He figured out what? He has 1 extra base hit in 17 games now, and it was the misjudged flyball (in the sun) Saturday. His power is sapped, it's good as gone. There is no way this guy should be a cleanup hitter in the A.L.

Yep. My wife even commented on the nice divot he left.

Sadly, i have to agree. Sure, hes hit more, but all i have seen is singles. Woopee! Aoki and Escobar have shown more power.

Oh boy....here come the Butler apologists now...... :facepalm:


Mellinger




I guess I should be used to this by now, but Sunday’s column was about the worst (first?) slump of Billy Butler’s life which means most of the emails and voicemails have been about how Butler stinks and should be, at best, a pinch hitter in the National League.


Billy Butler is a very good hitter, whether people acknowledge it or not

A significant — or at least significantly loud — segment of Royals fans refuses to acknowledge that Butler has established himself as one of the game’s better hitters. That doesn’t make it any less true, but just for fun some numbers:

Since 2009, Butler’s first full season, he ranks 13th in adjusted OPS among players with at least 3,000 plate appearances. Lower the cutoff to 2,500 plate appearances and he’s 25th. That’s behind sluggers like Miguel Cabrera and Evan Longoria and Adrian Beltre, and ahead of guys like Dustin Pedroia, Victor Martinez and Mark Teixeira.

Over that same span, only Robinson Cano has more doubles. Butler is 17th in total extra-base hits, again, behind guys like Joey Votto and Andrew McCutchen and Albert Pujols, and ahead of guys like Ben Zobrist, Justin Upton and Jose Bautista.

Now, obviously, Butler needs to hit to be valuable. Most of the players listed here play defense, and some of them quite well. Many of them hit more home runs. With the possible exceptions of Cabrera, Martinez and Pujols, none of them are as slow as Butler. So Butler’s 40 doubles aren’t necessarily as valuable as someone else’s 40 doubles.

But it’s also true that Butler’s lack of defense and 30-HR seasons are a big part of why he’s making $8 million with a team option for next year, instead of $15 million on a long-term contract.

Martinez, for instance, has similar offensive numbers over the last four or five years and is making $12 million this year at the age of 35. Jay Bruce is just a year younger with similar numbers — Butler out OPS+-es him 126 to 118 — but he’s a good right fielder so he’s making $10 million this year, $12 million in 2015 and $12.5 million in 2016 with a team option for 2017.

Anyway, the point is that Butler does one baseball thing very well. He also has distinct and obvious flaws that sometimes overshadow his One Very Good Thing.

But he is the roster’s most established hitter, so even on a team built on speed and defense, the Royals need their slow DH to get past this slump and drive in runs with line drives to cash in on this season’s opportunity.

Butler has shown signs in recent days. His single on Sunday was as hard as any ball he’s hit this season. With that in mind, the Royals are likely moving him back to the cleanup spot tonight.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2014/04/21...#storylink=cpy

shakesthecat is the house!

How to get the bat to strike the ball with more regularity and putting it in play in order to reach base safely. Compared to the rest of the season before the Twins when he was hitting .160.

My fear with Butler is that he's turned into a slap hitter with no speed. If you're going to have guys hit singles, at least have guys that might be able to squeeze in a hustle double from time to time. I don't know for sure, but I'm thinking we may never again see the Butler from two years ago.

Mellinger's column is dumb because it's out-dated. Nobody disputes Butler could hit in 2009, or that he had power when he hit 29 homers in 2012. We're talking about NOW. NOW, he is not a valuable hitter at all. He hit 51 doubles five years ago and it's declined every single season. He hit 14 homers last year and probably wonj't even do that this year. He's not a premier hitter NOW in the least.

Agree 100%. Hes absolutely hurting this team if he cant drive in runs.

The problem is, are there any better options? The Royals have no choice but to keep running him out there and praying he returns to his form of 2-4 years ago.

We are stuck with whatever we can get out of him this year, but hopefully they are smart enough to get him traded, or at least let him go after the season.

If Butler doesn't swing back around and start driving the ball again, this is entirely correct.

FACT: Even including last season (assuming it is a "down" outlier like 2012 was an "up" outlier), Billy Butler's track record is that of a very, very good and established major league hitter.

FACT: His power outage last year, combined with his slump to start this season, is very concerning. If he continues to struggle driving the ball as this season goes on, you have to start looking at 2013-14 as the new normal for Butler.

FACT: A resurgent Billy Butler is a key component for KC. If he doesn't hit, this team will have a hard time as currently constructed.

I do agree that its early to write off Butler for 2014, but the reason why I'm more concerned than I otherwise would be is its not like he's scorching liners right at outfielders. Yeah he's had a few hard-hit outs here and there, but almost every one of his hits are rolling out of the infield.

Yea, i dont truly believe he will stay this bad the whole year. He will most likely bounce back of course. But by how much? 15 HRs and 60-70 RBIs? Not good enough IMO.

The Royals don't have a cleanup hitter so they have to improvise with the dude that is likely to get the most singles

I still say move Esky to Cleanup :D