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On the sixth day of the sixth month of 2014, Eddie Butler will make his debut as a starter for the Colorado Rockies, a story first broke by MLB.com's Thomas Harding. Butler will take Franklin Morales' spot in the rotation, making guys like Woody Paige -- and, let's face it -- most fans of the team happy.
Though he's coming off arguably his second-worst start of the season (4.2 innings, 7 hits, 2 walks, 2 earned runs, 107 pitches) for Tulsa, Butler has largely shown that he has not much left to learn in Double-A. He has averaged more than six innings in his 11 starts while posting a 2.49 ERA and twice as many strikeouts as walks. His WHIP of 1.18 was actually below 1.00 before his last start.
Butler will be the first Grand Junction Rockies alum to make the big league club (h/t Drew Creasman).
Depending on the corresponding move that the Rockies make, this could actually make two parts of their team better. If Butler can continue his success as part of the MLB rotation, moving Morales to the bullpen could improve the late inning pitching as well. While he's struggled the second and third time through opposing lineups, Morales has his best ERA (3.27) in the first inning of his starts. An additional left-handed reliever certainly can't hurt given the recent struggles of Boone Logan and Rex Brothers.
Good luck to Eddie, and may his stay in Denver be a long and successful one.