After stepping away from baseball last April, former Angels right-hander Ty Buttrey said during a Twitter Spaces conversation tonight that he wanted to return to playing (hat tip to Jeff Fletcher of the Southern California News Group). Buttrey has remained on the Angels’ restricted list for the last nine-plus months.
A fourth-round pick for the Red Sox in the 2012 draft, Buttrey was dealt to Anaheim as part of the July 2018 trade that sent Ian Kinsler to Boston. The trade led to Buttrey making his big league debut, and he emerged as a solid member of the L.A. bullpen in 2018-19, posting a 3.86 ERA and 27.4% strikeout rate in 88 2/3 innings of those two seasons.
The strikeouts dropped off to just a 16.1% rate in 2020, however, as Buttrey struggled to a 5.81 ERA over 26 1/3 frames. The diminished K% was just one of several subpar Statcast metrics on Buttrey’s record, though he was far from the only player to struggle amidst the unusual circumstances of the abbreviated 2020 season. The Halos were expecting Buttrey to rebound last year, but instead, the 28-year-old wanted to leave the grind of big league life.
“I couldn’t help but notice that my love and passion for this game had started to diminish.“,” Buttrey explained as part of a an Instagram post about his decision. Simply making it as a professional ballplayer seemed enough for Buttrey, who said “I completely lost the drive to continue doing something that I didn’t love because in my mind, I already accomplished it. It was never my dream to make it to the Hall of Fame, win a World Series, or become an All-Star. In my head, I accomplished what I wanted, to prove people wrong and accomplish something extremely hard.”
Angels manager Joe Maddon told MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger and other reporters last spring that Buttrey informed the team of his decision prior to the team optioning the righty to the minors at the end of Spring Training. Going by Maddon’s statements of support, the door would seemingly be open for Buttrey to return to the Angels once the lockout is over, and the team could get a look at him in camp before deciding on any next move.
Buttrey is Spanish for Buttking.
Heh heh heh heh. I am Cornholio
I wonder how his statements regarding it not being his dream to win a World Series will be received by his teammates if / when he’s added to the roster
If you’d piece together other interviews of him, he says he played football and basketball but was so good at baseball it made too much sense not to pursue it.
Baseball kind of took over his life as a fit. He enjoyed it.
Doesn’t mean he’s not a true competitor on the mound. Just means that baseball wasn’t his dream as a kid or his favorite sport growing up. Until his junior year in high school, it was his second sport.
I don’t like to link my stuff here (especially for a site I no longer edit), but here he talks about it. He actually played three sports growing up.
https://www.halosheaven.com/2018/8/3/17645460/ty-buttrey-angels-interview-ian-kinsler-trade-reliever-red-sox-part-one
youre halosheaven! My man.
Dude calm down, sit this one out.
HH is run by Dodger fans now and is a ghost town. I’m at Crashing the Pearly Gates now.
Last time I’ll plug myself. That’s definitely not why I’m here.
True. I mean you have to be a competitor and put in the work to make it to the show. But it’d be nice for the pen if he can regain his form
Definitely. Here’s one I did with him as he drove to what would be the Skaggs no hitter.
His brother in law died just two weeks before Skaggs. Ty’s voice wasn’t the same that day. And if you look, this is where his career went downhill. He was mentally and emotionally fried.
With hindsight, you can see tte beginning of the end here: https://www.halosheaven.com/2019/7/17/20696828/ty-buttrey-talks-2019-angels
Kid could touch 100 sometimes once converted to relief when in the Sox system and sat in the high 90’s. He probably made the right choice to pursue baseball and without looking.. Seems like he got around a 1m bonus as a 2nd rd choice pretty sure it was.
Why would any of them have a problem with him sitting out the season? He did not quit on the team in the middle of a pennant race, or walk off the mound at a critical juncture in a game. He was burned out and decided to retire. He’s rekindled his desire to play, so play. What’s the big deal. There may have been personal reasons he walked away not disclosed as well.
Rooting for him he’s a good guy
Me too
I have immense respect for him to realize he wasn’t enjoying his career and stopping to take time to himself and his mental situations. I hope he takes his transition back into the life of big-league baseball slowly and carefully. Hopefully he’s been able to rediscover his passion for baseball.
Good luck to you, Ty. I’ll be supporting you on the way back to the show.
Do you actual believed he would have quit if he wasn’t sent to AAA?
I don’t have respect for him, I don’t have disrespect for him. He went into Spring Training expected to be the Angels setup man. Because of horrible roster construction and a bad Spring he was assign to triple A.
He didn’t want to go.
Excited to have him back! Hopefully he can regain his 2018 – 2019 form
He wasn’t very good in 2019. I hope he’s better than that.
Must’ve run out of bread
Or taking time away from doing the thing he did since he was a toddler helped him reignite his passion for the game
Edp… quit posting. No clue where you came from out of the blue, but go back and stay there.
Who anointed you the sites monitor? Take your lack of humour “ outta here “ yourself lol
Getright is gonewrong lol
Rooting for this guy. What a story this could be if he comes back and dominates. Big if though
I’m a buttrey type of guy.
Hope he gets his career back on track.
By the way…RIP Bob Saget 🙁
Glad he changed his mind! Was bummed to see him leave last year. Always thought that he had tons of potential and this team could definitely use him! Good luck Ty!!!!
I’ve gotten to know Ty a bit over the years. He definitely needed this break. He’s stayed in solid shape and we could use his arm.
I’m rooting for him.
