Path Clear for Kris Bubic in the Kansas City Royals Rotation?

Jason Burke | Feb 24, 2025

Sep 22, 2024; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Kansas City Royals relief pitcher Kris Bubic (50) pitches during the eighth inning against the San Francisco Giants at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images / Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images

After missing most of the past two seasons due to Tommy John, it would appear as though Kansas City Royals rotation hopeful Kris Bubic has a road back to the starting five.

While the former Stanford Cardinal has spent most of his time in the rotation in the past, he has totaled 46.1 innings over the past two seasons combined, and is still working his arm into shape to start a full season's worth of games.

The first four spots are more or less spoken for in Kansas City, with Seth Lugo and Cole Ragans atop the rotation, along with Michael Wacha and Michael Lorenzen. Coming into camp, the fifth spot was going to be left up to one of Bubic, Alec Marsh, Kyle Wright, or Daniel Lynch IV.

Marsh is now dealing with some right shoulder issues that have the Royals slow-playing his ramp-up process, while Wright is dealing with a hamstring issue that isn't expected to keep him out for long. Both could still certainly be ready for Opening Day, but their current limitations are going to give Bubic a nice opening to make the rotation.

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On Sunday, Bubic made his spring debut, going two innings and giving up one run on two hits while striking out two against the Chicago White Sox.

According to MLB.com's Anne Rogers, one more name could pop up in the conversation, however, especially with the current injuries to Marsh and Wright. That would be Royals' No. 12 prospect, Noah Cameron, who has made nine starts in Triple-A thus far. Rogers reports that the team has informed Cameron that he'll be helping out in Kansas City at some point in 2025, so the question is "when?"

Cameron has yet to pitch thus far this spring, but he held a 3.08 ERA split between Double-A and Triple-A last season, spanning 128.2 innings and 25 starts. He also held a 1.21 WHIP with a 3.28 FIP.

FanGraphs has Cameron's changeup as his best pitch, giving it a 60 on the 20-80 scouting scale, while also possesing an average fastball and a plus curve. He was selected by the Royals in the seventh round of the 2021 MLB Draft.

Sometimes a determining factor in these camp battles can be whether or not a player has option years remaining, but that isn't the case with any of the pitchers in the mix for the club right now. Bubic has one option, as do Marsh, Wright, and Lynch, while Cameron has a whopping three.

If Bubic performs in camp, he's probably the odd-on favorite to join the rotation at the outset of the regular season. There's also the slight wrinkle that he'll be building up throughout the season after missing time, so how many effective innings he can be counted on to produce is a question that the front office will certainly be asking.

Once they have that answer, the question would then become would the Royals prefer those innings at the beginning of the season, or as Kansas City is potentially making another postseason push? While he only tossed 30.1 innings a year ago, new A's left-hander Jeffrey Springs is coming off a similar issue, where he missed most of the past two seasons, amassing 49 frames combined.

A's GM David Forst told reporters when the team added Springs that they could see him going around 150 innings. Could Bubic be on the same sort of trajectory?

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