Kansas City Royals recall Kris Bubic, place him in ‘flexible’ role out of the bullpen
Kris Bubic is back in the majors, but for the time being he is not back in the Kansas City Royals pitching rotation.
He made his first major-league relief appearance against the Minnesota Twins on Sunday after Brad Keller didn’t make it through five innings. Bubic allowed two runs off three hits, including a RBI triple by Luis Arraez, in one inning. He struck out one.
A 23-year-old left-hander who made his MLB debut last season, Bubic made 10 starts in the majors during last year’s pandemic-shortened season. He went into spring training as one of presumptive candidates for the starting rotation to start the season.
However, he still hadn’t shown the sort of consistently impressive outings he’d put together in the minors.
Bubic finished spring training in minor-league camp and began this season as part of the alternate site training group. He was slated to begin the minor-league season in the Triple-A pitching rotation.
The Royals recalled him prior to Saturday’s game after a left trap strain had relief pitcher Kyle Zimmer “locked up” with such limited movement that he could hardly pull off a shirt, according to Royals manager Mike Matheny.
Bubic had been working as a starter this spring and with the alternate site group.
“We’ll see,” Matheny said Sunday morning of the plans for Bubic. “He’s just a pitcher in the bullpen that has flexibility because he has been built up. We could stretch him out a little bit. We could also use him in shorter stints. It’s just a flexible role at this point. We’ll see how he looks when we give him an opportunity.”
Part of the Royals’ highly regarded 2018 draft class of pitchers that includes Brady Singer, Daniel Lynch and Jackson Kowar, Bubic led all minor-league pitchers with 185 strikeouts in 2019 and posted an 11-5 record with a 2.23 ERA and a 0.97 WHIP in 26 starts.
Last season after making the jump from High-A to the majors, he battled inconsistency. He went 1-6 with a 4.32 ERA, 49 strikeouts, 22 walks and 52 hits in 50 innings. He posted a 1.48 WHIP and opponent’s batted .263 against him.
The Royals current rotation consists of Danny Duffy, Mike Minor, Jakob Junis, Keller and Singer. Singer left his start on Friday night after the second inning when a comebacker hit him in the foot, but Singer was optimistic he’d make his next start.
Matheny said on Sunday that Singer was still on schedule to take his next turn in the rotation.
“I told (Matheny) I’m ready to do whatever it takes,” Bubic said of being in the bullpen prior to Sunday’s game. “Obviously, the team has been pretty good so far. I don’t want to impede on anything that’s going on.
“I just want to come here and facilitate the run they’ve been on so far and continue that success. So whether that’s pitching out of the bullpen, throwing one inning, throwing three innings, making a spot start. Who knows after that.”
This story was originally published May 2, 2021 at 4:30 PM with the headline "Kansas City Royals recall Kris Bubic, place him in ‘flexible’ role out of the bullpen."
