TODAY: The Blue Jays officially announced their 2026 coaching staff. Duncan will be a Major League field coordinator, Atkinson will be an assistant hitting coach, and Butera will have the general role of Major League coach. Bannon believes Butera and Duncan will also share in bench coach duties with other members of the staff, as the Jays plan to divvy up Mattingly’s responsibilities rather than name a full-time bench coach.
DECEMBER 9: The Blue Jays have reportedly made multiple additions to manager John Schneider’s staff. Former catcher Drew Butera is expected to be in the dugout next season, reports Shi Davidi of Sportsnet. He’ll be joined by Eric Duncan and Cody Atkinson, reports Mitch Bannon of The Athletic.
Butera was a catching instructor with the White Sox for the past two seasons. He had previously been a bullpen catcher and catching coach with the Angels. Butera spent 12 seasons behind the plate in the big leagues. He played for five different teams, with his longest stints coming with the Royals and Twins. Butera won a World Series ring with Kansas City in 2015.
Duncan served as Toronto’s director of position player development in 2024, per Bannon. His first MLB coaching gig was with the Marlins as an assistant hitting coach in 2019. He also worked as a quality control coach with the team. Duncan was a first-round pick by the Yankees in 2003. He topped out at Triple-A as a player. New York hired him as a minor league coach in 2015.
Atkinson had been the Rangers’ minor league hitting director, per Bannon. He’s been in charge of the organization’s minor league hitting program since 2019, according to MLB.com. It’s unclear which roles the trio will fill, though it’s fair to assume Butera will contribute in the catching department, with Duncan and Atkinson helping out on the hitting side. The only news prior to today regarding Schneider’s staff had been the departure of bench coach Don Mattingly, who is being pursued by the Phillies.
Photo courtesy of Matt Marton, Imagn Images
Crazy how long he lasted playing considering he has a -4.4 WAR. I’m sure he will do good coaching though and you can never have too many catchers on a team just in case.
Happy for Drew but agree: -4.4 WAR and $8+ million dollars just shows you how good playing baseball can be! Congrats on his next chapter.
This is why WAR will always be a USELESS number. How can you say a 12-year MLB veteran was worth 4 wins less than a REPLACEMENT player? Clearly, if he was that bad, there wouldn’t be a single team that would roster him after year TWO.
He knows some guys.
Backup catchers are a special case. If they get a reputation for being good at handling pitchers, that doesn’t show up in WAR but does show up in job security.
Pretending that WAR is useless because it’s mildly misleading 1% of the time when steadfastly refusing to put any thought into the situation you’re looking at is quite silly.
WAR, what is good for?
It’s lonely in here
Why? Sox catchers were terrible in those two seasons.
FRV: -34
DRS: -27
Remember his dad Sal who also caught for the Twins.
Dang. Was hoping Drew would get hired on by Blake Butera.
What is to become of Demarlo Hale?
Still on the staff. as “associate manager”.. Though all I see him doing is calling the video room for challenges.
Popkins named Coach of the Year by Baseball America!