Lawrence

Butler

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.

Lawrence Butler has been dropped to eighth in the order after leading off four of their last six games. Kurtz has been mired in an unexpected slump at the dish this season, hitting .200/.380/.291 with eight runs scored, two homers, three RBI and two steals through 16 games. The fact that he’s struck out in nearly 40 percent of his 71 plate appearances is a big concern but he’s still getting on-base at a near-elite rate.

Gelof makes his first career start in right field with Lawrence Butler getting the night off from facing Rangers lefty MacKenzie Gore. The 26-year-old’s contact issues have kept him from reaching his lofty power-speed ceiling, but he’s definitely added some defensive versatility to his toolkit, which might help him stick around in a bench role.

Butler, 25, hit a garbage-time homer in the eighth inning off Luis Curvelo that brought the Athletics to within seven runs. Still counts, and it’s nice to see Butler drive a baseball. He’s off to another less-than-spectacular start with a slash of .180/.255/.320 with two homers and one stolen base through 15 contests.