Thursday Rockpile: Eddie Butler's great 2013

Happy Eddie Butler Day everyone!  He pitches for Tulsa tonight against Arkansas. The Rockies' breakout player in 2013 has been outstanding this year, pitching well over three minor league levels.

With the statistics from all three stops combined, Eddie is posting a 1.91 ERA with 133 strikeouts in 137 innings while only allowing 136 total hits and walks for a 0.99 WHIP.  These numbers have been well documented, but here is my list of 15 things you might not realize about Eddie:

1: Number of runs and number of walks Eddie Butler has allowed in three starts/15 innings at Tulsa

2: How many home runs Eddie gave up in 54.1 innings at Asheville this year

3: Number of teams he has played for this year, Asheville, Modesto, Tulsa

4: The number of strikeouts he is short from averaging one strikeout per inning this year

5: The maximum number of inning that the Rockies will let him pitch in a game since early on in the year

6: Number of hits allowed by Butler in his three starts/15 innings at Tulsa

7: The number of strikeouts he is short from having a 3:1 strikeout to walk ratio

8: His total wins for the season, hindered by the 5 inning limit

9: Total home runs allowed by Eddie over all three levels, 25 games/137 innings

10: Butler was ranked the 10th best Rockies prospect at the start of 2013 (they now rank him #3)

11: Tied Radford University's record for wins (9) in 2011 while on his way to becoming the all time leader in wins at Radford (22)

12: The Rockies drafted him in the first round (46th overall) of 2012

13: Eddie has given up only 13 more runs in 2013 than he did last year (29 vs. 16) despite pitching 69.1 more innings (137 vs. 67.2)

14: Butler has not played in 14 games at any level in the Rockies' organzation (closest was 13 games, 12 starts last year for Grand Junction and 13 games, 13 starts this year for Modesto)

15: The number of innings left for him to pitch in Tulsa's regular season, he should start on August 22, 27, and September 1st

As for real news, here are your links:

Baby Bull news: both the Denver Post and mlb.com write about Wilin getting time at first base.

If you have ESPN Insider you can read about the top shortstops in the game, a list that starts with Troy Tulowitzki.

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