Kristofer Bubic (born August 19, 1997) is an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

for the

Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team was founded as an expans ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB).

Amateur career

Bubic attended

Archbishop Mitty High School Archbishop Mitty High School (commonly known as Mitty) is a private, Roman Catholic high school located in San Jose, California, United States. The school is named for the late John Joseph Mitty, the fourth Archbishop of San Francisco. It was the ...

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popul ...

, where he played

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

, and he graduated in 2015. As a junior, he was 8–2 with a 0.89 ERA, and as a senior, he compiled a 1.20 ERA and struck out 82 batters in 70 innings pitched. He was not drafted out of high school in the

2015 Major League Baseball draft The 2015 Major League Baseball (MLB) First-Year Player Draft was held from June 8 through June 10, 2015, to assign amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The draft order is the reverse order of the 2014 MLB season standings. As the Diamondbacks ...

and he enrolled at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

where he played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

for the

Stanford Cardinal The Stanford Cardinal are the athletic teams that represent Stanford University. As of June, 2022, Stanford's program has won 131 NCAA team championships. Stanford has won at least one NCAA team championship each academic year for 46 consecutive ...

. Bubic's father Mladen hails from

Zemunik Zemunik Donji is a municipality in Croatia in the Zadar County. According to the 2011 census, there are 2,060 inhabitants, 91% of whom are Croats The Croats (; hr, Hrvati ) are a South Slavic ethnic group who share a common Croatian ance ...

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

. As a freshman at Stanford in 2016, Bubic was 0–3 with a 3.26 ERA in 21 games (six starts). 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. After the season, he played in the

Cape Cod Baseball League The Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL or Cape League) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league located on Cape Cod in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. One of the nation's premier collegiate summer leagues, the league boasts over one thousan ...

for the

Yarmouth–Dennis Red Sox The Yarmouth–Dennis Red Sox, or Y-D Red Sox, are a collegiate summer baseball team based in South Yarmouth, Massachusetts. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) and plays in the league's East Division. The Red Sox play thei ...

, earning Pitcher of the Year honors after going 4–1 with a 1.65 ERA in innings. As a junior in 2018, he went 8–1 with a 2.62 ERA and was named to the Pac-12 All-Conference Team.

Professional career

Bubic was drafted 40th overall by the

in the

2018 Major League Baseball draft The 2018 Major League Baseball (MLB) First-Year Player Draft began on June 4, 2018. The draft assigned amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The draft order was determined based on the reverse order of the 2017 MLB season final standings. In a ...

and he signed with the Royals on June 18 for $1,597,500. He made his professional debut with the

Idaho Falls Chukars The Idaho Falls Chukars are an independent baseball team of the Pioneer League, which is not affiliated with Major League Baseball (MLB) but is an MLB Partner League. They are located in Idaho Falls, Idaho, and play their home games at Melaleuca ...

where he was named a Pioneer League All-Star. In ten starts for Idaho Falls, Bubic posted a 2–3 record with a 4.03 ERA. Bubic began 2019 with the

Lexington Legends The Lexington Legends are an American professional baseball team based in Lexington, Kentucky. They are a member of the South Division of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, a "partner league" of Major League Baseball. The Legends have ...

. After pitching to a 4–1 record with a 2.08 ERA in nine starts, he was promoted to the

Wilmington Blue Rocks The Wilmington Blue Rocks are a Minor League Baseball team of the South Atlantic League and the High-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals. They are located in Wilmington, Delaware, and play their home games at Daniel S. Frawley Stadium. ...

. Over 17 starts with Wilmington, he went 7–4 with a 2.30 ERA. Bubic was named to the 2019

All-Star Futures Game The All-Star Futures Game is an annual baseball exhibition game hosted by Major League Baseball (MLB) in conjunction with the mid-summer MLB All-Star Game. A team of American League-affiliated prospects competes against a team of National League ...

. Bubic made his major league debut on July 31, 2020, against the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and p ...

, pitching four innings while allowing three earned runs and striking out three. 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. In 2021 he was 6–7 with an ERA of 4.43. 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).

References

External links

Stanford Cardinal bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bubic, Kris 1997 births Living people American people of Croatian descent Baseball players from San Jose, California Major League Baseball pitchers Kansas City Royals players Stanford Cardinal baseball players Idaho Falls Chukars players Lexington Legends players Wilmington Blue Rocks players Yarmouth–Dennis Red Sox players Omaha Storm Chasers players