25-year old righty swinging DH Billy Butler’s power has left him in May. He has played in 24 games so far in May and he is 25 for 92 (.272 avg, .694 OPS) with 10 runs scored, 0 homers and 8 RBIs. He has now played in 51 games overall this year for the Royals and he is 55 for 188 (.293 avg, .806 OPS) with 24 runs scored, 3 homers, 19 RBIs and 1 stolen base. The Royals need Butler to find his power because he’s batting in a very important part of the lineup.

Royals’ #1 prospect Eric Hosmer is knocking on the door, so 27-year old lefty swinging 1B/DH Kila Ka’aihue better get his bat going soon or he’s going to be out of a job. Ka’aihue has played in 23 games so far this year for the Royals and he is 16 for 82 (.195 avg, .612 OPS) with 6 runs scored, 2 homers, 6 RBIs and 26 whiffs. He has now played in 87 games in parts of three years with the Royals and he is 61 for 283 (.216 avg, .683 OPS) with 32 runs scored, 11 homers and 32 RBIs.

With Chris Getz and Wilson Betemit getting hot at the plate, Mike Aviles has been the odd man out for P.T. lately. Aviles has played in 8 games for the Royals so far this year and he is 5 for 32 (.156 avg, .628 OPS) with 3 runs scored, 1 homer, 6 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. Aviles is a much better hitter than he has shown so far this year but he can only really handle playing 2B or 3B, so if he doesn’t start hitting soon his P.T. could start to dry up.

With the trade of Scott Podsednik the Royals have a lack of speed in the lineup. That is where 26-year old lefty swinging 2B Chris Getz comes in. It looks as if the Royals are going to give Getz a second chance to win the starting job at 2B. He has played in 51 games for the Royals this year and he is 36 of 153 (.235 avg, .585 OPS) with 19 runs scored, 13 RBIs and 11 stolen bases. The Royals really need Getz to get on base a lot so that other batters in the lineup start to get better pitches to hit.

The Royals have demoted 26-year old lefty swinging 3B Alex Gordon to AAA and they have recalled 29-year old righty swinging shortstop Mike Aviles to replace him on the active roster. Gordon has been a huge disappointment in his time with the Royals and I wouldn’t be shocked if they traded him sometime soon. Gordon has played in 12 games for the Royals this season and he is 6 of 31 (.194 avg, .665 OPS) with 5 runs scored, 1 homer and 1 RBI. In his four years with the Royals, Gordon has played in 346 games in which he is 306 of 1,231 (.249 avg, .744 OPS) with 165 runs scored, 38 homers, 142 RBIs and 28 stolen bases. Mike Aviles made the Royals out of spring training but he only played in 2 games going 0 for 1 before he was demoted to the minors. He kept his head up though and earned his way back to K.C. Aviles played in 17 games in AAA-ball this season and he was 19 of 70 (.271 avg, .706 OPS) with 8 runs scored, 1 homer and 8 RBIs. Aviles has played in 140 games in his three years with the Royals and he is 158 of 540 (.293 avg, .749 OPS) with 78 runs scored, 11 homers, 59 RBIs and 9 stolen bases. I think Aviles will do a good job when called upon by the Royals.