Billy Butler?

[Balsa]

Can anyone tell me anything about Billy Butler in the KC organization?

 

I have a friend who's uncle and aunt used to house him in A ball, and he's curious to see how he's doing...

 

I can only see he was a #1 prospect in 2004 according to BA.

[NCCubFan]

http://minorleaguebaseball.com/app/milb/stats/stats.jsp?n=Billy%20Butler&pos=OF&sid=milb&t=p_pbp&pid=456714

[Balsa]

Thanks, that does help, but does anyone have any scouting reports they know on him or any projections? Chances of making the big leagues?

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Billy Butler is the Royals' #2 prospect behind Alex Gordon and Butler's a top-25 prospect in all of baseball. He has great bat speed, pretty good plate discipline and he has an odd batting stance. He has a very high ceiling with his bat (power, average) and his defense has come a long ways this season (it used to be awful).

 

He should be in the big leagues sometime next season.

[Rob]

Billy Butler is the Royals' #2 prospect behind Alex Gordon and Butler's a top-25 prospect in all of baseball. He has great bat speed, pretty good plate discipline and he has an odd batting stance. He has a very high ceiling with his bat (power, average) and his defense has come a long ways this season (it used to be awful).

 

He should be in the big leagues sometime next season.

 

Even with his defense progressing as much as it has, nobody in baseball seems him ending up as anything other than a DH within a couple years. This improvement might just buy them 1-2 years as a LF'er while they let Sweeney's contract run out.

 

At any rate though, his bat projects to be upper-tier if not elite for a DH. So yeah, he's doing pretty well for himself.

[illiniguy]

Billy Butler is the Royals' #2 prospect behind Alex Gordon and Butler's a top-25 prospect in all of baseball. He has great bat speed, pretty good plate discipline and he has an odd batting stance. He has a very high ceiling with his bat (power, average) and his defense has come a long ways this season (it used to be awful).

 

He should be in the big leagues sometime next season.

As someone who has watched him play at least 7 times this year in person and a couple other on tv. It is still horrible. But, man can he hit.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Tangentially, what's the news with how Gordon's glove is going to play? If he stays at 3rd would they move Teahen to 1B with Shealy going to LF?

[Balsa]

Thanks fellas, that's what I was looking for!

[illiniguy]

Tangentially, what's the news with how Gordon's glove is going to play? If he stays at 3rd would they move Teahen to 1B with Shealy going to LF?

Gordon is gonna stay at third. Hell he is better defensively than Teahan right now. I would imaigne Mark learns to play a little bit of 2b and becomes pretty valueable. What the heck where the Dbacks thinking? If they would have picked Gordon instead of Upton they would have some kind of team for next year.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Tangentially, what's the news with how Gordon's glove is going to play? If he stays at 3rd would they move Teahen to 1B with Shealy going to LF?

Gordon is gonna stay at third. Hell he is better defensively than Teahan right now. I would imaigne Mark learns to play a little bit of 2b and becomes pretty valueable. What the heck where the Dbacks thinking? If they would have picked Gordon instead of Upton they would have some kind of team for next year.

 

Upton was the best prospect at the time of the draft (arguably still is, despite an average first pro season - Maybin and Gordon obviously have a valid argument too). No need to evaluate the draft based on who comes to the big leagues first.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Tangentially, what's the news with how Gordon's glove is going to play? If he stays at 3rd would they move Teahen to 1B with Shealy going to LF?

Gordon is gonna stay at third. Hell he is better defensively than Teahan right now. I would imaigne Mark learns to play a little bit of 2b and becomes pretty valueable. What the heck where the Dbacks thinking? If they would have picked Gordon instead of Upton they would have some kind of team for next year.

 

You think Teahen could hack it at 2B? He's a pretty big guy, and especially with him having shoulder surgery 1B would seem to be a logical spot for him.

[Drew Doughty]

The Royals are going to have a hell of an offense in a few years.

[YearofDaCubs]

The Royals are going to have a hell of an offense in a few years.

I wish I could say the same for those Cubs.

[illiniguy]

Tangentially, what's the news with how Gordon's glove is going to play? If he stays at 3rd would they move Teahen to 1B with Shealy going to LF?

Gordon is gonna stay at third. Hell he is better defensively than Teahan right now. I would imaigne Mark learns to play a little bit of 2b and becomes pretty valueable. What the heck where the Dbacks thinking? If they would have picked Gordon instead of Upton they would have some kind of team for next year.

 

Upton was the best prospect at the time of the draft (arguably still is, despite an average first pro season - Maybin and Gordon obviously have a valid argument too). No need to evaluate the draft based on who comes to the big leagues first.

No, don't get me wrong I like Upton too. But, they already had their ss for the next 15 years in Drew. Plus they have CHris Young in cf. Gordon would have made more sense.

[illiniguy]

Tangentially, what's the news with how Gordon's glove is going to play? If he stays at 3rd would they move Teahen to 1B with Shealy going to LF?

Gordon is gonna stay at third. Hell he is better defensively than Teahan right now. I would imaigne Mark learns to play a little bit of 2b and becomes pretty valueable. What the heck where the Dbacks thinking? If they would have picked Gordon instead of Upton they would have some kind of team for next year.

 

You think Teahen could hack it at 2B? He's a pretty big guy, and especially with him having shoulder surgery 1B would seem to be a logical spot for him.

He won't hit enough to play 1b. Either Butler, Shealy, or Huber are going to play there. His best bet is to try to learn to play some 2b or a corner outfield spot.

[illiniguy]

The Royals are going to have a hell of an offense in a few years.

