My Time Tracking Drew Butera
So, I spent some time actually trying to follow Drew Butera’s career a while back. Not like, religiously, but more than just checking the box scores now and then. He wasn’t exactly a headliner, you know? Mostly a backup catcher, bounced around a few teams.
Why him? Good question. Maybe it started when he was with the Royals during their good run. I just got interested in those guys who aren’t the stars but stick around forever. The grinders. It became a sort of personal project, a habit. I’d specifically look to see if he got into the game, how he did. Did he call a good game? Get a hit? Mostly, he just did the job, nothing flashy.
The Process Was Simple:
- Check the team schedule.
- See if the starting catcher was getting a day off or got injured.
- If Butera was playing, I’d try to catch the highlights or read the game recap more closely.
- Sometimes I’d pull up videos, just watching his framing or how he handled pitchers. It wasn’t deep analysis, just watching.
I remember one stretch, I think it was with the Rockies or maybe later with the Royals again, the main guy was out for a bit. Suddenly, Butera was the everyday catcher for a couple of weeks. You could almost feel the difference. Not in a bad way, just… different. He handled it, though. Stepped in, did the work. Team kept rolling, more or less.
It got me thinking about jobs I’ve had. You know, roles where you’re not the main person, but you gotta be ready. Like this one time at an old place, the project lead suddenly went on leave for a month. No warning. Everything was chaos. Me and a couple of others, we weren’t senior, but we had to pick up the pieces. We weren’t the ‘stars’, just the guys who knew some parts of the system.
We just put our heads down and did the work. Kept things from totally falling apart. Nobody threw us a parade when the lead came back. We just went back to our regular tasks. It felt a lot like watching Butera during that stretch as a starter. Show up, do the job reliably, don’t make waves, let the stars be stars.
So yeah, following Butera wasn’t about expecting home runs or anything. It was more about watching someone navigate that specific kind of career. The reliable backup. There’s a certain skill to that, staying ready, staying professional for years. It’s not glamorous, but teams need guys like that. Made me appreciate those roles a bit more, I guess.
