Minnesota Twins at Athletics

There was a point not long ago this season when Lawrence Butler was statistically one of the worst hitters in baseball, a circumstance the Athletics never expected for one of the key members of their young core. Butler’s struggles reached a point where there was speculation as to whether it might be best to send him down to the Minors for a reset, as the right fielder entered the All-Star break with just five home runs and a sub-.200 batting average. The A’s opted to allow Butler the opportunity to figure out his scuffles up here, and he’s looked a lot more like the Butler we all expected heading into 2026 as of late, including Wednesday night’s 7-4 A’s victory over the Twins at Sutter Health Park as he slugged a Statcast-projected 425-foot solo shot and reached base twice. Simply put, this version of Butler over the past month is a completely different version than his early-season form. Since July 28, he’s now hitting .310 (30-for-100) with seven homers, six doubles and 16 RBIs over his last 28 games. “I couldn’t be happier with Lawrence,” manager Mark Kotsay said. “This kid has been grinding. He plays with emotion. He doesn’t want to disappoint anyone, especially the team. … Really proud of the way he’s responded to a lot of adversity and continues to get better.” Earlier this week, Kotsay alluded to adjustments Butler had recently been working on with A’s director of hitting Darren Bush. The mechanical tweaks include trying to be more direct to the baseball in the zone by spreading his legs out a bit wider at the plate and limiting the head movement in his swing. “He made the adjustment that we wanted to see,” Kotsay said. “He’s basically just trying to touch \[the baseball\