Lawrence Butler hits homer, steals base, scores four

Butler had started each of the team’s previous four games, but he went 0-for-4 with four strikeouts in a tough loss against the Pirates on Wednesday. Carlos Cortes will cover right field in his place while Jonah Heim will get a rare start as the designated hitter and bat sixth for the A’s on Thursday evening.

Butler was 9-for-20 in his previous six games, so maybe this is just a little setback. Still, he’s at just .186/.266/.284 for the season, and with Henry Bolte and Carlos Cortes performing so much better to date, there’s going to have to be some thought given to sending down Butler when Brent Rooker returns.

Milwaukee scored single runs in the first, second and third innings and then never mustered another. The A’s came back with an Alika Williams homer in the sixth and homers from Carlos Cortes and Butler in the seventh to prevail. Butler’s homer was his fourth of the season. He was starting for just the fifth time in 22 games, as the A’s are mostly using Henry Bolte and Carlos Cortes over him in the outfield against righties. However, they had room for all three tonight with Brent Rooker hurting. Butler is batting .165/.251/.256 in 183 plate appearances. There’s still reason to think he’ll go back to being useful as a platoon guy against righties, but first he needs to show the A’s that he’s better than the alternatives. It’s not clear that he is.

It appears to be nothing more than a routine day of rest for the 22-year-old outfielder. Lawrence Butler will start in his place in center field and will bat sixth for the A’s against Astros’ right-hander Mike Burrows.

Bolte has begun ceding playing time to Lawrence Butler on a more regular basis 286/.369/.321 with zero homers, four RBI and four steals in 18 games since being called up from Triple-A Las Vegas last month. He’s sat in three of the club’s last seven games. Fantasy managers were probably expecting more production from an over-the-fence power standpoint based on his minor league breakthrough earlier this season. It hasn’t happened so far.

Bolte has started 11 of 15 games since being called up from Triple-A Las Vegas earlier this month. The 22-year-old rookie has held his own at the plate, hitting .282/.370/.333 with three runs scored, zero homers, four RBI and three steals in 46 plate appearances over 12 games. It’ll be Lawrence Butler getting a turn in center field on Tuesday night.

The A’s sat Henry Bolte today so that they could play both Butler and Carlos Cortes, but it’s Butler who seems like the team’s weakest link right now; he’s batting .171/.272/.264 with 41 strikeouts in 147 plate appearances. With Denzel Clarke nearly ready to return, one wonders if the A’s might try sending Butler down for a spell to regain some confidence.

Cortes has cooled off of late, but he’s still hitting .343/.400/.556 overall with just 10 strikeouts and fine EV numbers in 110 plate appearances. He has about 300 points of OPS on Tyler Soderstrom and 400 points on Lawrence Butler, the two guys flanking Bolte in center tonight. What he doesn’t have, however, is a long-term contract guaranteed through 2031 or ’32.

Butler is up to .187/.260/.308 in 100 plate appearances. He’s been sitting against left-handers, which seems like the right move for the A’s but one that cuts into his fantasy value. Maybe he’ll wind up with 20 homers and 20 steals anyway, but he’s probably not going to be of much help in the other categories in the process.

Athletics manager Mark Kotsay decided to shake up his lineup card on Thursday by moving McNeil to the top of the order with Nick Kurtz hitting third behind red-hot Shea Langeliers. The 34-year-old veteran has gone 2-for-7 with a pair of doubles during that span and is probably going to continue leading off against right-handed starters with Lawrence Butler going to the bottom of the order.