A's recall Lawrence Butler, rookie debuts going 0-for-4

The Show must go on, and now Lawrence Butler can call himself a proud member of the Major League Circus.

The Oakland Athletics made a notable transaction ahead of their series opener against the Washington Nationals on Friday, August 11, by recalling OF Lawrence Butler, their No. 7 prospect, to the major league team.

The 23-year-old outfielder, who has manned both righ- and center-field duties in the minors, joined the rest of his teammates in Washington D.C. and already started for the A's on Friday going 0-for-4 on his trips to the plate.

Butler arrived in the MLB slashing .280+ BA, .350+ SLG, and .475+ OPS with 15 homers between AA and AAA. Sadly, he could do nothing at all (pretty much as the A's for the whole year) to tag a single Nationals pitch in the capital of the nation on a forgettable debut in the majors.

The move makes sense following the news of the designation for assignment of Ramon Laureano a few days ago. Taking advantage of Tony Kemp's paternity leave opening a roster spot, the A's decided to bring another outfield on the opposite end of the age spectrum to fill the gap opened by Kemp's absence.

With this move, most of the A's top prospects have already reached and played at the MLB level, including (in order of ranking per MLB Pipeline) Tyler Soderstrom, Zack Gelof, Mason Miller, Butler, and Freddy Tarnok.

The A's spent a sixth-round draft pick on Butler back in 2018 as the outfielder decided to declare for the draft coming out of high school. The youngster has climbed the A's minors starting in Low-A and moving toward the MLB spending time at High-A, Double-A, and Triple-A before making the ultimate jump to the majors on Friday.

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