For Butera, upcoming Boston series calls to mind 'all-time favorite player'

This story was excerpted from Jessica Camerato’s Nationals Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

When a teenage Blake Butera gathered his backpack for school, he often brought along special reading material. In Louisiana, more than 1,500 miles from Fenway Park, Butera scoured the Internet to find the latest and greatest on his favorite baseball player: Dustin Pedroia.

“Any article I could find that he was talked about [in], I read,” Butera said. “I don’t think there's an article out there about Dustin Pedroia I haven’t read. I’d have binders full of articles I’d read in high school. During class, I’d be reading an article about him on ESPN or on MLB. I have stacks of them.”

Butera -- the son of a 1977 Red Sox Draft pick, Barry -- looked up to the Red Sox second baseman as he aspired to reach the pros. Like Pedroia, Butera was an infielder, having played four seasons with Boston College from 2012-15. He was playing collegiate baseball nearby when Pedroia and the Red Sox won the World Series in 2013.

This week, Butera is making his first visit to Fenway Park as the Nationals' manager. He will spend three games at the ballpark where Pedroia played 14 accolade-filled seasons.

“He's like my all-time favorite player,” Butera, 33, said.

During Spring Training, I asked Butera which athlete or celebrity he has been awestruck by meeting. Butera explained that he had not yet met Pedroia, but that would be his pick if he did. He recounted managing in the Rays' farm system during one of Pedroia’s Minor League rehab stints.

“When you see him across the field, you're like, 'That's what he looks like?'” Butera said. “[It shows] people are able to exceed expectations. It’s one thing to be 6-foot-4 and do that. But just looking at him and being able to do what he did, it’s a lot of respect.”

Pedroia was listed at 5-foot-9, 170 pounds his final season in 2019. He officially retired in 2021 with a larger-than-life résumé that included two World Series championships, a 2008 AL MVP Award, a 2007 Rookie of the Year Award, four All-Star selections, four Gold Glove Awards and one Silver Slugger Award. Pedroia compiled a career slash line of .299/.365/.439 with an .805 OPS.

“The skill he had with obviously lacking the size, he's someone who definitely got the most out of his God-given abilities,” Butera said. “He’s 5-foot-9, isn’t that fast, doesn’t have a great arm, but somehow had the career that he had.”

If Butera had to guess what happened to his binders, they might still be at his parents’ house. But if they aren’t, he has new materials: scouting reports for a three-game series against the Red Sox. Now, he can be a little more obvious about what he’s reading.

“I never got asked [by teachers what was in the binders],” Butera said, smiling, “I was pretty secretive about it. I’d pick my spots.”