Kansas City Royals Lefty Wins American League Pitcher of the Month

The Kansas City Royals may be in fourth place in their division, but they can rest much easier knowing that they currently have one of the best pitchers in baseball. After a strong month of May that saw him record a 0.56 ERA in five starts, former Stanford Cardinal left-handed pitcher, Kris Bubic, has been named the American League Pitcher of the Month.

Drafted 40th overall by the Royals in 2018 and making his MLB debut in 2020, Bubic began his career as a starting pitcher, but after getting Tommy John Surgery in 2023 that forced him to miss the rest of that season and the first half of 2024, he pitched exclusively out of the bullpen upon his return.

Fully healthy this season, the Royals named him one of their five starters, and since returning to the rotation, he has been exceptional.

So far this year, Bubic is 5-3 with a 1.43 ERA and a 1.00 WHIP with 79 strikeouts. Suffice it to say, he's been one of the best pitchers in baseball this season. In his last start of May, he allowed only two hits, a run and two walks through seven innings of work in a 2-1 win over the Minnesota Twins on May 25.

But his start of the month came against the San Francisco Giants on the road on May 19, allowing only two hits and three walks while striking out five in seven innings of work. He held the Giants without a hit for the first five innings in that one.

In addition to being named the AL Pitcher of the Month, Bubic was named to the MLB Team of the Month for May.

MLB's best of May! pic.twitter.com/Vzz8yXm2Oh
— MLB (@MLB) June 4, 2025

Some of the other players named to this group include Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge, Pete Crow-Armstrong, José Ramírez, Jacob Wilson, Ketel Marte and Freddie Freeman. In fact, if it weren't for Tigers' pitcher Tarik Skubal having the dominant start that he is having, Bubic would most likely be considered a front-runner for the AL Cy Young Award at this point in the year.

Sitting at 32-29, the Royals are in a tight race in the AL Central, with the Tigers, Twins and Guardians all having strong starts to their season's as well. But baseball is a long season and if Bubic continues to lead the Royals' rotation like he has been, then Kansas City could see themselves in a very good spot come playoff push time.

It should also help that the Royals added top prospect Jac Caglianone to their roster on Tuesday to help out a struggling offense. Despite going 0-for-5 in his debut, the Royals put up 10 runs against the St. Louis Cardinals in the win. Even though Caglianone came up a little later in the season, he has the talent to win AL Rookie of the Year this season.

Spending his high school career at Archbishop Mitty in San Jose, Bubic enrolled at Stanford and spent three seasons with the Cardinal baseball team, going 0-3 with a 3.26 ERA in 21 appearances as a freshman.

In 2017, during his sophomore campaign, he recorded a 7-6 record with a 2.79 ERA in 15 starts, striking out 96 batters in 90 innings of work. Over the summer, he opted to play in the Cape Cod league to improve his game and came back even better as a junior, going 8-1 with a 2.62 ERA en route to being named to the Pac-12 All-Conference team.

In total, Bubic left Stanford with a 15-10 record and a 2.82 ERA in 51 games (36 starts).