Kansas City Royals: Top 15 Pitchers in Wins All-Time

Kansas City Royals all-time wins leaders: 9. Steve Busby (70 wins)

Drafted by the Royals in the second round of the 1971 MLB Draft, Steve Busby went on to win 70 games in his eight years with the team.

Busby’s best season was in 1972 where he started only five games, but pitched three complete games and had an ERA of 1.58. After that, Busby was mainly a below-average pitcher and had an ERA of over 4.00 in four total seasons.

He truly was an innings eater for the Royals, and that was the best part about him and why he lasted eight years in the majors.

Busby was capable of pitching far into games, and pitched a career-high 20 complete games in 1974, and pitched 18 complete games in 1975. The 1974 season saw Busby pitching nearly 300 innings!

With a career ERA of 3.73, Busby wasn’t the type to pitch a shutout. He truly was an innings eater for the Royals, and that was the best part about him and why he lasted eight years in the majors.

Where things really went downhill for Busby was when he was diagnosed with a torn rotator cuff, something that could be brutal for a pitcher’s career. In an interview via Scout.com (conducted in 2007), Busby had this to say about the injury,

"First of all, it would have been diagnosed much more quickly. No longer did guys let it get near as far as that, so major surgery on the rotator cuff isn’t nearly often necessary now as it was then. But yeah, rehabilitation techniques are much improved because they’ve gone through trial and error process, and they’ve defined what has to be done in rehab when it does occur, and chances from coming back now, even a total tear, are much improved."

Busby couldn’t come back from the surgery and couldn’t crack 100 innings pitched during his final three seasons in the league. His last season saw him pitching in 11 games and finishing the year with a 6.17 ERA.

Despite the surgery that basically ended his career, Steve Busby was able to record 70 wins and makes this list at number seven.