Retain Billy Butler
After signing Billy Butler, seems like out of nowhere, the Yankees certainly enjoyed their portion of country breakfast.
Through 12 games in New York, the 30-year old went 10-for-29 (.354) with one home run as the team’s designated hitter and even spent three games over at first base. Small sample size, sure, but to have his bat in the lineup (as a DH) against left-handers could be beneficial.
In his career against left-handed pitching, Butler owns a career slash line of .300/.382/.492 with an OPS of .874 and 55 home runs.
Additionally, among right-handed hitting first basemen and designated hitters since 2007, Butler is in the top-20 in home runs, OPS, and in the top-10 in batting average, hits, and RBI.
For comparison, his batting average (.290) is behind the likes of Miguel Cabrera (.325), Albert Pujols (.295), and Paul Goldschmidt (.299), but ahead of Alex Rodriguez (.276), Edwin Encarnacion (.267), Jose Bautista (.258).
No, he’s not the most dangerous bat but he is a solid right-handed contact-driven hitter with some pop, a history of success against southpaws, and a perfect compliment for the left-handed Brian McCann.
