Kris Bubic

27-Year-Old PitcherRP

Kansas City Royals

2025 Stats

W-L

0-0

ERA

0.00

WHIP

0.00

Rest-of-Season Projections

W-L

ERA

WHIP

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2025 Fantasy Outlook

Bubic spent the first three months of the 2024 season rehabbing from Tommy John surgery in April of 2023. The bulk of his time was with Triple-A Omaha where he compiled 27.1 innings. Toward the end of the assignment, Bubic transitioned for the relief role awaiting him in the majors. The lefty thrived out of the bullpen, working his way into leverage innings where he collected seven holds and a save. His 32.2 percent strikeout rate was by far his career best. His four-seam velocity went up a tick. He stopped throwing his curve while trading some change-ups for sliders. Despite, or perhaps because of, his success, the Royals are moving him back to the rotation. Aside from the obvious workload concerns (he threw only 68 total innings last season), it's unclear how much of his strikeout gains Bubic can maintain as a starter and if he'll maintain the same pitch mix or reintroduce his curve. The Royals' recent success with pitching warrants taking a chance Bubic can be a fantasy streamer. Read Past Outlooks

RANKS

Rest of Season

Overall Rank

Dynasty

From Preseason

#344

ADP

League Majors

Bats L

Throws L

40 Man Yes

Height 6'3"

Weight 220

DOB 8/19/1997

Born Cupertino, CA

College Stanford

Drafted 2018 KC

Wins spot in rotation

PKansas City Royals

March 22, 2025

Bubic has won the fifth starter role for the Royals with Daniel Lynch moving to the bullpen, Anne Rogers of MLB.com reports.

ANALYSIS
Bubic looks set to make his first regular season start against the Brewers in the second series of the season. Bubic has yielded six runs with a 13:3 K:BB over 13 innings this spring and will look to carry over his success last season as a reliever (32.2 percent strikeout rate over 30.1 regular-season innings) into the rotation.

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Pitching Stats

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2020

2025 MLB Game Log

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2024 MLB Game Log

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2023 MLB Game Log

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2022 MLB Game Log

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2021 MLB Game Log

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2020 MLB Game Log

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Minor League Game Log

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Left/Right Pitching Splits

Since 2023

-5%

BAA vs RHP

2025

No Stats

2024

-30%

BAA vs RHP

2023

-42%

BAA vs LHP

	BAA	Batters	K	BB	H	2B	3B	HR
Since 2023vs Left	.264	57	18	0	14	1	1	1
Since 2023vs Right	.250	132	37	7	31	7	0	2
2025vs Left	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2025vs Right	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2024vs Left	.286	45	14	0	12	1	1	1
2024vs Right	.200	76	25	5	14	4	0	1
2023vs Left	.182	12	4	0	2	0	0	0
2023vs Right	.315	56	12	2	17	3	0	1
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Home/Away Pitching Splits

Since 2023

-92%

ERA on Road

2025

No Stats

2024

-88%

ERA on Road

2023

-100%

ERA on Road

	ERA	WHIP	IP	W	L	SV	K/9	BB/9	HR/9
Since 2023Home	5.40	1.48	25.0	0	2	0	9.7	1.8	1.1
Since 2023Away	0.42	0.70	21.1	1	1	1	11.8	0.8	0.0
2025Home	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2025Away	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2024Home	4.80	1.20	15.0	0	0	0	12.0	1.8	1.2
2024Away	0.59	0.85	15.1	1	1	1	11.2	1.2	0.0
2023Home	6.30	1.90	10.0	0	2	0	6.3	1.8	0.9
2023Away	0.00	0.33	6.0	0	0	0	13.5	0.0	0.0
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Prospect Rankings History

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Defensive Stats

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Stats Vs Today's Lineup

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Recent RotoWire Articles Featuring Kris Bubic See More

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4 days ago

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6 days ago

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9 days ago

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11 days ago

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Past Fantasy Outlooks

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

Coming off a career high 27 starts in 2022, Bubic made just three starts with the Royals in 2023, compiling a 3.94 ERA, 1.31 WHIP and striking out a batter-per-inning before injury struck. The left-hander underwent Tommy John surgery in late April making him unlikely to return in any capacity until the All-Star break. A return to the rotation has been muddied by the signings of Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha, but Bubic did agree to a one-year, $2.35 million contract in December meaning he's in the Royals' plans. A wait and see approach is probably best for fantasy managers in 2024.

