LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – APRIL 26: A detailed view of a Los Angeles Dodgers hat and catching glove is seen on the dugout steps during the sixth inning of the MLB game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium on April 26, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. The Dodgers defeated the Pirates 6-2. (Photo by Victor Decolongon/Getty Images)
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The Toronto Blue Jays welcomed an exciting new player to their roster on Tuesday.
After the team agreed to its largest-ever free agent contract to bring in frontline starter Dylan Cease, it hosted a press conference with the player from the Major League Baseball Winter Meetings in Orlando.
“Cease, who signed a seven-year, $210 million deal on Dec. 2, showered praise on the Blue Jays, calling them his best opportunity to reach his full potential,” Keegan Matheson reported for MLB.com. “This is a new era of Blue Jays baseball. As crushing as that Game 7 loss to the (Los Angeles) Dodgers was in the World Series, the Cease signing has kicked the Blue Jays back into fifth gear.”
And the team’s efforts to improve before next season have gone beyond the active roster. The team is revamping its coaching staff under manager John Schneider as well, including the addition of a former Dodgers infielder.
“Blue Jays are adding Drew Butera as a major-league coach,” Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi reported.
Butera has served as a catching instructor for the Chicago White Sox as well as a bullpen catcher and catching coach with the Los Angeles Angels. But before that, he spent a dozen years behind the dish as a big-league catcher with several teams, including the Dodgers.
Butera spent part of the 2013 campaign and all of 2014 with the Dodgers, playing in 61 games in his second season with the team. That year he slashed a dismal .183/.267/.288 but obviously he demonstrated enough skill to stick around the major leagues until 2021.
His best campaign probably came with the Kansas City Royals in 2016, when he slashed .285/.328/.480 in 55 games. And he won a World Series championship with the team in the season before that.
“He played for five different teams, with his longest stints coming with the Royals and (Minnesota) Twins,” Charlie Wright wrote for MLB Trade Rumors. “Butera won a World Series ring with Kansas City in 2015.”
Now the Blue Jays will have some significant big-league experience and championship pedigree added to their coaching staff. And with so much knowledge around the art of catching in particular, Blue Jays’ backstops Alejandro Kirk and Tyler Heineman are sure to benefit from Butera’s presence.
Kirk had a standout season with the Blue Jays, earning his second career All-Star stint in the regular season and then slashing a stellar .308/.441/.538 with two homers in the World Series. With some extra tutelage from Butera, perhaps he can take another step forward next season.