PEORIA, Ariz. — He first noticed it while driving to the field one day in 2019.
Ty Buttrey was a relief pitcher with the Angels at the time, succeeding in a way some told him he never would, but something wasn't right.
This kid's game he was supposed to love? He wasn't loving it. The 99th percentile salary he was raking in? Of little consequence at the moment.
Buttrey, in his mid-20s at the time, was living a dream he was itching to wake up from.
"I just kind of felt an emptiness," said Buttrey, the 30-year-old righty who's pitched five innings in relief for the Mariners this spring. "I was like, man, this is odd — I'm doing really, really well. I can keep going, I can keep doing this. But I just felt — there was a dull moment. I thought that was odd. Why is this a weird moment? Why am I not excited to do my job and compete?"
But he kept competing and finished with 72.1 innings pitched, a 3.98 ERA and 10.5 strikeouts per nine innings as the club's primary setup man. His fastball was topping out near 100 mph. Then, the next year, COVID shut down spring training and had all of baseball wondering if the season would be lost. It got Buttrey thinking: Would that be the worst thing for him?
He admitted to developing an "anger" toward the game, which he was playing for the "wrong reasons." He never had aspirations of being an All-Star or winning a World Series — he just wanted to prove his doubters wrong by reaching the major leagues and had accomplished that goal. And before the 2020 season resumed, he found joy in other ventures, such as a starting a nonprofit in the Virgin Islands that taught kids about financial literacy and social-media professionalism among other things. But he still returned to MLB, just without the efficiency he displayed in his first two seasons. In 26.1 innings in 2020, Buttrey posted a 5.81 ERA.
Less than six months later, he decided he was done with baseball. The reason? Pure burnout.
"I completely lost the drive to continue doing something that I didn't love," Buttrey wrote in on Instagram just before the 2021 season had begun.
A few days earlier, he told his wife he wanted to step away from the game, and she was "cool and calm about it, which I thought was odd." He talked to his father as well, who was also supportive, telling him that if he didn't want to play, he shouldn't.
Buttrey admits that it can be hard to describe his thought process because "not everyone will understand." But what he didn't understand at the time was that quitting wouldn't make him happier. Quite the opposite.
The weight Ty thought was going to be lifted off his shoulder got 100 pounds heavier. He struggled to find a new passion or a satisfying career path. So, on December 5, 2021 — he remembers the date — he told himself it was time to return to the big leagues.
Two and a half years later, that still hasn't happened.
The consistent 97 mph fastball Buttrey rocked with the Angels had dipped to 89. He was 30 pounds overweight and a mechanical mess. The Angels still activated Buttrey off their restricted list and designated him to Triple-A Salt Lake, where he made 34 appearances with a 5.94 ERA. He elected free agency after the season and signed a minor-league contract with the Astros in January of 2023, but was released in August after 14 games with Triple-A Sugar Land.
At this point, Buttrey was faced with the reality that he may never play another meaningful game. Was a desk job in his future? Maybe medical sales with his brother-in-law? This frightened Ty, who thinks an office job would be "way harder" than baseball, so he cold emailed every team in MLB. He received just one positive reply — from Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto, who offered Buttrey a minor-league contract.
The M's aren't new to turning projects into bullpen staples. They did it with Paul Sewald, who had four straight seasons with an ERA over 4.55 on other teams before becoming Seattle's best reliever. Drew Steckenrider was a non-roster invitee in 2021 and ended up posting a 2.00 ERA for the M's with 67.2 innings pitched. Gabe Speier appeared in 41 games total for the Royals over four years and 69 last year for the Mariners.
Doesn't mean Buttrey is going to be on this roster when camp breaks ... or ever for that matter. But it seems he has a chance.
No, really.
In five innings this spring, Buttrey has fanned five batters and allowed just one run. He said something just clicked for him during his first couple bullpen sessions in a way he hasn't felt in years. He added that his stuff is the best it's ever been, and though his velocity is still a few mph lower than where it was with the Angels, he expects it to tick back up as the season goes on.
But that's just him talking. What does the skipper think?
"He's an interesting guy who could certainly pitch for us at some point this season, even if he doesn't break camp," Mariners manager Scott Servais said.
Has he gotten back to where he was before?
"He's not at that point yet," said Servais, who praised the accuracy of Buttrey's fastball while noting that the mid-90s velocity falls short of his prime years. "The secondary pitches were more consistent when he was going good. We haven't seen that quite yet."
What we have seen, though, is Buttrey enjoying himself. And not just when he's playing Clash Royale against strangers on his phone in the clubhouse. You want to know how much something means to you? Try losing it. It can cause a seismic shift in your perspective.
"I kind of had to go through some things ... get my priorities straight off the field," Buttrey said. "And now it's like, 'Whoa, this is a crazy opportunity.' This is really cool. Pitching and traveling and hanging out with teammates, being on a baseball field in beautiful Arizona, throwing hard and striking people out is fun."
Striking people out at T-Mobile Park would be even better. That seemed impossible a few months ago. Maybe not so much anymore.
