Bubba starring: Outfielder eyes next step

SURPRISE, Ariz. -- Growing up, Bubba Starling was the best athlete at whatever he tried in his Kansas world. A three-sport star in high school, Starling chose baseball to be his career when the Royals took him with the fifth overall pick in 2011.

At that time, most projected Starling to rise quickly and factor heavily on a team like last year's Kansas City squad that won the franchise's first World Series in 30 years. Not quite. After a good debut season with Rookie-level Burlington in 2012, Starling batted .241 with a .727 OPS in his first full-season swing through Lexington in 2013 but fanned 128 times in 498 plate appearances. The following season, he batted .218 with a .642 OPS and 150 K's in 549 trips for Class A Advanced Wilmington.

In short: professional baseball exposes everyone to failure in a harsh way, even -- or perhaps especially -- those who haven't experienced it much before. And in pro ball, everyone from teammates to opponents was the best athlete around at some point in their amateur lives.

Last year, Starling turned a corner and began showing the promise that made him MLB.com's No. 5-rated Draft prospect going into 2011. Returned to Wilmington to start the season, the outfielder batted a blistering .386/.471/.614 to earn his first promotion to Double-A after just 12 games. With Northwest Arkansas, Starling handled the level, batting .254/.318/.426 in 91 contests. A new approach -- not physically or mechanically, but mentally -- paid dividends.

"I just think [it was] opening up to coaches more, dealing with failure a little bit better and trying to stay positive," the Royals' No. 7 prospect said in the Major League clubhouse at Surprise Stadium on Friday morning. "That helped me out throughout the season. Once I figured that out, I just opened up and talked to the guys around me, not just trying to figure out stuff on my own."

Enhanced pressure is nothing new to Starling, and not just from his Draft status. The 6-foot-4, 210-pounder hails from Gardner, Kansas, just under 40 miles from Kauffman Stadium. A local kid with high hopes, Starling felt them with a greater weight than many until last season.

"I think [I accepted] dealing with failure and overcoming it and not putting so much pressure on yourself," he said. "I did that the last few years, and once I realized it, [I was] just going out and playing ball and having fun. Having fun was the key. Once I was having fun with the guys and being a good teammate, that helped me out."

Starling sizzled last July, raking at a .333/.385/.535 rate with three of his 10 total home runs. He carried his season's momentum into the Arizona Fall League where he continued to surge with a .274/.330/.440 line in 22 games and earned a Rising Stars Game nod.

"I had a little bit of success last year, I just want to build off that, keep putting my work in and showing up every day and learning from the veterans around me," Starling said. "Obviously I would like to hit better than what I did, and that's the goal this year. Just going in and working hard and not putting all that pressure on me and doing what I can do, what I'm capable of, slowing everything down is going to help me out."

The Royals invited Starling to big league camp in 2015, an unorthodox approach to try to jumpstart a prospect who had struggled through his first three professional seasons. The approach seems to have worked, and the outfielder is back in Major League surroundings this year as a member of Kansas City's 40-man roster.

"I've worked on everything," he said of his fifth offseason since being drafted. "I hope I can steal more bases this season and work on that aspect of the game. Defensively I can always get better, whatever it is. Offensively just keep swinging the bat, keep getting the reps in and keep learning from guys."

The mood isn't just different for Starling in camp. It's far different for the Royals, defending champions for the first time since 1985. The complex, complete with a new and much larger big league clubhouse building, doesn't let Kansas City forget its accomplishment. "World Series Champions" logos, stickers and emblems are everywhere from sleeve patches on the team's Spring Training jerseys to the soap dispensers in the restrooms.

"There's a lot of great energy," Starling said. "Guys around us are excited for the future. Hopefully some of us can be up there soon, but we come here every day, and everybody's so excited to be here. New clubhouse, new pretty much everything here coming off a World Series win. We're so excited to go out and compete every day."