New Boston Red Sox manager John Farrell is going for familiarity with his coaching staff as his third base coach, Brian Butterfield, from the Toronto Blue Jays will join the local nine in the same capacity.
Here's the release from the Red Sox:
BOSTON, MA — The Boston Red Sox today named Brian Butterfield as the third base coach on the club’s Major League coaching staff.
Executive Vice President/General Manager Ben Cherington and Manager John Farrell made the announcement.
The native of Bangor, ME, who attended University of Maine, comes to the Red Sox with 34 years of experience in professional baseball as a player, coach, and manager, including 16 seasons coaching on the Major League level. He spent the last 11 years with the Blue Jays, serving as third base coach each of the last three seasons, working on Farrell’s staff for the last two. He was also Toronto’s third base coach for parts of six seasons from 2002-07 and was the club’s bench coach from 2008-09.
Butterfield, 54, has also previously served on Major League staffs under Buck Showalter with the Yankees, holding the position of first base coach in 1994-95, and the Diamondbacks, where he was the third base and infield coach for three seasons from 1998-2000.
He managed for parts of six minor league seasons in the Yankees system and compiled a 300-293 (.506) mark at Rookie Sarasota (1988), Short-A Oneonta (1989), Single-A Greensboro (1990), High-A Fort Lauderdale (1992), High-A Tampa (2001) and Triple-A Columbus (April-May, 2002). In his first season as a minor league manager in 1988, Butterfield earned Gulf Coast League Manager of the Year honors after guiding his club to a league championship, and he led his Tampa Yankees squad to a share of the Florida State League title in 2001.
Butterfield began his coaching career as a roving infield instructor in the Yankees organization in 1984, a position he also later held in 1991, and served four seasons as a minor league coach in the New York system from 1985-87 and 1993. Additionally, he spent 1996-97 with Arizona working as a roving infield instructor, minor league manager and scout of Major League talent in preparation for the expansion draft.
Signed by the Yankees as a free agent in 1979, Butterfield played 397 minor league games over five seasons in the New York Yankees (1979-82) and San Diego (1983) systems while appearing primarily at second base
After attending the University of Maine as a freshman in 1976 and lettering in baseball and basketball, Butterfield transferred to Valencia Community College and was named Florida Junior College Player of the Year in 1977 before a two-year stint at Florida Southern College where he was a member of the 1978 National Championship Team. He completed his bachelor’s degree in physical education from Florida Southern in 1980 after beginning his professional playing career. He is the son of the late Jack Butterfield who at one time served as Vice President of Player Development and Scouting for the Yankees.
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