One of the kink's in Billy Butler's game is a complete lack of any kind of speed. I mean none. Take last night. Butler had an off the wall single.
I timed the play from contact to the ball getting to 2B. 10 seconds. A 26-year-old "athlete" should hopefully be able to make it 60 yards in 10 seconds. Not Billy.
Billy has shown off his fleet feet in the past. In 2010, he led the A.L. in double plays with 32. He has been able to cut those numbers down a bit with 16 in 2011 and 17 so far this season.
Perez seems to want to keep Billy company in the cement shoes club with similar land speed records. So far this season, he has hit into 11 double plays or one every 20 plate appearances. Looking back from 2009 to 2012, here are the leaders in percentage of at bats by Royals that ended up in a double plays (min 100 PA):
| Name | GDP % | Season |
| Salvador Perez | 5.0% | 2012 |
| Billy Butler | 4.7% | 2010 |
| Brayan Pena | 4.6% | 2010 |
| Yuniesky Betancourt | 4.4% | 2012 |
| Jose Guillen | 4.2% | 2009 |
| Alberto Callaspo | 3.8% | 2010 |
| Brayan Pena | 3.5% | 2012 |
| Alex Gordon | 3.2% | 2010 |
| Salvador Perez | 3.2% | 2011 |
| Yuniesky Betancourt | 3.0% | 2009 |
Perez is taking grounding into double plays to a whole new high.
One aid to his double play numbers is that he has Butler hitting right before him. The pair could be the ultimate base clogging duo. Or they could just hit home runs and become rally killers. The pair may never be able to win the hearts of the Royals true fans.