Royals lose Bubic to Tommy John surgery

kris bubicThe season ended before it really started. The Royals left-hander is scheduled to undergo full ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction surgery, or Tommy John surgery, the team announced Friday.

Bubic is scheduled to have surgery next week with Dr. Neal ElAttrache in Los Angeles.

“It’s never easy,” Bubic said Friday in a Zoom call with reporters. “I feel like we were really making good strides, turning the corner to elevate things, a new approach and just being aggressive. I was getting pretty close to a very good version of myself.

“But unfortunately, I had to put that on hold for now and hopefully I can pick it up when I get back.”

Bubic went on the 15-day disabled list Sunday with a left forearm flexor strain following his five-inning outing against the Braves. He had felt some pain before the start, but he thought it was general aches and pains pitchers endure between starts, believing it was manageable.

As he took the mound for a cold and rainy start against the Braves, he noticed his stuff was down but wanted to throw through it. He brushed off the tension he felt in his forearm.

“You can always get out of the game early,” Bubic said. “But being a competitor, I wanted to be there. He wanted to give everything he had. I didn’t want to leave the game early, put the team in a bad position, have to use a bunch of pitchers to get through the game. I felt like it was manageable enough the other day to get over it. I don’t regret pitching that day.”

Bubic went for an imaging the next day and was diagnosed with a flexor strain, an injury that normally requires rest. But through the MRI process, Bubic’s and Royals’ doctors discovered that his UCL was damaged enough to warrant a discussion about surgery. Bubic had not felt the usual symptoms of a UCL tear, but the images showed that the damage had been building up for some time.

After seeking second and third opinions in California on Thursday, Bubic decided to have elbow surgery. The typical recovery time for Tommy John surgery is 12 to 15 months.

“I would say it was mild based on what the guys are reporting,” Royals head athletic trainer Kyle Turner said of Bubic’s forearm pain. “Every week, with each starter, we work hard, they work hard to get rid of all the pain from the previous start and be ready on Day 5. We did a lot of that between starts, and we all felt comfortable about where we were going at the start. Unfortunately, he suffered a flexor strain while he was there.

“And later, through diagnostics, we discovered that the ligament is insufficient to withstand the stress that is exerted on it. The discomfort was due to the flexor strain, not its ligament.”

The news of the surgery comes at an unfortunate time for the Royals, who entered Friday’s series opener against the Angels in Anaheim with a 4-15 record, and for Bubic, who appeared to have turned a corner in 2023. After three years of promotion. results and a 4.89 ERA over his career from 2020-22, Bubic made sweeping changes to his arsenal this offseason. He added a slider, changed his derailleur grip and saw an increase in speed this season.

Before kickoff against the Braves, Bubic had a 1.64 ERA in two starts with 13 strikeouts and just one walk.

“Every time you modify a repertoire or add certain tones or change your mindset or change your intention, it all comes together,” Bubic said. “Sometimes your body adapts well to stress, sometimes it doesn’t. Is that how it works. It’s the risk you accept as a pitcher. Being an overhead pitcher is obviously not a natural move.

“It’s not like this is so uncommon in the game anymore. I have no regrets in terms of adjusting things and changing things, I just try to bring out the best version of myself.”

The Royals will use a game opener in Anaheim on Friday in place of Bubic, with Taylor Clarke starting and Ryan Yarbrough following him with the bulk of the innings. It remains to be seen who will take that fifth spot next turn. Left-hander Daniel Lynch is still on the disabled list with a left rotator cuff strain, but he believes he’ll return in mid-May. Yarbrough could take over until then, or the Royals could call up a Triple-A starter like Jonathan Heasley or Mike Mayers.