Is Colorado Rockies Starter Eddie Butler Still A Prospect?

Apr 24, 2015; Denver, CO, USA; Colorado Rockies starting pitcher E. Butler (31) delivers a pitch during the first inning against the San Francisco Giants at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports

There are a lot of concerns surrounding Butler, most namely in the fact that he (a) allows a ton of base runners, and (b) doesn’t miss very many bats. A big league WHIP of 1.795, only 39 career strikeouts while walking 43 hitters, and 103 hits allowed in his 81.1 big league innings don’t exactly make for a frontline starter, even if only in such a small sample.

Throw out last year’s numbers when he was working around a shoulder injury and threw only 16 innings, and Butler still has scary ratios in 2015; a 36:36 strikeout to walk ratio, a 1.78 WHIP, and opponents getting on base well over 40% of the time when he pitches.

About that not missing bats… listed below are a smattering of Rockies starters in 2015, their contact percentage for the season and career, and their swinging strike percentage for the season and career. Obviously, you’d prefer the first two percentages are low; the lower the contact rate, generally the more bats you miss (duh). And you’d love the second two percentages to be higher. It doesn’t work that way for Butler:

Pitcher, 2015 Contact %, Career Contact %, 2015 SwStr %, Career SwStr%
Jorge De La Rosa … 74.7% … 77.3% … 11.8% … 10.1%
Chad Bettis … 78.5% … 81.7% … 9.9% … 8.4%
Yohan Flande … 79.6% … 82.6% … 8.9% … 7.6%
Chris Rusin … 80.8% … 81.1% … 9.2% … 8.7%
Jordan Lyles … 83.5% … 83.7% … 7.7% … 7.4%
Eddie Butler … 85.0% … 86.1% … 6.8% … 6.4%
Kyle Kendrick … 86.9% … 86.3% … 6.1% … 6.2%

That we find Butler in Kendrick-like territory in terms of not missing bats is an irony which ought not be lost on you. No, I’m not saying he’s as bad as Kendrick (pump the brakes, Internet commenters), but I am saying when you compare unfavorably to Yohan Flande and Chris Rusin, it might be time to take a long look in the prospect mirror.

Yes, Butler’s 2015 numbers have improved in each regard ever so slightly when compared to his (brief) career, but his respective rates here and in other peripherals don’t belie a frontline big league starter.

Next: Did The Rockies Rush Butler?