When the Colorado Rockies sent Eddie Butler to Triple-A Albuquerque to start the season, the goal set for him was clear: figure out how to put hitters away.
"It’s an opportunity to grow," Butler told Purple Row at the time. "They had me come down to work on a couple things. Finishing off guys, innings, things like not giving up two-strike hits, or two-out hits. That was a big concern they had, so I'm just working on that."
The 25-year-old right-hander showed marginal growth in his four-start stint for the Isotopes. The results didn't blow anyone away -- Butler posted a 4.09 ERA with just 5.7 strikeouts per nine innings -- but he walked batters at a lower rate than he had in any previous season. Simply put, he was throwing strikes, and when the Rockies needed a replacement for the injured Jorge De La Rosa late last month, Butler was the logical choice.
He certainly hasn't made the Rockies regret their decision. Butler carried his new strike-throwing approach into the majors, where he owns a 3.86 ERA with 13 strikeouts and just three walks in 14 innings. The secret? Higher usage of an effective weapon.
"I've been attacking the zone with my slider, a pitch I can throw for strikes, while keeping my fastball in the zone," Butler said prior to the Rockies' win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday. "I've been consistent with them and haven't been getting behind."
"When you're ahead in the count," Butler added, "it changes the game."
The numbers back up Butler's assertion. He's thrown a first-pitch strike 68.5 percent of the time, according to Fangraphs. That's up from 57 percent a year ago and a huge improvement over the 48.7 percent first-pitch strike rate from his initial cup of coffee in the majors in 2014.
Additionally, Butler has thrown his slider more than 31 percent of the time. He previously never threw the pitch at a rate higher than 17.4 percent. Part of the reason is that he's getting in more counts where that pitch is favorable. But he's also made some tweaks to the offering.
"I was pulling away from it a bit last year and leaving it in the zone," Butler admitted. "The big thing is just keeping my direction, staying out in front of it and finishing it."
The end result is a pitch with increased movement that Butler has been able to harness and keep in the zone -- or close enough to it to induce swings, at least.
Now the trick is making the transition to Coors Field, where pitches don't move as much and any sort of contact can be detrimental. Butler isn't worried about that, though; he attributes an increased focus on the mound to giving him the confidence to pitch regardless of venue.
"I've been really locked in since I've been back," Butler said. "I used to get that feeling a couple of years ago, but you get up here and face the best hitters in the world. When things don't go your way, you get defeated."
The feeling, for Butler, has returned.
"[Nick] Hundley came up to me in San Francisco when Denard Span stepped out and called time and told me 'that's the best thing I can see for you because you have him so uncomfortable that he has to try to break you of your rhythm,'" Butler explained.
"I felt like I was gonna be unhittable after I kept my rhythm," Butler added with conviction. "There was nothing they were going to be able to do."
The Giants didn't do much; Butler allowed just four hits and a pair of walks in six scoreless innings. He struck out six and threw 57 of 92 pitches for strikes.
The New York Mets, Butler's opponent on Saturday, have a similar lineup to the one he faced last weekend in San Francisco. Repertoire wise, everything is in place for the young righty. If he can continue to overcome his previous struggles and remain, as he puts it, locked in, another promising result might be on the horizon.