Hitter Profiles: Cashing In With Sacramento

We’re roughly 100 games from the finish line of the 2025 baseball season. If you’re still reading articles like this, congratulations you’ve stayed competitive. But success so far doesn’t guarantee smooth sailing ahead. Now is the time to reassess, get honest about your roster, and make strategic moves to stay ahead of the curve. This week, we’re spotlighting two players who’ve returned solid value but may be standing on shakier ground than their stats suggest. These are the names to consider selling high, ideal trade bait to patch up that glaring weakness in your lineup. As Yogi Berra once said, “If you don’t know where you’re going, you might end up someplace else.” Let’s make sure that someplace is the playoffs.

Lawrence Butler

Lawrence Butler was a popular name this past offseason after a breakout 2024 campaign in which he hit .262 with 22 home runs and 18 steals across 125 games. In a strong echo of the old saying that past performance is the best predictor of future results, Butler has kept it going in 2025. Through 60 games, he already has 9 home runs and 10 steals. The good news is that selling Butler in fantasy leagues is not difficult. The counting stats look legitimate, and he currently ranks as the 45th-best hitter in the league. So what’s the catch? Why are we pouring cold water on his profile?

Let’s compare his Statcast data from 2024:

To 2025:

There is clear regression taking place. His quality of contact has dipped across the board. His xSLG, xISO, and xBA have all declined. This has been partially masked by a jump in BABIP, which has climbed 39 points to .340. Power-wise, most of his home runs have just barely cleared the wall, even in a hitter-friendly park like Sacramento. If he had played all of his games in a bigger ballpark like Chase Field, only two of his home runs would have left the yard. That doesn’t mean his power is disappearing, but it does make it harder to feel confident about it holding up over the rest of the season. Strikeouts are another concern. After posting a 22.9 percent strikeout rate through March and April, that number has risen to 27.3 percent over the last 30 days and 30.5 percent over the past two weeks. That kind of trend is worth noting.

Now let’s talk about the speed. Butler’s sprint speed ranks in the 30th percentile, similar to players like Jeff McNeil and Jake Bauers. He does get excellent jumps and is smart on the base paths, which allows him to steal bases despite average raw speed. In that respect, he profiles more like Ketel Marte than a true burner. His stolen base numbers are likely to remain solid, but should still be viewed with some caution given the rest of the profile. All told, Butler remains a valuable and must-start player in fantasy. However, if you are looking to trade from a position of strength and want to cash in on a player whose underlying numbers raise a few questions, Butler makes for a strong sell-high candidate.

Jacob Wilson

Let’s stay in Sacramento with the Athletics and visit upstart rookie Jacob Wilson, who is off to an incredible start hitting .363 with eight homers and five steals. Even more impressive, he has already tallied 34 runs and 34 RBI. That production has vaulted him to 16th on the player rater, sending his stock soaring among fantasy players who tend to over-index on rookie breakouts.

Starting with the positives, Wilson might be the best bet this side of Luis Arraez to hit .300 in the major leagues. His elite plate discipline has landed him in the top 1% of the league for both strikeout and walk rates. That approach has produced a 97th percentile expected batting average of .312. He looks like a professional hitter and should remain a strong contributor in batting average and runs.

Now for the other side. Wilson has hit more home runs in his first 60 games of 2025 than he had in his entire professional career across 107 games before this season. While his plate discipline is elite, his power metrics tell a different story. His exit velocities and barrel rates rank in the bottom 10% of the league. Statcast shows a profile that looks more like Nico Hoerner of the Cubs, who was once a fantasy favorite before settling in as a single-digit home run threat. Like Hoerner, Wilson’s limited power could cap his run-producing upside.

Statcast Comparison – Jacob Wilson

vs Nico Hoerner

Just like Lawrence Butler, Wilson is a valuable part of the Athletics lineup and a solid fantasy asset. But if another manager is willing to trade someone like Brent Rooker, who ranks 30th on the player rater, or Jackson Chourio, who sits 21st, it would be grand larceny when projecting forward for the rest of the season.

Bonus Points

Let’s leave Sacramento for a quick hitter of a few other guys that are performing admirably but should be considered for the trade block:

• Christian Yelich has been on fire the last two weeks hitting four homers with a .413 average thanks to a BABIP of .469 contrasted against his season long xBA sitting at .257
• Oneil Cruz profiles like Aaron Judge at times with his hard contact, and then goes on month long strikeout benders like the last 30 days striking out 42% of the time.
• Freddie Freeman has nine homers and a .363 average this season, but only one ball has left the park with a .380 average the last 30 days supported by a bloated .487 BABIP.