SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Right-handed pitcher Eddie Butler and catcher Tom Murphy, players the Rockies hope will play a big role in the team’s future, were reassigned to minor-league camp Friday.
Other roster moves are expected later Friday as the Rockies continue to whittle their big-league roster.
Butler made his big-league debut in June 2014, and then struggled with a 3-10 record and a 5.90 ERA in 16 starts with the Rockies in 2015 before being sent down to Triple-A Albuquerque. He arrived at spring training with little chance of making the starting rotation, but determined to improve his fastball command, as well as work on his composure on the mound.
Butler’s Cactus League numbers were not pretty: 1-0 with 7.04 ERA over 7 ⅔ innings in three appearances. cq His inability to close the door on an inning after getting the first two outs continued to be problematic. Still, manager Walt Weiss said he was pleased with Butler’s overall progress.
“A lot of positives from Eddie this camp,” Weiss said. “That sounds weird when he’s in the position he’s in right now, (but) he took a lot of steps forward this camp. The ball is coming out of his hand better than I’ve seen it over the past two seasons at the big-league level.
“He’s been one of our best guys at staying in good counts. He gets strike one. The first half of the count, he’s really good.”
But, Weiss acknowledge, Butler has to learn how to finish off batters.
“It’s the second half of the AB (at-bat) or finishing the AB where he needs to get better, finishing innings,” Weiss said. “He gets quick outs, then being able to put away that third out — those were the types of things we talked to him about. But I was very happy with the way he’s throwing the ball. Velocity is really good. It looks like he’s got his power two-seamer back — a lot to be encouraged about.”
Murphy’s demotion was not completely unexpected. The Rockies want him to get steady playing time at Triple-A — and work with young pitchers — rather than use him as a backup to catcher Nick Hundley.
That leaves Dustin Garneau as the Rockies’ likely No. 2 catcher.
“Tom works with the pitching staff well, and he’s obviously a very talented and physical kid,” Weiss said. “The next step for ‘Murph’ is being able to slow the game down, especially at that position …
“There are a lot of things to like about ‘Murph.’ We have seen the strength. We have seen him miss-hit balls to the other side of the fence. So it’s a very high ceiling. It’s just slowing things down and not fighting himself. That’s the next step.”
Patrick Saunders: psaunders@denverpost.com or @psaundersdp
