Blue Jays sneakily add World Series champion to coaching staff

The Toronto Blue Jays have been busy making valuable additions to their contending roster this offseason with first Dylan Cease and later Cody Ponce joining their pitching staff. But apparently the roster isn’t the only thing that the Blue Jays are looking to improve ahead of the 2026 MLB season.

On Tuesday (Dec. 9), the Blue Jays added former World Series champion Drew Butera to their major league coaching staff. He previously worked for the Chicago White Sox in the capacity of a catching instructor for the past two years.

Blue Jays sneakily add World Series champion to coaching staff

Originally selected by Toronto out of high school in the 48th round of the 2022 MLB Draft, Butera never actually ended up playing for the organization as he opted to attend university instead at the University of Central Florida. As a result, he was ultimately taken in the fifth round of the 2005 MLB Draft by the New York Mets where his professional baseball career would begin. 

Butera would spend a total of 12 seasons in the major leagues serving primarily as a backup catcher for various organizations including the Mets, Minnesota Twins, Los Angeles Dodgers, Kansas City Royals, Colorado Rockies and Houston Astros. He compiled a career .196 average, .542 OPS, with 123 runs scored, 59 doubles, 19 home runs and 123 RBIs in 553 MLB games played.

Butera is most known for being one of five catchers in MLB history to have caught a no-hitter in both the American and National Leagues. More notably, Blue Jays fans would remember him more as a part of the 2015 World Series winning Kansas City team that ultimately eliminated Toronto from contention in the 2015 ALCS.

After retiring from baseball as a player following the 2021 season, Butera would become a part of the Los Angeles Angels organization to serve as the team’s bullpen catcher and coach. From there, he would spend a couple of seasons with the Angels before joining the White Sox for his most recent stint as a catching coach.

In returning to the Blue Jays, the 42-year-old coach has essentially come full circle with the opportunity now to officially contribute to the organization that once drafted him. Perhaps this time around, Butera can help guide Toronto and eventually capture a World Series championship to help make up for what his team did in thwarting the Blue Jays from doing so in 2015.

In addition to Butera, the Blue Jays also announced that Cody Atkinson has been appointed as an Assistant Hitting Coach and Eric Duncan has been appointed as a Major League Field Coordinator.