What should the Colorado Rockies expect from Eddie Butler this month?

The Colorado Rockies are bringing up one of their pitching prospects, again, to try and inject some hope into an otherwise dismal situation.

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Eddie Butler, he whose name is always mentioned in the same breath as Jon Gray, will give it another shot after a disastrous big league debut this past June. Besides struggling in that start itself, Butler ended up on the disabled list with a bum shoulder. Having returned to Double-A Tulsa to hit the reset button over the last few months, Butler reportedly will be called up to start on Saturday against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Per Thomas Harding of MLB.com:

"Additionally, the Rockies are expected to call up right-hander Eddie Butler, their No. 2-ranked prospect, to start Saturday against the D-backs at Coors Field in the next-to-last home game. That would put the Rockies in position to finish the regular season with six starters."

It sounds like the Rockies are looking to be somewhat flexible with their rotation, but we can at least count on the fact that Butler is slated to make a couple starts in the big leagues before the end of the regular season.

So, what should the Rockies expect from Butler this month?

1. Do not expect him to be a savior

I feel safe in saying that we were all guilty of this when Butler made his debut earlier this summer. Even if we tried to remind ourselves not to put too much pressure on Butler, there was way too much pressure on Butler when he took the mound against the Los Angeles Dodgers in June.

This call to temper expectations does not only apply to Butler’s starts this season; let’s also take a step back as we consider his career arc. Butler might be a high-quality big league pitcher, but similar to Jon Gray, we need to cool it with calling these guys future aces.

Both Butler and Gray might just be good, middle-of-the-rotation guys. There is nothing wrong with that, by the way, but we need to be realistic with expectations for them moving forward.

2. Do expect him to struggle

Let’s be clear about something: we could watch Eddie Butler struggle through two short outings in which he gets hit around a little bit and still come away feeling hopeful.

Bryan Kilpatrick of Purple Row summed it up nicely when it comes to what the goals should be for Butler in these starts:

"If Butler really was pitching with training wheels on in the minors, let’s hope he can make a quick adjustment that allows him to effectively use his full repertoire. That didn’t look to be the case in his early-June start against the Dodgers, but maybe he has learned. From most accounts, there isn’t necessarily anything wrong with Butler physically and his stuff is as good as it has ever been, so being able to clear a mental hurdle or shake a bad habit or two that he picked up as a result of a questionable development strategy maybe isn’t too far out of the question."

Butler is not being called up with the expectation that he will be dominant. He is coming up to get his feet wet at the big league level. This is part of his development.

3. Expect a catcher not named Wilin Rosario

This is strictly a hunch, based on this line of thinking: if the Rockies are going to move on from Rosario at catcher, and if the Rockies would like to move on because Rosario calls a bad game and just generally doesn’t manage pitchers well, and if the Rockies are serious about signing a veteran like Russell Martin this off-season, and if the Rockies want Butler to come away from these starts with more confidence…wouldn’t all of that point towards Michael McKenry getting those starts behind the plate?

If your team is out of it this time of year, all you can ask for is an intriguing reason to watch. The return of Eddie Butler to the rotation, if nothing else, is a reason to tune in and watch the Rockies.