Welcome back everyone! And if you are a first-time reader of this masterpiece of literature, welcome to the Lawrence Butler edition of Up-and-Coming Dynasty Players.

I was thinking about highlighting Butler a month ago, but at the time I was not completely sold on what he was doing. He had an incredible month of July, slashing .363/.408/.802 with 10 homers and 27 RBI. But that month came out of nowhere and there was no way he was going to maintain an .802 SLG and 1.210 OPS.

Before buying stock in Butler, I wanted to make sure the return on investment was going to pay off.

In August, Butler not unexpectedly cooled down somewhat at the plate with a .266/.301/.585 slash line. But he hit eight more homers and drove in 18 runs. Over the course of a full season that would be 48 homers and 108 RBI with a stellar .886 OPS.

While the power is great, there has been a massive decline in his strikeout percentage since July 1.  After posting rates of 29.2%, 31.3% and 34.5% the first three months of the season, his strikeout rate fell to 19.4% in July, then to 17.5% in August. So far in September it is at 9.5%. That decline plus the consistent power display is enough for me to want to invest in Butler as he is certainly an Up-and-Coming Dynasty Player.