I want to be a guy the Royals build their team around.
— Billy Butler
I love everything about Kansas City.
I'm not here to be mediocre.
I'm going to consistently hit anywhere between .290 and .310. Anything above that, I'm catching breaks and finding holes.
I'm just trying to go out there and play the game the right way and lead by example.
I'll always be forever tied to the Royals organization and the community there.
Anybody can act good to be around when they are doing really well.
You see certain guys enough, and you recognize pitches and stuff. Some guys you see better than others.
That's the thing about pinch-hitting - you usually have a chance to make a difference in the game.
When the game starts, you don't really look at uniforms.
The key to hitting a lot of home runs as a player at Kauffman Stadium is that you'd better run into some on the road.
I'm a redneck.
Once you have come-from-behind wins, you have confidence as a team that you're going to do it.
When I turned 12 or 13 years old, even as a dad, you can't make a kid play anymore, but up until that point, he pushed me to keep playing, and when I turned 13, I didn't want to do anything else. He was just there with me at the cage every day because I wanted him to go with me and throw to me and work on what I needed to work on.
K.C. and the Bay Area are opposites.
I wasn't going to be drafted to steal bases at 18.
I want the pitcher to know he can't take a pitch off, or I'm going to damage him.
I offer a proven track record in the big leagues that can hit left-handers or right-handers.
In 2012, everything was going right.
I'm not in this game to make the most money.
Being a major-league baseball player is tough, so whenever you say 'face of the franchise,' I'm not trying to be that.
My track record speaks for itself.
I definitely enjoy my barbecue.
I just don't like to talk about my personal success against somebody.
That - 2012 - was definitely my best year, and sometimes it's hard to replicate that.
I've always been happy playing in Kansas City.
I expect to always do well. It's the kind of competitiveness in me. I'm not here to try to just be mediocre.
I have been an everyday player my whole career.
There's always times when, the organization, we're losing 90 games at a time, and it always feels like we're developing players. But you just continue to grind and continue to do your job.
If he wasn't so vital in my younger days, I would have never kept up with baseball. At some point, your dad has to motivate you until you actually realize what you're doing.
I've always had a bigger body, even when I was 18.
You get a new year, you get a new start, you get a new opportunity.
The best compliment you can give a hitter is he's a tough out; that initiates fear in a pitcher.
You have so many at-bats, and obviously if you go three out of 10, you're doing well for the season, so you try to forget every at-bat you have that's not a good one and try to stay positive.
I hit balls hard on the ground, and sometimes they are double plays. Other times, you hit it hard, and it's right through a hole.
If I could be half of what Mike Sweeney was, I'll be happy with it.
Kansas City is just a great place. I love the fans.
You have to work hard each day and try to figure out what's going on and try to get better each day.
Even the smallest gesture can make a huge difference.
When you pinch-hit, you know you're getting their best guys, and usually it's a reliever and a guy that's got a really good slider or a really good fastball.
You always expect to hit for more power.
You're only as good as what you've been. You can't rely on the past.
My nickname is 100 percent fan-based. It's not like one day I said, 'Hey, I want to be named Country Breakfast.'
Winning is definitely contagious.
It's just my job to prove I belong in there. I've been in the league a long time.
We were driving by the local athletic association in Orange Park, Florida, and there was this sign for T-ball signups. I was maybe 6 or 7, and my dad looked at me and said, 'Hey, do you wanna give this a try?'
The questions don't happen when you hit 30 homers, right? If you hit 30 home runs, you hit 40 doubles, I don't think anybody questions your conditioning or your offseason program.
You can't really explain why things happen.
