A's Billy Butler struggling through 1st season with new team

OAKLAND - In a recent at-bat, Billy Butler summarized what has been a disappointing first season with the A’s.

The designated hitter, five months into the three-year deal he signed with Oakland over the winter, matched up with Orioles’ closer Zach Britton by standing in the batters’ box as the tying run.

This was a chance to have the kind of impact the A’s thought they’d added when they brought him in as a free agent. The A’s had lost six consecutive games and badly needed a boost. They didn’t get it. Butler grounded into a game-ending double play. It was the 22nd double play off Butler’s bat, one shy of the American League hig.

“That’s the way the season has gone for me,” he said. “It is what it is. I tried to put the best swing I can on it. And the results aren’t there. It’s a tough pill to swallow.”

The 2015 season has been one tough pill for Butler. He did have a game-winning double to end the losing streak Tuesday against the Dodgers, but that was just his second RBI in August and only his seventh since the All-Star break.

His batting average is .235 with nine homers and 48 RBIs. He’s a career .290 hitter who’s averaged 17 homers and 86 RBIs per 162 games in his career.

“My track record speaks for itself,” Butler said. “It’s a lot better than what I’ve done this year. It’s one of those things where I’ve hit my first really true struggle since I’ve been in the big leagues.

“This is how character is determined. Anybody can act good to be around when they are doing really well. If you play this game long enough, it will test you. You have to work hard each day and try to figure out what’s going on and try to get better each day.”

So far Butler hasn’t figured it out. Neither, it should be pointed out, has the audience judging him.

One American League scout summed up Butler by saying, “he’s just struggling right now. It happens.”

The scout went on to say he saw some slowing of Butler’s bat speed in spring training and wondered then if the affable right-hander was destined to ultimately be a specialist to hit mostly against left-handed pitching.

Another AL scout said “the ball isn’t coming off his bat like it did in the past.” That scout said if that doesn’t recapture “the explosive bat” that first intrigued the A’s, he will have “limited value.”

Needless to say, Butler doesn’t see it that way. He knows this is his worst season, and it couldn’t have come at a worse time, starting off with a new team, a team that expected greatness and got last place instead.

He looks back on spring training, when the A’s posted the best record in baseball, and said the expectations that team put forward were justified, even if they have no chance now to be realized.

“You don’t ever envision doing what we’re doing now,” he said. “We’re a team that was expected to compete, which we have. We’ve just lost a lot of close games (15-27). Those are tough, sometimes it has an effect down the road. We had the talent to do it, but it just didn’t work out.

“We’re having a tough time as a team. Look at anyone other than Sonny (Gray). The guys haven’t had the years they wanted. I know that even Sonny feels he probably should be better, but it’s tough for him to be any better than he has been.”

Gray is 12-4 as a starter and his 2.04 ERA is the best in the American League. He has a chance to get lots of Cy Young Award votes if he continues like this, but he could use more support from a team that has floundered.

“Collectively as a team we just haven’t been very good,” Butler said. “Personally I try to do something each day to help the team win. It hasn’t happened a lot. You get frustrated.

“But it’s never hard to come to the ballpark. It might be tougher here than other places just because of our record, but this is the big leagues, and we’re all happy to be around each other. We’re not happy with our record, but we are just trying to get a little better each day.”