The Angels reluctantly traded Drew Butera on Thursday when it became apparent they couldn’t slip the veteran catcher unclaimed through the waivers process.
Instead of letting Butera go for nothing after he was designated for assignment on Monday to make room on the roster for Carlos Perez, the Angels traded him to the Royals for minor league infielder Ryan Jackson. A fifth-round pick out of the University of Miami in 2009, Jackson has played in 20 major league games and hit .269 over six minor league seasons with five different organizations.
Losing Butera in order to call up Perez, who hit a walk-off home run on Tuesday in his major league debut, was a risk that made sense for the Angels. Perez was hitting .361 in Triple-A this season. Angels starting catcher Chris Iannetta’s batting average was .094 entering Thursday.
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