Royals settle contract without going to arbitration with their top draft choice.

 The Royals said on Tuesday they made a deal with pitcher Kris Bubic to avoid arbitration. Anne Rogers from MLB.com reported that Bubic will earn $2.35 million next year. This is a little less than the $2.4 million estimated by MLBTR's Matt Swartz.

Bubic, who is 26 years old, was picked as the 40th player in the 2018 draft. This draft was important for the team. The Royals had five picks in the top 58 and chose five pitchers: Brady Singer, Jackson Kowar, Daniel Lynch IV, Bubic, and Jonathan Bowlan. However, not all of these picks have turned out as expected, which has made it hard for the team to get better after rebuilding.

In 2022, Bubic ended the season with an earned run average (ERA) of 4.89. By then, he had played 309 innings in major league games. He started 2023 showing some improvements but had to have surgery in April. He will likely start the 2024 season on the injured list but might be back by the middle of the season.

People are still debating about how good Bubic's performance in 2023 was. He played just three games and pitched 16 innings, which is a small amount. But his stats show some promising signs. For example, his ERA was 3.94 in those games. Though this isn't super impressive, other stats like his strikeout rate were good.

Some experts like Eno Sarris from The Athletic and Jake Mailhot from FanGraphs have analyzed Bubic's performance. They noticed he was throwing faster, changing his throwing style, and using a new type of pitch. This might be why he played better, but it's still too early to tell for sure.

The Royals have also signed two new pitchers, Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha, to make their rotation stronger. They will join other pitchers like Cole Ragans, Singer, Jordan Lyles, and Lynch IV. Bubic might also get a chance to play if he recovers well from his injury.

Last year, Bubic got arbitration rights early because he was a Super Two player. He earned $2.2 million in 2023. His salary in 2024 will likely be similar because he missed a lot of games. He can get arbitration two more times before becoming a free agent in 2026.