Is Colorado Rockies Starter Eddie Butler Still A Prospect?

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Jul 24, 2015; Denver, CO, USA; Colorado Rockies starting pitcher E. Butler (31) trips over third base in the fifth inning against the Cincinnati Reds at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports

Granted, contact percentages and swinging strike rates are very specific. You can pull virtually any data point about any player and argue almost any perspective. So what else should we focus on with Butler, then… walk rates? Home runs per nine innings? WHIP? Strikeout to walk ratio? It’s all iffy. Here’s the bottom line: does he really pass the eye test for you?

Butler looks to me like a guy who ought to spend more time in AAA right now. Maybe he could actually be a good big league starter, but that day is not today.

He feasted on minor league hitters in the low levels (here are his minor league numbers), and when he got to AA in 2014, the Rockies rushed him. That derailed his season last year (shoulder injury), and rushing him again this year could alter his career.

He doesn’t go deep into games, averaging 5 innings per start. He works with constant base running traffic. Butler’s game Wednesday against the Cubs is a perfect microcosm of who he is right now as a pitcher — high pitch counts, inefficient innings, lots of base runners, keeping the Rockies (kind of) in games but infrequently throwing a gem, and running himself out of games early, putting pressure on the bullpen.

When Flande tosses five innings of baserunner-heavy ball, you say hey, we didn’t expect a damn thing from Flande, not bad! When Butler does it, with his prospect pedigree, it’s a different narrative having to defend the Rockies’ entire future. Will Butler really be a part of that future?

The Rockies have a lot of things about which to be excited come 2016, 2017, and beyond, but I’ll go on record right now — I don’t think Eddie Butler is a future frontline starter for the Colorado Rockies. Blame the Rockies for rushing Butler’s development in 2014, blame Butler for not being good enough, blame Coors Field for the toll it takes on pitchers, whatever the reason behind it, Eddie Butler isn’t going to pan out the way you think for the Rockies.

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