{"id":94756,"date":"2025-01-28T15:40:05","date_gmt":"2025-01-28T20:40:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=94756"},"modified":"2025-01-28T15:41:20","modified_gmt":"2025-01-28T20:41:20","slug":"young-star-sacramento-athletics-lawrence-butler","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/01\/28\/young-star-sacramento-athletics-lawrence-butler\/","title":{"rendered":"Analysts Expect Emerging Star to Blossom in Sacramento This Year"},"content":{"rendered":"

After an impressive 2024, Lawrence Butler<\/a> hopes to shine in Sacramento’s searing heat. How will the 24-year-old be able to do so?<\/p>\n

Analysts Expect Emerging Star to Blossom in Sacramento This Year<\/h2>\n

A team that dominated the news for all the wrong reasons last year, the Athletics had some big positives on the diamond. Brent Rooker<\/a> rightly took a lot of the plaudits, leading to him signing a 5-year extension<\/a> recently. Outside of Rooker, though, no one was as impressive in Oakland as Butler. Across 125 games, he hit .262\/.317\/.490. This gave him the fifth-best OPS among players 23 or under. You can see why Jim Bowden of The Athletic<\/a> mentioned him as a breakout candidate in 2025.<\/p>\n

Lawerence Butler’s Skill Set<\/h3>\n

Butler boasts a mature skill set for a young man. Despite striking out more than average at 23.9%, he still can hit .260 with his xBA, which is also impressive at .261. His power is where he shines, though, since he can consistently hit the ball hard. Barreling the ball 11% of the time is a great start, combined with 83rd-percentile bat speed, which makes it a deadly combination. Not only that, but he can also hit any pitch that comes at him. He slugged .515 against fastballs and .580 against breaking balls and only struggled against off-speed pitches, where he was unlucky to underperform his xSLG by nearly 80 points (.313 instead of .392).<\/p>\n

He’s also impressive on the bases; despite average sprint speed, he ranks 91st-percentile base runner. Lawrence also stole 18 bases without being caught, leading the MLB. There is also no doubting the influence his baserunning has on his slugging either. He outperformed his xSLG by 19 points, and whilst luck is a major factor, he can turn singles into doubles.<\/p>\n

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LAWRENCE BUTLER, THREE-HOMER GAME TO TIE IT \ud83d\udcaa pic.twitter.com\/0g1pORJ6NX<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 MLB (@MLB) August 29, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n