Kansas City Royals
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Royals announced this morning that infielder Maikel Garcia and left-handed pitcher Kris Bubic have been named Royals Player and Pitcher of the Month, respectively, for May. The awards are determined by a local media vote.
This marks the first career monthly honor for Garcia, who slashed .349/.412/.528 (37-for-106) in the month of May with 15 RBI, including 7 go-ahead RBI which tied for the 3rd-most in the Majors behind only Boston’s Rafael Devers (9) and Pittsburgh’s Bryan Reynolds (8). Additionally, his 37 hits last month tied for the 3rd most in the American League, just 2 behind leaders José Ramírez and Jacob Wilson (39 each). His 37 hits matched Vinnie Pasquantino for the team lead, and were the most by a Royal in the month of May since Jon Jay had 43 hits in May 2018. Garcia also ranked among AL leaders last month in triples (T-3rd, 2), batting average (8th) and OPS (12th, .940), and he recorded multiple hits in 12 of his 28 games, which tied for the 5th most such games in the Majors, behind Wilson (14), Freddie Freeman (14), Trea Turner (13) and Ramírez (13). Garcia put together a 14-game hit streak from May 14-30, which matched the 2nd-longest run of his career, trailing an 18-game hit streak done in 2023. Over the course of his streak, Garcia slashed .407/.450/.574 (22-for-54) and raised his season batting average 31 points, from .289 to .320 by the end of play on May 30.
Bubic leads the Majors with a 1.43 ERA (12 ER in 75.1 IP) this season, thanks in large part to his dominant month of May in which he allowed just 2 runs in 32.1 innings pitched, good for an American League-leading 0.56 ERA. It was also the best ERA in the month of May in Royals history (min. 5 starts) and was the 3rd best in any month, trailing only Zack Greinke’s 0.50 ERA (2 ER in 36.0 IP) in April 2009 and Greinke’s 0.55 ERA (2 ER in 33.0 IP) in September 2009, his Cy Young Award-winning season. The only runs Bubic allowed in the entire month came on a solo home run by Houston’s Jeremy Peña on May 13 and an RBI single by Ty France on May 25 in Minnesota. He limited opponents to a .182 average (20-for-110), which was the 5th-lowest mark in the AL, behind only Tarik Skubal (.157), Joe Ryan (.160), Nathan Eovaldi (.168) and Carlos Rodón (.177). Bubic was even better with runners in scoring position, as opponents batted just .095 (2-for-21) in scoring situations, a mark that ranked 3rd in the AL (min. 20 BF). He went 3-0 over his 5 starts and was one of only seven American League pitchers to record at least 3 wins and no losses last month. The left hander recorded 7.0 scoreless innings in 2 starts, on May 8 vs. the White Sox and May 19 at San Francisco, and his 3 starts of 7.0 scoreless innings this season are tied for the most in the Majors. This marks Bubic’s third career monthly honor and second straight to open the season, after earning the award for March/April, when he posted a 2.25 ERA (9 ER in 36.0 IP) with 37 strikeouts.