Drew Butera

Andrew "Drew" Edward Butera (/bjᵿˈtɛərə/; born August 9, 1983) is an American professional baseball catcher for the Kansas City Royals of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played in MLB for the Minnesota Twins, Los Angeles Dodgers and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

The 6 feet 1 inch (1.85 m), 210 pounds (95 kg) right-hander is the son of former major league catcher Sal Butera.^[1] Butera became the fifth catcher to catch a no hitter in both the American League (Francisco Liriano, 2011) and National League (Josh Beckett, 2014). Butera has also pitched scoreless innings in both leagues, with a fastball reaching the mid 90's.

Career

Draft

Upon graduation from Bishop Moore High School in Orlando, Florida, Butera was selected by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 48th round of the 2002 Major League Baseball draft, but did not sign. He was then drafted in the fifth round of the 2005 Major League Baseball draft out of the University of Central Florida by the New York Mets.^[2]

New York Mets

In 2007, Butera batted .258 with five home runs and 22 runs batted in for the St. Lucie Mets to be named a Florida State League All-Star. Following the All-Star game, Butera was promoted to the double-A Binghamton Mets. After a month at Binghamton, he was dealt to the Minnesota Twins at the trade deadline along with Dustin Martin for second baseman Luis Castillo.

Minnesota Twins

On November 19, 2008, he was added to the Twins' 40 man roster.^[3]

After playing winter ball with Lobos de Arecibo of the Liga de Beisbol Profesional de Puerto Rico,^[4] Butera made the Twins out of spring training in 2010.^[5] He made his major league debut on April 9, 2010 against the Chicago White Sox,^[6] and got his first major league hit against the Cleveland Indians on April 22, 2010.^[7] He hit his first MLB career home run in a 13–10 eleven-inning win against the Philadelphia Phillies on June 19.^[8] As the Twins backup catcher he appeared in only 49 games in 2010, hitting .197. He got more playing time in 2011, because of injuries to Joe Mauer, and hit .167 in 93 games.^[6]

On May 3, 2011 Butera caught Francisco Liriano's no-hitter.^[9]

Butera during his tenure with the Minnesota Twins in 2012

Butera began 2012 with the Triple-A Rochester Red Wings after hitting .279 in 15 games with 1 home run and 5 RBI.^[10] He was called up in May and hit .198 in 42 games.^[6]

On May 20, 2012, Butera pitched the eighth inning of the Twins 16–4 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers. Butera pitched a scoreless inning, issuing a walk and striking out Carlos Gómez.^[11] He threw a fastball and a changeup.^[12]

In 2013 he played for the Italy national baseball team in the 2013 World Baseball Classic. When the regular season started he only appeared in 2 games for the Twins, spending most of his time with Rochester, where he hit .229 in 26 games.^[13]

Los Angeles Dodgers

On July 31, 2013, Butera was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers for a player to be named later. He was then optioned to AAA Albuquerque.^[14][15] In 16 games with the Isotopes, he hit .135.^[13] The Dodgers called him up on September 1.^[16] He appeared in just five games for the Dodgers and had one hit in seven at bats.^[6]

Butera for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2014

On May 15, 2014, in a 13-3 blowout loss to the Miami Marlins, Butera pitched a scoreless 9th inning, with his fastball reaching the mid-90s on the radar gun.^[17] On May 25, 2014, Butera caught Josh Beckett's no-hitter, becoming only the fifth catcher in Major League Baseball to catch a no-hitter in both leagues.^[18] He was the Dodgers' backup catcher all season and hit .188 in 61 games with three home runs and 14 RBI.^[6] The Dodgers designated him for assignment on December 5, 2014.^[19]

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

On December 9, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim acquired Butera from the Dodgers in exchange for a player to be named later or cash considerations.^[20][21] Minor leaguer Matt Long was sent to the Dodgers on December 18 to complete the trade.^[22] On May 4, Butera was designated for assignment.^[23]

Kansas City Royals

Butera was traded on May 7, 2015, to the Kansas City Royals in exchange for Ryan Jackson.^[24][25]

Butera spent the 2015 campaign as the backup for all-star catcher Salvador Pérez. Butera played a role in the 8th-inning comeback in Game 4 of the 2015 ALDS against Houston (with the Royals down two games to one and facing elimination) after Perez was lifted for a pinch-runner earlier in the game. Beginning the inning down 6-2, the score by the time Butera came to the plate was 6-6. Butera was able to draw a 10-pitch walk with one out and two men on, enabling Alex Gordon to hit a sacrifice grounder in the following at-bat for the go-ahead and winning run. In the deciding game 5 of the 2015 World Series, Perez hit a single in the top of the 12th inning and was replaced by pinch runner Jarrod Dyson, who went on to score the go-ahead run. As a result, Butera came out for the 12th inning and caught the game-winning strike from closer Wade Davis to clinch the championship for Kansas City.

In 2016, Butera has not only played catcher, but has also pitched in two games, both blowout losses. On June 25, 2016, Butera pitched in the 9th inning, facing four batters, striking out one, and giving up no runs in a 13-5 loss to the Houston Astros.^[26][27] On July 26, 2016, Butera pitched the final out of the top of the 9th inning, facing only Johnny Giavotella who grounded into a forced out in a 13-0 loss to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.^[28][29]

See also

• List of second-generation Major League Baseball players

References

External links

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)
• Drew Butera on Twitter
  
• drewbutera on Instagram