Lol. I knew this guy would be back. Retiring before 30 with hundreds of thousands to millions just left for the taking? Won’t be the first and won’t be the last but I’m getting tired of hearing athletes saying I’m done and just coming back. There are plenty of guys just waiting to take their spot.
Why are you tired? Why do you care? This dude got burned out, took a break and then came back. Could you imagine if one day you werent at the drive-through window and all the cars in the line and cashiers in the mcdonalds called you and told you that you could and should never work in fast food again?
Brilliant analogy there bk. Thanks for sharing your personal fears and life experiences.
How baseball fans can be fickle… “Ah, the guy has lost heart for the game and he’s just collecting a paycheck. He should hang it up.”
One man walks away and wants to see if maybe he still has it or can do it again. “I’m getting tired of hearing athletes saying I’m done and just coming back. There are plenty of guys just waiting to take their spot.”
I remember reading his retirement letter about not enjoying the game . It’s funny, once they start to realize no more checks they suddenly love the game again
What a puss. His love for the game diminished?!?! How many of us would like to play a kids game with a lot of friends and be paid ridiculous money.
Grow a pair, Ty.
lol, He had like three dudes close to him die within a month, chill keyboard warrior. This isnt robot wars, these people dudes in their mid 20s who tbh, dont have huge world exposure because they worked at the same job since they went through puberty. For the whole mental health thing, you should probably give them a break.
Also, a big reason we dont have players drinking themselves to death like Mickey Mantle is because theres a little more lattitude to deal with this kind of stuff now opposed to “chasing skirts and catching some sauce.”
Agreed.
He’s going to be a good BP piece
Bruh f off. Who needs quitters & drama queens on their team.
Ur muted, bruh.
Isn’t Ty Buttrey one of the future superstars from the BOS super world changing farm system Dave Dombrowski is accused of cleaning out?
At the time of the trade, Buttrey wasn’t even a Top 15 prospect in the Boston farm system. If I recall, Anaheim was more interested in clearing Kinsler’s salary off their books than they were in getting a legit prospect in return for him. It just so happened that Buttrey broke out with the Angels while Kinsler broke down for the Red Sox.
I was being sarcastic.
It took a lot of guts for Buttrey to step away from the game the way he did. A lot of other guys with similar thoughts would have gone through the motions just for the paycheck. He obviously needed a break and didn’t feel it was fair to the Angels or his teammates to stick around if his heart wasn’t in it. I’m happy to hear he’s rediscovered his passion for the game and wants to try to come back. Good for the Angels offering to welcome him back if/when he was ready too. Who knows, there could have been an underlying mental health issue like depression that drove him to his initial decision…but I don’t want to make assumptions about his health. I just think it’s great he wants to come back and I hope he has a successful return to the mound, happy & healthy.
Why was he on the ‘restricted list’, isnt that for players who sincerely mess up, like take drugs, domestic/sexual abuse, steroids, etc, maybe im missing something, but why would him deciding he didnt wanna play anymore put him on that, does that mean hes not eligible to play professional baseball ever again?
The Angel’s still own his rights in case he were to come back. So he’ll report back to them instead of being a free agent. Similar to how when players retire while still under contract the club has their rights in case they unretire.
Restricted List is used in those cases as well. Its also used for unpaid leave. Cubs had a player going thru an ugly divorce that was put on the RL the last year of his contract. Hate when I forget names!
I hope that’s the case of why he stepped away. From the outside looking in it looked like he quit after not making the big league roster
One of the best guys I’ve met in my days, wish him the best of luck in his return
I think as people were returning to life post-pandemic, they were being a lot more honest with themselves and how they feel. Many people left their jobs as their priorities changed. This could have been the case with Buttrey. Now that some time has passed, he may be reevaluating that decision (which is not uncommon for guys who hang it up). Wishing him success if he wants and does make it back to a baseball diamond this year.
The Angels started spring training last year with him being expected to be one of the Angels late inning relievers. I still can’t believe anyone thought that plan would work.
Today it’s better with Mayers and Loup, but it’s still pretty weak.
Buttrey is welcome as a bullpen piece and he has a chance to be an effective late inning reliever. But the Angels still need a late inning arm who is expected to be effective instead of has chance to be effective.
I think we probably both feel pretty good in the 8th/9th with Loup and Iglesias back there. But with a plethora of 5 inning starters that sill leaves 2-3 innings to get to that duo.
I’m with you on adding another arm. I really wanted Graveman but that ship sailed.
I do feel good about Loup but he’s not the 8th inning guy, he’s the late inning match up guy.
If there are a couple LH batters coming up in the 7th, he’ll be used in the the 7th. He’ll go an inning, but he’ll go the inning where he’ll be utilized to best succeed.
Mayers is mediocre. Serviceable mediocre. He’s not a guy a want to have to depend on.
That’s another way of saying, “I’m broke!”
Nice to have an experienced, power arm in the BP with options.
Nothing wrong with Buttrey as a bullpen option. There is something wrong with him being THE option.
I welcome him back.
Halo, I agree. But I was trying to say, Buttrey has minor league options.
Because Buttrey had options and because the Angels had locked in so many bad RPs, he was sent down.
The Angels bullpen roster construction was about as dumb as it gets. I saw where they were going as soon as they signed Claudio.
If Perry didn’t see it, how can you not question his ability.
Hopefully Ty went home and conditioned hard to make some good money playing baseball. Being it’s not his first love, I’m sure he loves what it pays to play! Go Angels!