The Royals dropped their second straight series, losing 3-2 to the Brewers in extra innings on Wednesday in the rubber game.
That brings the Royals’ record to 2-4 for the season. Thankfully, Kansas City is still in the thick of things in the AL Central, as every team in the division has a 2-4 record.
While the Royals’ series with the Brewers ended brutally, especially after winning 11-1 on Monday, there were still some positives to be gleaned from the three-game set in Milwaukee. Even though the Royals’ hitting failed to do much in games two and three, the starting pitching stepped up. That should give Royals fans hope that the pitching staff can be depended upon as the lineup tries to figure it out.
I will highlight the three Royals starters who shone in Kansas City’s first road series in this edition of Royals Three Stars (presented by our new podcast, Crown Talk).
1st Star: Kris Bubic (6 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 8 K)-March 31st
While the Royals gave Bubic plenty of run support (including four runs in the first inning), the lefty didn’t need much as he dominated the Brewers in their 2025 home opener at American Family Field.
Bubic struck out eight batters and allowed zero runs in six innings pitched while allowing only two walks and three hits. His impeccable control and command in his 2025 debut certainly impressed. However, what stuck out most from Bubic’s start was his pitch quality, especially from his four-seamer.
The 27-year-old Stanford product leaned on his four-seamer, as he threw the fastball 50.5% of the time on Monday. The pitch generated a 44% whiff rate and 60.4% zone rate and sported a 105 tjStuff+ and 62 grade via TJ Stats. Even though his four-seamer only averaged 92.5 MPH, the strong iVB (induced vertical break) and spin (2,534 RPM) made the pitch pretty unhittable.
Here’s an example of Bubic blowing away Jackson Chourio, an NL Rookie of the Year finalist a season ago.
The four-seamer was impressive, but the rest of Bubic’s five-pitch arsenal profiled well in his 2025 debut. (Remember when Cal Eldred didn’t want Bubic to throw more than three pitches?)
Bubic’s overall tjStuff+ was 104, his whiff rate was 31.9%, and his xwOBA contact was 0.211. Not only did he throw strikes (68.4% strike rate), but he also limited hard contact, a recipe for future success.
It’s safe to say Bubic’s return to the rotation was a roaring success. This should give Royals fans hope that he can easily replace Brady Singer‘s spot this season (and maybe even surpass what Singer did in 2024).
Second Star: Cole Ragans (5 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 10 K)-April 2nd
Ragans’ Opening Day performance against the Guardians was a bit underwhelming. He allowed three runs on five hits with two walks and three strikeouts in five innings pitched.
It wasn’t a bad performance by any means. That said, his outing on Opening Day wasn’t the “Cy Young” caliber start that many Royals fans expected on March 27th.
Things were much different for Ragans on Wednesday, even though the Royals’ offense couldn’t give him the win.
In five innings of work, he struck out 10 Brewers batters and allowed only one run on five hits and two walks. It wasn’t the most efficient outing for Ragans. He only had a 48.5% zone rate, and his inconsistent command led to him throwing 97 pitches, which prevented him from going out for the sixth (and a chance for a quality start).
Nonetheless, it was fun to see Ragans generate plenty of whiffs against the Brewers, especially after that was harder to come by against Cleveland on Opening Day.
While the whiffs and strikeouts speak volumes about Ragans’ performance, his TJ Stats data showed promising improvement from his Opening Day outing. His four-seamer had a 106 tjStuff+ and 63 grade, and his changeup was impressive with a 106 tjStuff+ and 66 grade. Overall, his five-pitch arsenal had a 105 tjStuff+, six points than his mark in his first outing of 2025.
The offense let Ragans down on Wednesday, but the lefty should be in line to get plenty more wins for the Royals this season if he can continue to demonstrate this pitch quality and iron out the command a bit.
Third Star: Michael Lorenzen (5.1 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 7 K)-April 1st
I categorized Lorenzen this offseason as a “Seth Lugo lite” pitcher, and he showed that in his first 2025 appearances against Milwaukee.
The 33-year-old righty threw six different pitches on Tuesday, with five being thrown more than 14% of the time (only the curveball had a lower rate at 7.2%). His four-seamer (55 grade), changeup (57), and curveball (60) rated as his best offerings via TJ Stats, and his overall repertoire sported a 99 tjStuff+, 53.6% zone percentage, and 27.9% whiff rate.
Lorenzen’s four-seamer stood out the most to me, which is encouraging since it was his most-thrown pitch in his 2025 debut (26.8% usage).
He averaged 94.2 MPH on the pitch, a 0.4 MPH increase from last season. His four-seamer also generated a whiff rate of 30% and an xwOBA contact of 0.198. An impressive example of Lorenzen’s four-seamer on Tuesday came against Chourio in the bottom of the fifth, as he struck him out to end the inning on a 95-mph one on a 3-2 count.
The former Reds draft pick has seemed to thrive under the tutelage of Royals pitching coaches Brian Sweeney and Zach Bove. Thus, Lorenzen’s return should not only benefit him this year, but also a Royals team that needs as much pitching consistency as possible to return to the postseason.
Graphic Credit: Jared Perkins/Crown Talk