KC Royals breakout arm strengthens Cy Young case after another stellar start

At this point, Kansas City Royals fans have become well acquainted with how well Kris Bubic has adjusted back into the rotation this season.

But his latest start against the always competitive Houston Astros - where he went 6 1/3 innings of one run ball, surrendering just six hits and one walk while striking out nine - did a lot for his case to shift the narrative from just a strong start to the season to garnering considerations as one of the league's best arms.

While the Royals would've certainly hoped to get the win, losing Tuesday's contest via a ninth-inning walk off, they can take solace knowing Bubic continues to look more and more like a front-end caliber starter.

Kris Bubic strengthens case for Cy Young consideration after Tuesday's stellar start

Bubic entered Tuesday evening's contest ranked amongst the league's best in some major statistical categories. His 1.69 ERA ranked fourth amongst qualified starters in MLB and his 2.69 FIP ranked ninth. And both a 1.10 WHIP and .219 BAA are not shabby totals whatsoever to pair alongside those top standings.

And from a start-by-start basis, Bubic's season looks even more impressive than the already initial great stat line would indicate. Just one of Bubic's nine starts saw him surrender over three runs (4 ER on April 27 vs. Houston Astros). Then on the contrary, six of his nine starts resulted in giving up one or less earned runs - with Tuesday's start being the only one of those six that wasn't a shutout outing.

Then from a strikeout and walk perspective, six of his nine starts have seen Bubic punch out six or more opposing hitters and five have resulted in walking one or fewer hitters.

Tuesday night's admirable efforts in Houston improved his ERA to 1.66 while ensuring his WHIP stays at 1.10.

Despite all this, when MLB.com released their first 2025 Cy Young poll of the season earlier this week, Bubic finished outside the featured top five and was relegated to just the "other receiving votes" category.

It may seem frustrating that Bubic isn't recieving the same respect as the likes of names like Tarik Skubal, Max Fried and Garrett Crochet this season, it's not surprising also. After all, these have been some of MLB's top arms for at least a season now, where as Bubic is in just his second month of being a top-tier starting pitcher.

Rome wasn't built in a day and nor will Bubic's quest for league-wide recognition. However, with more starts like these, he'll give the baseball world no choice but to notice the dominance that has him leading this top-tier Royals rotation.