Ryan Sherriff on Ty Buttrey: ‘I understand where he is coming from’

When Los Angeles Angels reliever Ty Buttrey retired from baseball on April 3, he was not alone in Major League Baseball.

Buttrey said in an Instagram post, “As time went on, baseball became more of a business and less of a game. I couldn’t help but notice my love and passion for this game started to diminish.” Rays reliever Ryan Sherriff, who walked away from the team after pitching in a game on April 2 but has since returned to the club’s alternate training site, told Tom Verducci at Sports Illustrated that he related with Buttrey:

“I understand where he is coming from. Guys like myself throw everything into one basket. I don’t know what the outside world is like. It’s like an identity crisis. We have no clear identity outside of baseball.

“We live in the unknown, day after day. There is no form of stability unless you are one of the superstars. Sometimes I wonder what it’s like to have a real job and a stable life. For the past decade I have been living an unstable, nomadic life.”

Links

• “The last batter to steal a base after their 41st birthday was, unsurprisingly, Ichiro,” wrote Patrick Dubuque at Baseball Prospectus, about Albert Pujols’ surprise steal of third on Monday. “It wasn’t Dave Roberts or Cecil Fielder, the most important or the most shocking stolen base in memory. It might have been the most enjoyable to watch unfold.”
• Joe Sheehan in his newsletter also opined on the Pujols steal: “Albert Pujols can’t hit and he can’t run and he can barely field, but he can still think. He traveled to third base on his legs, but he stole third base with his mind, for ten seconds playing baseball better than the 26-year-old on the mound did.”
• Jose Quintana plans to switch from the third base side to the first base side of the rubber in his start on Wednesday, writes Jeff Fletcher at the Orange County Register.
• Thursday’s series opener in Houston will be broadcast exclusively by MLB’s YouTube channel. The game starts at 5:10 p.m. PT, with Alex Cobb starting for the Angels. Matt Vasgersian will call play-by-play with analysts Mark Gubicza and Geoff Blum, plus reporter Brett Dolan.