Lawrence Butler is Electric
A's prospect Lawrence Butler has announced himself in the early stages of Spring Training, providing a jolt of electricity every time he takes the field. In his first at-bat of camp, he doubled home two in an exciting, prospect-led bottom of the 5th inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks. On Monday, he doubled with two outs in the bottom of the 7th, breaking up the no-hit bid that Colorado had cobbled together. In the bottom of the 9th, Butler added an opposite-field solo homer.
The energy that Butler plays with has led to fans online calling for him to make the team out of camp, and while he's not quite ready for that jump just yet, we could be witnessing the beginning of a special, ascendant season to come. The A's added Butler to their 40-man roster this off-season to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft, and he's showing us why.
Butler, 22, spent the last couple of weeks of the 2021 season in Lansing, and he hit .340 with a .389 OBP across 50 at-bats, and even landed Player of the Week honors in the final week.
He then spent all of last season in High-A Lansing, getting into 81 games and hitting .270 with a .357 OBP while smacking 11 homers and swiping 13 bags. He kept hitting in the Arizona Fall League, too, getting into 19 games and batting .241 with a .389 on-base, two homers, 16 RBI, and six steals. He also walked as many times as he struck out.
In chatting with Jesse Goldberg-Strassler and Adam Jaksa of the Lansing Lugnuts' broadcast team, they both expressed that they thought his season was over back on July 4 when he dislocated his elbow on a steal of second. Yet, on August 25th he made his return to the Lansing lineup and immediately went 1-for-3 with a double and two walks.
Butler's season was really a tale of two halves--sort of. It was really a tale of getting out of the frigid month of April, and then everything that came after that. In that opening month, when it was 39 degrees on Opening Day, and 61 by the end of April, Butler hit just .158, but drew 16 walks, which bumped his OBP up to .342.
In the months that followed, he combined to hit .296 with a still-solid 9.2% walk rate and a slightly improved 29.6% walk rate. He dropped that strikeout rate to 20.8% in the AFL, and matched it with his walk rate.
Butler is still a work in progress, and is likely destined for Double-A Midland to begin the season. One split that will be worth keeping an eye on will be how he does against left-handers. Last season in Lansing, he hit just .205 with a .250 on-base, while batting .295 with a .396 on-base against right-handers.
Golberg-Strassler also made sure to bring up Butler's power to all fields, which was on full display on Monday in Mesa. He also noted the outfielder's exceptional speed, which MLB Pipeline grades at 55. Jaksa was impressed with how he'd make tough catches look routine because of his length and athleticism. Butler is listed at 6-foot-3, 210 pounds.
The tools are all there. The power. The speed. The hit tool. The swagger. He's one of the more exciting prospects the A's have had in recent years, and fans are clamoring for someone to latch onto. They could do a lot worse than Lawrence Butler.