Bio
Lefty Reed Butz, 27, joins the Explorers after spending the last two seasons with the Oakland Ballers of the Pioneer League. In 2025 Butz went 9-5 for Oakland with a 5.30 ERA in 90 innings with 70 strikeouts for the eventual Pioneer League Champions. He would add a 1.678 WHIP in 17 starts for the Ballers. Butz finished the season strong for Oakland, going seven shutout innings on September 6 in a no decision over Great Falls. Teammate and recently signed Cam Bufford would win the game for the Ballers in a “knockout” round home run duel 3-2.
Butz was outstanding last season for Oakland. He went 4-1 with a 3.35 ERA in eight starts with 33 punchouts in 43 innings. In his first four home starts, he allowed two runs or fewer in all four outings, and overall, the Ballers were 12-5 when Butz took the bump for the club in 2025. The lefty set a career high in innings pitched last season while leading the team with nine wins and in starts with 17. The nine wins would also tie him for third in the Pioneer League during the 2025 campaign. In the 2025 Championship Series, Butz tossed five innings, giving up two earned runs in a no decision in the Ballers 5-3 loss in the series opener at Idaho Falls.
In 2024 Butz worked both as a starter and a reliever for Oakland. He finished the season with 1-1 record and tossed 68.1 innings with 75 strikeouts, surrendering 50 earned runs for a 6.59 ERA in 27 games overall. Butz also finished with an average of 9.88 strikeouts per game and posted a 1.507 WHIP. His 75 punch-outs placed him third on the Oakland staff in 2024.
Butz would make his professional debut in 2023 in the Pioneer League with the Rocky Mountain Vibes, following his final season in college at Oklahoma Sciences and Arts University. He went 1-1 with a 5.82 ERA with Rocky Mountain in 38.2 innings, yielding 25 earned runs with 33 strikeouts. Butz would make 31 appearances out of the bullpen, notching one save in his first pro season. Butz would complete the season with a 1.784 WHIP for the Vibe. In his three seasons in the Pioneer League, he had a career 11-7 record with a 5.85 ERA in 197 innings with 178 strikeouts in 75 games while making 27 starts.
In 2023 Butz would win 10 games for Oklahoma Science and Arts, leading the school in wins and finishing with a 10-2 record with a 5.16 ERA. He would pitch 83.2 innings, making 15 starts with one relief appearance with a team-leading 97 strikeouts. Butz spent three seasons of college—from 2020-2022–playing at Valley City State in Valley City, North Dakota and one season at Kishwaukee Community College in Malta, Illinois. He also played at McHenry Community College in 2019 and 2018. In 2022 he went 4-2 in nine games, making seven starts with a 3.35 ERA at Valley City. That followed the 2021 season where he went 2-5 in 14 games while making six starts with a 5.92 ERA. The shortened 2020 season saw the lefty pitch in six innings over three games.
Butz spent three seasons while in college pitching in the Northwoods League. He pitched in 2020 with Bismarck, 2021 with Minnesota and 2022 with Madison. He is from Rockford, Illinois and was a standout at Rockford Lutheran High School. He gained national prominence as a 17-year-old following his senior year in high school when he used his bat to rescue a pair of stranded truckers in an overturned semitruck on Interstate 90 in June of 2017.