| Name | G | AVG | OBP | SLG | OPS | H | R | RBI | BB | SO | HR |
| Billy Butler | 145 | .306 | .363 | .493 | .856 | 173 | 71 | 86 | 52 | 89 | 18 |
| Mike Jacobs | 15 | .213 | .288 | .447 | .735 | 10 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 15 | 3 |
| Mark Teahen | 11 | .209 | .273 | .300 | .573 | 9 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 9 | 0 |
| Willie Bloomquist | 3 | .200 | .227 | .326 | .553 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
Four guys played first base for the royals in 2009 and here is how they fared at the plate when they played the position. The stats below are only for games in which the player played 1B.
The Royals started the season with Mike Jacobs at first base, which everyone knew they would do and most knew was a mistake. I never understand how a guy just gets pegged as a "bad defender" like Butler has and then can never get a chance to prove himself. But Hillman, to his credit realized very soon that Butler should be the starter at the position and from what I noticed seemed more than capable at the position.
The position statistics will clearly be dominated by Butler and that is certainly a good thing. Butler took a very big step forward in 2009 which was sorely needed. So how did the Royals 1B compare to the rest of the league? The below chart is sorted by sOPS+ which basically compares how each teams OPS at the 1B position stacked up against the rest of the league with 100 being average. OPS isn't the perfect stat, but for now I think it will do.
| Team | Split | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | sOPS+ |
| Yankees | as 1B | .292 | .386 | .566 | .953 | 124 |
| Tigers | as 1B | .320 | .392 | .547 | .939 | 121 |
| Twins | as 1B | .281 | .366 | .533 | .899 | 111 |
| Angels | as 1B | .296 | .346 | .535 | .881 | 106 |
| Red Sox | as 1B | .293 | .386 | .482 | .868 | 106 |
| Rays | as 1B | .229 | .349 | .501 | .850 | 100 |
| Mariners | as 1B | .262 | .348 | .500 | .848 | 99 |
| Royals | as 1B | .295 | .351 | .483 | .834 | 97 |
| White Sox | as 1B | .276 | .349 | .482 | .832 | 96 |
| Indians | as 1B | .276 | .359 | .462 | .820 | 95 |
| Blue Jays | as 1B | .263 | .363 | .447 | .810 | 92 |
| Orioles | as 1B | .262 | .318 | .411 | .729 | 73 |
| Athletics | as 1B | .217 | .316 | .356 | .672 | 61 |
| Rangers | as 1B | .226 | .272 | .411 | .684 | 60 |
Again this chart shocked me, but on the low side. Basically using the OPS statistic, the Royals had below average offensive output from first base. So while Butler had a great step forward and was one of if not THE best hitter on the team, it still put him below other AL first basemen. Part of it is certainly the fact that the OPS statistic puts too much emphasis on slugging which was not the best part of Butlers game, particularly in Kauffman Stadium. However, even if you look at his OBP and BA stats, they alone only put him up a couple notches. So basically Butler was an average first basemen at the plate.....that kind of blows me away.
