Butch Henry

Who is Butch Henry?

Floyd Bluford "Butch" Henry III is a former Major League Baseball pitcher.

He was drafted by the Cincinnati Reds in the 15th round of the 1987 amateur draft. He was 23 years old when he made his major league debut on April 9, 1992, to play for the Houston Astros. During his career, Henry was 33-33, with a 3.89 ERA while throwing 621 total innings. The left-hander played with the Houston Astros, Montreal Expos, Boston Red Sox and the Seattle Mariners. He had the best year of his career in 1994 with the Montreal Expos going 8-3 with a 2.43 ERA. After spending 7 years in the major leagues, Henry had to retire early in 2003 due to arm troubles.

Henry was a coach in 2004 for the Sarasota Reds of the Gulf Coast League. In 2005, he was the pitching coach for the Billings Mustangs, the advanced rookie affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds. In 2006, he was named manager of the El Paso Diablos. In 2007, he was named manager of the year for American Association of Independent Professional Baseball, and he led the Diablos to their first division title and first playoff berth since 2000, when El Paso was a member of the Texas League. He has guided them to a South Division best record of 54-40. The 2007 team batting and pitching vastly improved under Henry’s guidance. The batting average for the Diablos is 15 points higher and the team ERA is almost a full two runs lower as compared to 2006. The Diablos led the league in runs scored and hits and were second in team batting average.