Brian Butterfield

This article is about the baseball coach. For the fictional character, see The Peter Serafinowicz Show.

Brian Butterfield
Butterfield as Toronto Blue Jays third base coach, 2011
Boston Red Sox – No. 13
Coach
Born: (1958-03-09) March 9, 1958 Bangor, Maine
Bats: Switch	Throws: Right

Brian James Butterfield (born March 9, 1958) is the third base coach for the Boston Red Sox of Major League Baseball.

Butterfield is the son of Jack Butterfield, the former vice-president of player development and scouting for the New York Yankees. The younger Butterfield was a second baseman in the Yankees minor league system before joining the major league team as a roving infield instructor in 1984.

Butterfield later became a coach with the Arizona Diamondbacks, spending five years with them. He then became a minor league manager in the Yankees organization, helming the Bronx Bombers' Florida State League affiliate as well as the Columbus Clippers, the team's Triple-A club in the International League. In 2002, he joined the Toronto Blue Jays, and was the team's third base coach and infield instructor until the end of the 2012 season.

Butterfield has a very good reputation, both within the Blue Jays system and throughout baseball. Orlando Hudson, widely recognized as one of the best defensive second baseman in baseball and winner of the Gold Glove Award in 2005 and 2006, has stated that Butterfield deserves immense credit for making him the defensive player he is. Under Butterfield's tutelage Aaron Hill, a shortstop by trade, became an above-average defensive second baseman. Butterfield worked very closely with the young and talented Blue Jays third baseman Brett Lawrie.

It was announced on September 30, 2007, that Butterfield would be the bench coach for the Blue Jays in 2008, replacing Ernie Whitt. On October 30, 2009, it was announced that Butterfield would once again be the Blue Jays' third base coach for the 2010 season.

During the 2010 off-season Butterfield was one of four finalists for the Toronto Blue Jays managerial job, along with John Farrell, DeMarlo Hale, and Sandy Alomar Jr..

On October 30, 2012, Butterfield was hired by the Boston Red Sox as their third base coach.

References

• Career statistics and player information from The Baseball Cube

• Playball! The Official Program of the Toronto Blue Jays (Issue No. 1, 2006), p. 71.

Preceded by Frank Howard	New York Yankees first-base coach 1994–1995	Succeeded by Jose Cardenal
Preceded by Franchise created	Arizona Diamondbacks third-base coach 1998–2000	Succeeded by Chris Speier
Preceded by Trey Hillman	Columbus Clippers manager 2002	Succeeded by Frank Howard
Preceded by Carlos Tosca Nick Leyva	Toronto Blue Jays third-base coach 2002–2007 2010–2012	Succeeded by Nick Leyva Luis Rivera
Preceded by Ernie Whitt	Toronto Blue Jays bench coach 2008–2009	Succeeded by Nick Leyva
Preceded by Jerry Royster	Boston Red Sox third-base coach 2013	Succeeded by Incumbent