Kris Bubic Becomes First Royals Player To Accomplish This Simple Feat Since 2021
Sometimes, the Kansas City Royals need to be reminded of their past struggles.
The 2024 season was an unexpected success for the Royals, and now, the standard is higher for this ballclub. In 2025, it's playoffs or bust for a team that made it two rounds into October last season, and did its best to improve the roster over the winter.
One of the major moves the Royals made was shipping starting pitcher Brady Singer to the Cincinnati Reds to get a new leadoff hitter in Jonathan India. By doing so, Kansas City placed a lot of faith in lefty Kris Bubic in his return to the starting rotation for the first time since 2023.
Bubic has immediately rewarded that faith, tossing back-to-back gems in his first two outings of the season. On Sunday, he went 6 2/3 innings against the talented Baltimore Orioles lineup, allowing just one run and securing Kansas City's first series win of the year.
It's been impressive to watch after Bubic spent the 2024 season in the bullpen, but it's also been surprisingly historic in nature.
According to MLB.com's Anne Rogers, Bubic is the first Royals starter to win his first two starts of a season since Danny Duffy in 2021. He's pitched 12 2/3 innings so far, allowing just one run, and striking out 16.
The 27-year-old Bubic, a first-round pick back in 2018, had struggled as a starter early in his career. He put up a 4.85 ERA in 70 appearances, 60 of which were starts, from 2020 to 2023 before undergoing Tommy John surgery.
Last season, the Royals eased Bubic back into action as a reliever. But they needed him to step up this year in the absence of Singer, and step up he has to this point.
For his part, though, Bubic just seems to be concerned with how his performance is impacting the team, rather than worrying about his standing on the roster.
“It’s nice to get off to a good start, but I think it’s even better when you get a series win today,” Bubic said Sunday, per Rogers. “Kind of sets the tone for this week, too, when we got two division opponents coming up.”
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Jackson Roberts is a former Division III All-Region DH who now writes and talks about sports for a living. A Bay Area native and a graduate of Swarthmore College and the Newhouse School at Syracuse University, Jackson makes his home in North Jersey. He grew up rooting for the Red Sox, Patriots, and Warriors, and he recently added the Devils to his sports fandom mosaic. For all business/marketing inquiries regarding "Kansas City Royals On SI," please reach out to Scott Neville: scott@wtfsports.org