<table> </table> SURPRISE, Ariz. | <strong>Billy Butler </strong>found out the sex of his first baby last summer, over the All-Star break.</p><p>&#8220;Uh-oh,&#8221; he joked. &#8220;I gotta start hitting better. Girls are expensive.&#8221;</p><p>He did, too, improving in virtually every statistical category, which brings up an important point: the Royals&#8217; success this summer relies far more on how much production they get from Butler than from <strong>Coco Crisp </strong>or <strong>Mike Jacobs</strong>.</p><p>And toward that end, the early plusses are that Butler has taken tangible steps to keep developing.</p><p>Butler&#8217;s down 10 to 15 pounds from last year, and it&#8217;s more than just shedding fat. He&#8217;s stronger, too, thanks to daily workouts with a personal trainer &#8212; hour of cardio, hour of weight lifting, plus some time in the batting cage and with the glove.</p><p>He says he didn&#8217;t notice the changes in his body until he got to spring training, when agility drills started coming easier.</p><p>&#8220;I wasn&#8217;t worried about me at the plate,&#8221; Butler says. &#8220;I was worried about playing first base. It&#8217;s going to help out everywhere, my energy level. (Manager) <strong>Trey</strong> (<strong>Hillman</strong>)&#8217;s already told me I&#8217;m moving a lot better.&#8221;</p><p>Butler is enjoying the development process. His dad says he&#8217;ll eventually hit for a high average, 20 or so homers, and a lot of doubles. Butler thinks that&#8217;s about right, but wants &#8220;eventually&#8221; to come sooner than later.</p><p>He won&#8217;t set any land-speed records, but Butler feels like his improvement will help maintain his energy and focus throughout the season.</p><p>The scholarship program is over, so to speak.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m as comfortable as I&#8217;ve ever felt,&#8221; he says. &#8220;There&#8217;s a certain amount of break-in time, but that time&#8217;s over. I&#8217;m ready to help out. I feel comfortable in there. I can do my own thing. I don&#8217;t feel like I&#8217;m restricted or someone&#8217;s watching me. I&#8217;ve pretty much gotten to the point where I can do my own thing and do it the right way.&#8221;</p><p><strong><span class="subhead">Chiefs bits</span></strong></p><p>More proof that ours is a football sports world and the rest of us are just living in it: 5 million people watched the NFL&#8217;s scouting combine on the league&#8217;s network or Web site. That&#8217;s a 26 percent bump from last year, meaning some of us need to get out more.</p><p>One more football note, and finally we hear from a Chiefs player about <strong>Matt Cassel</strong>, the guy new coach <strong>Todd Haley </strong>says will, um, compete for the starting quarterback job.</p><p>This quote was passed along by <em>Star</em> business reporter <strong>Kevin Collison</strong>, from safety <strong>Jon McGraw</strong>:</p><p>&#8220;I think it&#8217;s exciting. Obviously he had a solid year last year, and I think he&#8217;s still on the upside of his career. I think it provides even more depth and competition at positions where we need it. He&#8217;s got a good arm and he&#8217;s an accurate passer.&#8221;</p><p>OK, so we&#8217;re still waiting to hear a Chiefs player say something <em>insightful</em> about Cassel.