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Rockies Preview Series: The immense pressure on Eddie Butler and Jon Gray

By Hayden Kane

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With pitchers and catchers set to report soon for the Colorado Rockies, we start our preview series with a look at the organization’s two top pitching prospects.

For as long as any Rockies’ fan can remember, the big “if” hanging over the team has been familiar…

…if Troy Tulowitzki and Carlos Gonzalez both stay healthy, this team could be a contender.

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As of the off-season prior to 2014, however, we have been hanging our hats on a second “if” that could make the Rockies a real threat in the National League West…

…if Eddie Butler and Jon Gray arrive and have an impact in the Rockies’ rotation.

There are reasonable, smart people who are once again pointing to the two best pitching prospects in franchise history as reasons for hope for the Colorado Rockies this season.

Paul Swydan, for example, writes the following about Butler and Gray in the midst of a larger argument in favor of the Rockies as a sleeper team in 2015:

"“The pair of top 20 prospects have very little ground left to cover, if any, in the minors…Highly touted though they are though, they are still Rockies prospects, and so their projections are quite modest — both from a performance and innings pitched standpoint. Together, they are slotted in for just 167 innings in 2015.“But if they pitch to their pedigrees, they might double that total and significantly upgrade the rotation in the process. Only time will tell, but outside of the Cubs, there are few teams with this source of untapped potential ready to burst onto the scene in 2015.”"

More important are the words of manager Walt Weiss, a man who might increasingly be feeling the heat in terms of job security. In a radio interview last week, Weiss noted how much of a difference Butler and Gray could make for the Rockies’ hopes in 2015. As a matter of fact, he called them out as guys who must step up.

As a reminder, Butler has thrown 16 career innings at the big league level. Gray has thrown zero.

What are we doing here, exactly?

At the end of the 2015 season, Butler will be 24 years old. Gray will be 23 years old. For a team that will overachieve if they finish in third place this year, what’s the damn hurry? Given their history of spectacular failures when it comes to drafting and developing pitchers at the top of the draft, the Rockies should be willing to exercise some patience, no?

Doesn’t it feel like the Rockies ruined Alex White because they were desperate for him to make the Ubaldo Jimenez trade look good? Doesn’t it feel like the Rockies ruined Drew Pomeranz, a one-time top prospect on the level of Butler and Gray, because they got desperate and rushed him to the big leagues? One might even argue that the Rockies drafted Greg Reynolds out of a misguided desperation to get a pitcher, specifically to get a sinker-ball pitcher.

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Desperation. It’s a bad look, especially for a team that stinks at identifying or developing young talent on the mound.

Count me among the people who have a bad feeling about thrusting Gray and Butler into the big league rotation when neither of them might be ready this season and when the Rockies should be comfortable with the idea of punting 2015 anyway.

Let’s conclude with some thoughts on what might be a divide between Weiss and new general manager Jeff Bridich. The normally dull Weiss was surprisingly candid with the comments cited above in which he put a bunch of pressure on Butler and Gray. In the meantime, Bridich has added a couple “meh” back-of-the-rotation guys in Kyle Kendrick and David Hale.

Weiss is calling on Butler and Gray to arrive in 2015, while Bridich looks to be buying time for them to develop.

The Rockies need to take the long view here. The NL West is going to be brutal this season and it’s highly unlikely that this team will be relevant.

Come next off-season, hopefully we will have officially discarded the “if” that has to do with Tulowitzki and Gonzalez’s health, one way or another. Hopefully we will have placed our focus on one more year of saying the Rockies will be good if Eddie Butler and Jon Gray have breakthrough seasons when they arrive at the big league level for good.

There is no rush, not with these two guys and not with this otherwise mediocre team. Hopefully the Rockies see that and take some of the pressure off Butler and Gray.

Next: Jon Gray headlines non-roster invitees

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