Ex-Royals Prospect Listed As Biggest Bust Of Last 10 Years

The Kansas City Royals are currently surging. After starting the 2025 season 8-14, the team has won 15 of its last 17 games and is now 23-16. They are also in sole possession of the second American League Wild Card spot.

They have a ton of solid young players that are performing quite well, including Bobby Witt Jr., last year's runner up for the AL MVP award behind Aaron Judge.

However, that doesn't mean every young player has panned out for Kansas City. Some prospects never find their footing.

Such was the case with outfielder Bubba Starling, who Bleacher Report's Joel Reuter listed as the biggest prospect bust of the last 10 years.

"A true five-tool prospect when he began his pro career, it quickly became clear his hit tool was far less polished than hoped, and mediocre seasons at Single-A in 2013 and High-A in 2014 took some of the luster off his prospect star," Reuter writes.

"In 91 total games between the 2019 and 2020 seasons, he hit .204/.246/.298 for a 44 OPS+ with a 31.8 percent strikeout rate and minus-1.8 WAR."

Starling appeared to be turning a corner in 2019 when he received his first call-up to the Major Leagues. He hit .310 at Triple-A with 20 extra-base hits.

Unfortunately, he just never panned out, and by October of 2021, he decided to call it a career. Count him as a prospect that just never found his footing, as well as one of the greatest what-ifs in Royals history.

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