Drew Butera Retires

[Rosterman]

A dozen years in the Big Leagues. Getting a call to do what he does best season after season after season.

 

He came over to the Twins waaaaaay back in 2007 for Luis Castillo. He caught the Francisco Liriano no-hitter.

 

His father, Sal, played for the Twins and still scouts.

 

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2022/04/drew-butera-retires.html

[Brandon]

What is your favorite Butera moment with the Twins?

[DocBauer]

All the best for him! The guy could barely hit, though he had a few here and there that made a difference. But he was an excellent catcher for everything a catcher was supposed to be: handling a staff and leading a staff. If he could of hit even a tiny bit better, he might have been recognized as a Boone equivalent.  I hope someone, hopefully the Twins, will snap him up in a heartbeat as coach or instructor.

[AceWrigley]

23 minutes ago, DocBauer said:

I hope someone, hopefully the Twins, will snap him up in a heartbeat as coach or instructor.

Gonna be the Angels bullpen catcher I believe.

[sampleSizeOfOne]

2 hours ago, Brandon said:

What is your favorite Butera moment with the Twins?

Didn't he and Nick Punto surprise/upset a team or two at the World Classic one spring?

Putzing about online, it must be 2013 i am thinking about.

[gil4]

9 hours ago, Brandon said:

What is your favorite Butera moment with the Twins?

My son and his friend got Butera's autograph at a game in Texas.  The following week they were telling their friends they got the autograph for the Twins' catcher.  Of course, everyone assumed it was Mauer.  Most of the time they didn't bother to correct them.  

[stringer bell]

For some of us old-timers, Drew will always be son-of-Sal. Both he and his father could never hit enough, but still carved out big-league careers because they were good catchers and teammates. Drew had a long career and probably will have a job in baseball as long as he wants. To me, that is the definition of success.

[stringer bell]

I just checked Drew's profile at BBRef, specifically the similarity scores. I was disappointed that he didn't pair up with Sal. However, I did chuckle to see the names to whom he was compared--Bobby Wilson, Tom Prince, Corky Miller. There have been a lot of modest hitting catchers cycling through the Twins and I think that is the story throughout MLB.

[D. Hocking]

14 hours ago, Brandon said:

What is your favorite Butera moment with the Twins?

Not a fun game or season, but this stands out to me:

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

If I remember correctly, he pitched to Mauer who was visibly laughing after the strike-out.

Sadly, I did not find the video, but found one where he pitched an inning for the Dodgers as well.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kKqJxO0w_A&t=1s

[cheeseheadgophfan]

He hit 94 on the radar gun in the game he pitched for the Dodgers and had a filthy changeup.  You gotta wonder if he ever considered switching to pitching.....or at least trying it.

[BobAzar]

When I lived in KC, my wife and I met and went to lunch with one of the then-FSN sideline guys. While at lunch Drew and his girlfriend sat next to us. He talked to the sideline guy for a bit, said hi to us. Was pretty reserved, until he realized we weren't going to bug him and his GF nor ask him a ton of baseball related questions. Then he opened up, we just talked about how he and his GF met (not sure if they are still together or not), what he does outside of baseball, etc. 

That night at the game, we saw him warming up in the bullpen, my wife yelled at him that he needs to propose to his GF. He looked up and recognized us, laughed and yelled back "I'm planning on it". 

He was super nice, seemed like a good guy. 

[gunnarthor]

He had a nice career. Just making the bigs is impressive but to stick around that long is even more so. Best of luck to him in his new coaching job.

[AlwaysinModeration]

Not a moment with the Twins, but winning a ring is pretty cool for him.

[notoriousgod71]

He hit an extra innings pinch hit home run in Philadelphia in 2010 in one of the wilder games of that season. 

[Reptevia]

I thought he had retired or transitioned to coaching years ago…