Kristofer Bubic (born August 19, 1997) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Kansas City Royals of Major League Baseball (MLB).

Kris Bubic
Bubic at Werner Park in 2022
Kansas City Royals – No. 50
Pitcher
Born: (1997-08-19) August 19, 1997 (age 27)
Cupertino, California, U.S.
Bats: Left
Throws: Left
MLB debut
July 31, 2020, for the Kansas City Royals
MLB statistics
(through 2024 season)
Win–loss record11–29
Earned run average4.66
Strikeouts328
Stats at Baseball Reference Edit this at Wikidata
Teams

Early and personal life

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Bubic was born on August 19, 1997 in Cupertino, California. Born in the United States, Bubic is of Croatian Descent from both of his parents[1]

Amateur career

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Bubic attended Archbishop Mitty High School in San Jose, California, where he played football[2] and baseball, and he graduated in 2015. As a junior, he was 8–2 with a 0.89 ERA,[3] and as a senior, he compiled a 1.20 ERA and struck out 82 batters in 70 innings pitched.[4] He was not drafted out of high school in the 2015 Major League Baseball draft and he enrolled at Stanford University where he played college baseball for the Stanford Cardinal.

As a freshman at Stanford in 2016, Bubic was 0–3 with a 3.26 ERA in 21 games (six starts).[5] In 2017, as a sophomore, he started 15 games and posted a 7–6 record and 2.79 ERA with 96 strikeouts in 90 innings.[6] After the season, he played in the Cape Cod Baseball League for the Yarmouth–Dennis Red Sox, earning Pitcher of the Year honors after going 4–1 with a 1.65 ERA in 32+23 innings.[7][8] As a junior in 2018, he went 8–1 with a 2.62 ERA[9] and was named to the Pac-12 All-Conference Team.[10]

Professional career

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Bubic was drafted 40th overall by the Kansas City Royals in the 2018 Major League Baseball draft and he signed with the Royals on June 18 for $1,597,500.[11][12][13] He made his professional debut with the Idaho Falls Chukars where he was named a Pioneer League All-Star.[14][15] In ten starts for Idaho Falls, Bubic posted a 2–3 record with a 4.03 ERA.[16] Bubic began 2019 with the Lexington Legends.[17] After pitching to a 4–1 record with a 2.08 ERA in nine starts, he was promoted to the Wilmington Blue Rocks.[18] Over 17 starts with Wilmington, he went 7–4 with a 2.30 ERA. Bubic was named to the 2019 All-Star Futures Game.[19]

Bubic made his major league debut on July 31, 2020, against the Chicago White Sox, pitching four innings while allowing three earned runs and striking out three.[20] With the 2020 Kansas City Royals, Bubic made ten starts, compiling a 1–6 record with 4.32 ERA and 49 strikeouts over fifty innings pitched.[21] In 2021 he was 6–7 with an ERA of 4.43.[22]

In 2022 he was 3–13 with an ERA of 5.58 in 129 innings, as he had the worst OBP-against among major league pitchers, at .381, the highest WHIP (1.70), gave up the highest percentage of line drives (25.8%), and gave up the most walks per nine innings among major league pitchers (4.4).[23]

Bubic began the 2023 pitching out of the Royals' rotation. In 3 starts for the team, Bubic logged an 0-2 record and 3.94 ERA with 16 strikeouts in 16.0 innings pitched. On April 21, 2023, it was announced that Bubic would undergo Tommy John surgery, prematurely ending his season.[24]

Bubic was activated from the injured list and reinstated to the active roster on July 6, 2024.[25]

References

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  1. ^ Lewis, Alec. "Lefty Kris Bubic, the youngest of Royals' 2018 top draft quartet, quietly dominating in first full year of pro ball". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved October 25, 2024.
  2. ^ "All-Mercury News football: Second team, honorable mention". Times-Herald. November 19, 2006. Retrieved May 10, 2018.
  3. ^ "CCS Junior of the Year: KRIS BUBIC, P, ARCHBISHOP MITTY". Prep2Prep High School Sports. Retrieved May 10, 2018.
  4. ^ "Meet the 2016 Stanford Cardinal". Stanford Daily. February 19, 2016. Retrieved May 10, 2018.
  5. ^ "2018 CBD TOP 100 COUNTDOWN: 10. KRIS BUBIC (STANFORD)". College Baseball Daily. February 5, 2018. Retrieved May 10, 2018.
  6. ^ "Esquer's return to Stanford baseball signals a new era". Palo Alto Online. Retrieved May 10, 2018.
  7. ^ "Movin' On Up: Keeping track of our former prep athletes". The Mercury News. August 30, 2017. Retrieved May 10, 2018.
  8. ^ "Kris Bubic". pointstreak.com. Retrieved July 20, 2021.
  9. ^ "Royals select 5 pitchers, including RHP Brady Singer from Florida, in MLB Draft | FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports". Fox4kc.com. June 4, 2018. Retrieved November 9, 2019.
  10. ^ Pac-12 ConferenceMay 31, 2018 (May 31, 2018). "announces baseball All-Conference honors". Pac-12. Archived from the original on June 4, 2018. Retrieved November 9, 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  11. ^ "Royals' Kris Bubic: Drafted by Royals with 40th pick". CBSSports.com. June 5, 2018. Retrieved November 9, 2019.
  12. ^ "Twitter". Mobile.twitter.com. June 18, 2018. Retrieved November 9, 2019.
  13. ^ "MLB Draft Tracker". MLB.com. Retrieved November 9, 2019.
  14. ^ "Kansas City Royals: Prospect to Watch, Kris Bubic". August 17, 2018.
  15. ^ Michael Collett (August 5, 2018). "Chukars Garcia moved up, Bubic named as replacement on All Star team – KIFI". Localnews8.com. Retrieved November 9, 2019.
  16. ^ "Kris Bubic Stats, Highlights, Bio – MiLB.com Stats – The Official Site of Minor League Baseball". MiLB.com. Retrieved September 11, 2018.
  17. ^ "Legends eager to begin 2019 season on Thursday | WDKY". Foxlexington.com. April 3, 2019. Retrieved November 9, 2019.
  18. ^ "Royals' Kris Bubic: Moves up to High-A". CBSSports.com. May 21, 2019. Retrieved November 9, 2019.
  19. ^ Keegan Matheson (July 2, 2019). "Singer, Bubic will rep Royals in Futures Game". MLB.com. Retrieved July 7, 2019.
  20. ^ The Kansss City Star
  21. ^ "Kris Bubic Stats, Fantasy & News". MLB.com.
  22. ^ "Kris Bubic Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More". Baseball-Reference.com.
  23. ^ "Splits Leaderboards". FanGraphs.
  24. ^ "Royals' Kris Bubic: Requires Tommy John surgery". cbssports.com. April 21, 2023. Retrieved April 21, 2023.
  25. ^ "Royals Activate Kris Bubic From 60-Day IL, DFA Colin Selby". mlbtraderumors.com. Retrieved July 7, 2024.
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