LA Angels Ty Buttrey: Call it a comeback

LA Angels fans were taken aback nine months ago when reliever Ty Buttrey abruptly announced that he was retiring from the game due to personal reasons.

Buttrey stated that he had no burning desire to play the game and that he never really liked baseball in the first place. 

Well, it seems that all that has changed. I guess some lifestyle bills came due and now his appreciation of his talent has been miraculously rekindled. 

LA Angels pitcher Ty Buttrey announced on his Twitter Spaces event that he plans to make a comeback. 

Ty Buttrey says that coaching his kids' teams has made him want to commit to returning. That fiery thirst for competition at any level can have that effect. 

His contract is technically still owned by the LA Angels, so it will be up to the team to see if they want him back. With the lockout being still in progress, he’ll have to wait until their minds are made up.

Buttrey has spent almost three seasons with the LA Angels. His career numbers include a 4.30 ERA in 115 innings. He didn’t fare too well during COVID-2020, but was decent in 2019 when his ERA was 3.98 in 72 appearances. 

Buttrey was effective early in 2019 when he had 47 strikeouts in 38.2 innings pitched with a 2.33 ERA between April and June. 

If he’s able to repeat anything close or better to those numbers, he’d be a welcome addition to LA Angels manager Joe Maddon’s bullpen that already consists of pitchers Raisel Iglesias, Aaron Loup, Austin Warren, Mike Mayers and José Quijada. 

It’ll help LA Angels stars Mike Trout, reigning AL MVP Shohei Ohtani `and high priced third baseman Anthony Rendon realize their collective postseason aspirations if the bullpen can be as impactive as possible. 

They need all the help they can get.