With the COVID-19 outbreak forcing the cancellation of all high school spring sports, local seniors were forced to deal with the abrupt reality that their prep careers were over. A group of these student-athletes were members of the Cincinnati Reds RBI program, and many were also regulars at the P&G MLB Cincinnati Reds Youth Academy over the years. With our Senior Spotlight Series, the Reds want to recognize these players for their efforts and wish them well in their future endeavors, both on and off the field.

Through various events that occur every year, both good and bad, athletes and fans are reminded that life is bigger than sports. But sometimes it is equally important to remember that there are instances where sports are important to life. For Taylor High School graduate Jeffrey Butler, baseball has served as an outlet to help fight personal battles.

Butler has always enjoyed baseball and played his first two years in high school. But after his sophomore season, he decided to call it quits. He sat out fall, spring and summer ball of his junior year, and he didn’t play fall ball as a senior, either. His joy for the game hadn’t fully left, but his joy for life was missing, which affected everything he did.

“I battled depression and bad anxiety every day,” Butler said. “It would be hard to get out of my bed most mornings. Going to things like practice, games, or even go work out [was] a challenge for me. My mind wouldn’t let me be myself.”

As a result, Butler shut out all baseball activity. It wasn’t until late last year that he started to reconsider when a friend, Josh Martini, who played on an RBI team, told Butler about an upcoming RBI tryout.

“When Josh told me about the tryout, I was mentally done with baseball,” Butler said. “I had so much going on in my life, anxiety and depression, that baseball was the last thing I wanted to deal with. Then one day I was looking at some highlights from years past, and then, when I saw this one clip, it all came back to me. I figured why not? I wanted to give it one last go.

“I was still unsure about wanting to play going into it, but when I met Coach [Mark] Fowler, I knew this was the place for me to grow as a ballplayer and work on my goals. Coach Fowler is one of the most honest people I know. After the tryout, he told me I was pretty rusty, but he saw something in me that he wanted me to get out of myself. That’s when I knew I had to go all in.” 

It was around this time that Butler vowed to face his depression head on and use baseball as a means to fight it. He was reinvigorated and ready to play baseball again this spring and summer. Then COVID-19 hit.

Rather than see the shutdown as an obstacle, Butler has used the time off to get better on and off the field. Having not had real competition for two years, he has worked tirelessly to get to where he needs to be physically and mentally. Since recommitting to the game, he hasn’t missed a workout or practice, whether they were voluntary or mandatory. He stretches, lifts and hits every day as both a distraction and as motivation to avoid what he calls “going back into the pit.”

Butler has always aspired to play college baseball. Not playing for two years limited his visibility for recruiting and left him off many schools’ radar, but he didn’t let this deter his dream. Butler will be heading to Clark State Community College, where he will play baseball and major in Accounting.

“Having options was important to me,” he said. “Going the junior college route gives me endless possibilities. If I work my tail off, I can go play ball at a bigger school than is being offered right now. But also, if college baseball isn’t what I wanted it to be, I can still get a good education at a much smaller cost and move on to the next chapter of my life with plenty of options in my future.”

Butler credits his dad, whose endless support is the main reason he was able to reach his college baseball dream. But he also views three college players as his role models: Gephry Pena (University of Central Florida), Griffin Bernardo (University of Central Florida) and Matt Warkentin (Xavier graduate), all of whom played on the Cincinnati Steam collegiate summer club.

Butler’s family was a host family for the Cincinnati Steam, and each of the three other players spent time living with Butler and his family during the summer season. Watching them go about their business and seeing firsthand the hard work it took to play at their level changed Butler’s life.

“Gephry showed me how you have to play every day in order to get where he is," Butler said. "Griffin taught me that you have to face life head on and showed me how to be a man. And Matt is special to me and the most important baseball player in my life. He has become my big brother. He takes care of me. He has given me many lessons in regard to hitting, fielding and, most importantly, daily preparation. Everything I do to prepare for baseball, workouts, practice, and even live at home and take care of my responsibilities, I do because of his example. I would not be the person I am today without his guidance.”