Bubic's 2022 was ugly, there's no questioning that. To an extent, there's some reason to be encouraged, as his .352 BABIP was unusually high and his 4.77 FIP suggests his 5.58 ERA was a bit unlucky. Still, the under-the-surface numbers don't paint a great picture, and it all comes back to one of the worst walk rates in the majors. His 4.4 BB/9 was the worst of his career, but he's never kept it under 4.0 in a single season. Bubic's fastball was up to nearly 92 mph last year, but the increase in velocity strangely led to worse results -- hitters batted .348 and slugged .587 off the pitch he threw 50.5 percent of the time last year. Bad luck aside, a change in pitching coach could help Bubic, but the 25-year-old has yet to iron out the flaws in his game that would allow him to at least hover around league-average.

The Royals system is stocked with promising young arms. While Bubic sits a bit down the pecking order, he received a head start with an accelerated 2020 debut straight out of High-A. The lefty took a small step back last season with a lower K% and higher BB%. However, neither change is cause for concern, especially since he's just 24 years old with 180 major league frames under his belt. With the requisite sample size caveat in tow, it's always encouraging when a young pitcher exhibits second half improvement and Bubic's K% jumped three ticks over the final two months. As intimated, Bubic doesn't have the prospect pedigree of others, but he can develop into a fantasy-worthy innings compiler. At his age, there is always the chance for improvement, but a 90-mph fastball does not portend emerging dominance.

While Bubic's 2020 stats do little to excite, we have to remember he was making the jump from High-A after the Royals took him with the 40th overall pick in the 2018 draft. Bubic had a 2.30 ERA across 101.2 innings at High-A Wilmington in 2019, backed up by a strong 21.2 K-BB% and 0.27 HR/9. The dramatic jump in competition proved difficult for the lefty, as evidenced by the 1-6 record and 1.48 WHIP, but he showed flashes in September in what were ultimately losses to the White Sox and Brewers. Still just 23 years old, Bubic could probably use a bit more seasoning after his arrival was expedited last season. The Royals are suddenly looking to compete and may indeed push Bubic back to the farm to start 2021. He currently lacks a true put-away pitch, but the AL Central is ripe for the picking. If he's getting starts, Bubic will immediately become a bench/streaming candidate, albeit a risky one.

Leading MiLB in strikeouts is hardly a feat that portends greatness, but there are some big hits (Brandon Woodruff in 2016, Jose Berrios in 2015) mixed in with the duds (Dean Kremer in 2018, Alec Hansen in 2017, Taylor Cole in 2014). Bubic joined this club by fanning 185 in 149.1 innings across stops at Low-A and High-A in his age-21 season. A 6-foot-3, 220-pound lefty with a low-90s fastball, plus changeup and average curveball, Bubic projects as more of a No. 4 or No. 5 starter long term. That said, any big southpaw with good command and a plus changeup has a chance to beat projections, and we won't learn a lot about his future prospects until we see how he handles Double-A and Triple-A. Bubic is part of a hoard of quality Royals pitching prospects with ETAs of 2021. His home park makes him more appealing than he would otherwise be, and if his breaking ball improves, he could develop into a No. 3 starter.

More Fantasy News

Appears locked into No. 5 spot

PKansas City Royals

March 20, 2025

Bubic is likely to open the season as the Royals' fifth starter, Anne Rogers of MLB.com reports.