If they add David Price at number 1 to go with Greinke and Hochevar they will have a pretty good staff starting to shape up as well.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Tangentially, what's the news with how Gordon's glove is going to play? If he stays at 3rd would they move Teahen to 1B with Shealy going to LF?

Gordon is gonna stay at third. Hell he is better defensively than Teahan right now. I would imaigne Mark learns to play a little bit of 2b and becomes pretty valueable. What the heck where the Dbacks thinking? If they would have picked Gordon instead of Upton they would have some kind of team for next year.

 

You think Teahen could hack it at 2B? He's a pretty big guy, and especially with him having shoulder surgery 1B would seem to be a logical spot for him.

He won't hit enough to play 1b. Either Butler, Shealy, or Huber are going to play there. His best bet is to try to learn to play some 2b or a corner outfield spot.

 

Since he came back from AAA his OPS is well north of .900. That's plenty at 1B, and much better than Shealy or Huber would do.

[illiniguy]

Tangentially, what's the news with how Gordon's glove is going to play? If he stays at 3rd would they move Teahen to 1B with Shealy going to LF?

Gordon is gonna stay at third. Hell he is better defensively than Teahan right now. I would imaigne Mark learns to play a little bit of 2b and becomes pretty valueable. What the heck where the Dbacks thinking? If they would have picked Gordon instead of Upton they would have some kind of team for next year.

 

You think Teahen could hack it at 2B? He's a pretty big guy, and especially with him having shoulder surgery 1B would seem to be a logical spot for him.

He won't hit enough to play 1b. Either Butler, Shealy, or Huber are going to play there. His best bet is to try to learn to play some 2b or a corner outfield spot.

 

Since he came back from AAA his OPS is well north of .900. That's plenty at 1B, and much better than Shealy or Huber would do.

Yea it is, if you believe he can do it for over an entire season. I don't. I also think that is where Butler plays the majority of his career. Bulter will put up a better OPS than that.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Tangentially, what's the news with how Gordon's glove is going to play? If he stays at 3rd would they move Teahen to 1B with Shealy going to LF?

Gordon is gonna stay at third. Hell he is better defensively than Teahan right now. I would imaigne Mark learns to play a little bit of 2b and becomes pretty valueable. What the heck where the Dbacks thinking? If they would have picked Gordon instead of Upton they would have some kind of team for next year.

 

Upton was the best prospect at the time of the draft (arguably still is, despite an average first pro season - Maybin and Gordon obviously have a valid argument too). No need to evaluate the draft based on who comes to the big leagues first.

No, don't get me wrong I like Upton too. But, they already had their ss for the next 15 years in Drew. Plus they have CHris Young in cf. Gordon would have made more sense.

 

The acquired Chris Young after Upton had been drafted.

 

Drafting for BPB is the way to go, you don't know how other prospects or big leaguers will pan out in the future.

[Guest]

If you're going by filled positions, the D'Backs also have Tracy at 3B already. He can hit a little bit, too.

[illiniguy]

If you're going by filled positions, the D'Backs also have Tracy at 3B already. He can hit a little bit, too.

ah touche, but he also has the abitlity to play corner of and 1b.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

If you're going by filled positions, the D'Backs also have Tracy at 3B already. He can hit a little bit, too.

ah touche, but he also has the abitlity to play corner of and 1b.

 

Heh, in that case, Upton has the ability to play SS and CF.

[illiniguy]

If you're going by filled positions, the D'Backs also have Tracy at 3B already. He can hit a little bit, too.

ah touche, but he also has the abitlity to play corner of and 1b.

 

Heh, in that case, Upton has the ability to play SS and CF.

Yeah I guess, I just think it was pretty obvious that Gordon was the better player considering he could be a good big leaguer from day one. Upton might not ever even make it up.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

If you're going by filled positions, the D'Backs also have Tracy at 3B already. He can hit a little bit, too.

ah touche, but he also has the abitlity to play corner of and 1b.

 

Heh, in that case, Upton has the ability to play SS and CF.

Yeah I guess, I just think it was pretty obvious that Gordon was the better player considering he could be a good big leaguer from day one. Upton might not ever even make it up.

 

But the point of the draft isn't to get the first guy to the big leagues or the guy who's going to contribute quite a bit within the first few years of the draft. It's to get the best player throughout his career.

[don_kessinger_was_good]

Billy Butler is the Royals' #2 prospect behind Alex Gordon and Butler's a top-25 prospect in all of baseball. He has great bat speed, pretty good plate discipline and he has an odd batting stance. He has a very high ceiling with his bat (power, average) and his defense has come a long ways this season (it used to be awful).

 

He should be in the big leagues sometime next season.

As someone who has watched him play at least 7 times this year in person and a couple other on tv. It is still horrible. But, man can he hit.

 

Agreed. Gordon is a sure thing, I think he's the #1 prospect in all of baseball. But I've heard several scouts actually say they like Butler BETTER, how about that? The kid is an offensive juggernaut, think Carlos Beltran Part II and you'll have an idea of what Butler brings to the table. His defense is, well, not good, but with a kid that does everything else so well, no one will care. And he's young, there's time to improve to marginally acceptable defense yet.

 

Add in Hochevar, Huber, maybe Greinke and Buckner. And of course, Teahan, Shealy (love him) and DeJesus, all in KC already. There is actually some genuine hope for the future here, come 2008 the Royals should be back. They desperately need pitching help, and something needs to be done about Berroa (Ronny Cedeno-esque bad) and John Buck. But there is promise here....