, which I know is a little ominous to hear, but very mild in nature. It’s not something I want to push, given my history, and you know, given the timing of the year.
“So for me this is good news, in a sense, and I expect this, and the team expects this — I’ll talk to doc when he’s here later — but I expect this to be pretty minimal IL. Just a few weeks and we should be back, so that’s the expectation in my head.”
An elbow injury that requires Tommy John surgery can be preceded by a forearm or flexor muscle injury. But Bubic said his arm feels nothing like it did before he had that particular corrective procedure.
“This is much different,” he said. “I think with the past two injuries with the Tommy John surgery, even with the shoulder last year, maybe I just have a high tolerance for pain. But I tend to push through some things kind of to the brink, and essentially that’s what happened with both of those injuries because they were more long-term absences, and I don’t necessarily want to do that for a third time.
“But I think going through the Tommy John, I think I knew the elbow joint, there was something wrong there, just because I’d lost range of motion, I had lost strength. This is not anything like that at all. The range of motion’s still there, the strength’s still there.”
Bubic, who has a 3-2 record with a 4.11 ERA and 51 strikeouts in 50 1/3 innings this season, was scheduled to start Tuesday’s game against the Red Sox. Royals manager Matt Quatraro said the plan instead is to throw a bullpen game.
“You’re disappointed for him,” Quatraro said of Bubic. “I mean, these guys work so hard to stay healthy and put in all the recovery and all the prep work to be in a good spot, and for somebody like Kris, specifically, that’s gone through injuries, it’s frustrating.
“We count on him every fifth day, and we want him to be out there and be healthy for himself in his career, and do the best for us. But at the same time, when you feel something, you can’t ignore it and just push through it all the time.”
