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Mets Top Prospects for 2022: No. 11 Jose Butto

By Doug M

March 7, 2022 No comments

11. Jose Butto, RHP

B/T: R/R  Age: 23 (3/19/98)
Ht: 6’1  Wt: 202 LBS
Acquired: International free agent, Venezuela (2016)
ETA: 2023  Previous Rank: 16
Stats (Brooklyn/Binghamton): 4-6, 3.83 ERA, 20 G, 20 GS, 98.2 IP, 1.095 WHIP, 2.19 BB/9, 10.03 K/9

As it stands now, with 40 man major league rosters locked out by the owners, Jose Butto will turn 24-years-old later this month and be unable to participate in minor league or major league training camp.While this temporary stagnation in the young hurler’s development is anything but ideal, the Mets are extremely pleased with how steadily Butto has risen through the ranks and is now banging on the door of the big leagues.

Butto has filled out his strong lower half well over the last couple of years and consistently holds low 90s velocity on his fastball, often hitting mid 90s and topping out at 95 mph. It’s a smooth, repeatable delivery that Butto gets into his lower half well, helping to create some flat angle on his fastball when he locates it in the upper quadrants of the strike zone.

His fastball has solid raw spin, cresting around 2350 rpm, and with a high 3/4 slot, Butto converts the spin to roughly equal parts ride and arm-side running action. His fastball does not project to be a huge bat-misser at the big league level, but Butto is fairly adept at locating it on the outer half of the plate and keeping it away from too many barrels.

Butto’s feature bat-missing pitch is the best changeup in the Mets system, thrown in the high 70s to low 80s and featuring huge fading action. Butto will also use a curveball to right-handed hitters, with inconsistent but improving feel. When he finds the release correctly, it offers good depth and can be a adjunct weapon to garner called strikes early in the count, as seen here.

Butto fills the zone with strikes, evidenced by his meager 2.19 walks yielded per 9 innings last year. Armed with the plus changeup and currently adequate fastball command, he could likely eat innings competently at the big league level in the front end of the Mets bullpen. But from a developmental standpoint, Butto still has a real chance to become a quality backend starting pitcher, which would be a fantastic boon for a system which has recently produced David Peterson and Tylor Megill as quality backend starters in their own right. But what does Butto still need to do to get there?

The first thing that jumps out with Butto’s profile is the lack of a pitch with glove-side movement. He will mix in the curveball to righties to change eye-level, but relies almost exclusively on his fastball and changeup to lefty hitters. Developing either a cutter or slider with some lateral movement seems like an imperative, yet plausible goal.

When looking at modern understanding of pitching development and pitch design, Driveline‘s Chris Langin provides a key primer in determining where to begin. For Butto, we can deduce that he tends to pronate well, meaning he gets behind the baseball at release, evidenced by his ability to turn over a great changeup and create mostly active spin on his four-seam fastball.

Inherently then, Butto likely will have trouble creating large amounts of side-spin, and creating big lateral sweep on a slider might not be the attainable goal. Rather, if Butto can throw a more curt, firm slider/cutter with late gyro-spin induced break, it could be an attainable weapon for his presumed spin traits. The Mets have had success developing this kind of “bullet slider” featured by recent Mets farmhands like Megill and Colin Holderman.

While Butto’s command, plus changeup and solid four-seamer appear to give him a major league floor, he may not be far from becoming an impactful big leaguer. That places him just outside the top 10 in our countdown, and the 2022 season will be a significant one to see what more Butto might have in store.

Mets Top Prospects 29-30
Mets Top Prospects 27-28
Mets Top Prospects 25-26
Mets Top Prospects 23-24
Mets Top Prospects 21-22
Mets Top Prospects 20 Eric Orze
Mets Top Prospects 19 Hayden Senger
Mets Top Prospects 18 Jaylen Palmer
Mets Top Prospects 17 Adam Oller
Mets Top Prospects 16 Jake Mangum
Mets Top Prospects 15 Carlos Cortes
Mets Top Prospects 14 Joel Diaz
Mets Top Prospects 13 Calvin Ziegler
Mets Top Prospects 12 Simon Juan

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Written by Doug M

My fate to bleed the blue and orange for life was laid out before me in 1997. My first Mets prospect I remember getting pumped up about was David Wright, as he just tore through the FSL and Eastern League with ease. Since then, my interest in minor league development has only grown. I hope to grow that interest further here at Mets Minors.

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