With the 1,048th overall pick in the Major League Baseball Draft, the Tampa Bay Rays selected Boston College infielder Blake Butera. Butera becomes both the third Eagle drafted and the third member of his family to receive professional consideration.
Butera batted .284 for the Eagles this past season, appearing in 49 games and starting all but one. He registered 52 hits, nine doubles, one triple, and two homers while scoring 23 runs and driving 29. He led the team with five sacrifice hits while tied for second with 10 stolen bases.
Butera improved by nearly 20 points over his previous best this past year, having hit between .265 and .270 in two of his first three seasons at The Heights. In 2012, he batted .267 while appearing in 53 games, starting 52, driving in 29 runs while gathering 31 walks. In 2013, he walked 30 times but his batting average dropped to .239. He rebounded to .269 last year with 10 doubles. He remained a consistent fielder for BC over his four years with a fielding percentage in the mid-to-high .900's over his four years.
Butera is the the third member of his family to pick up major league recognition. His father, Barry, played baseball at Tulane and went onto play three seasons with the Triple-A Pawtucket Red Sox after being drafted in the 14th round of the 1977 MLB Draft. Blake's brother, also named Barry, was drafted by Houston in the 21st round of the 2009 MLB Draft after attending BC and playing for the Eagles. He advanced as far as Corpus Christi in the Double-A Texas League in 2010.
He is the third Eagle selected in the 2015 draft, marking the most BC players taken in one draft since four were picked in 2011. Six Eagles were selected in the 2010 draft, and four were taken in 2009. The last time three Eagles exactly were picked was 2008, when Dan Houston, Eric Campbell, and Terry Doyle were all picked. Campbell is the only currently active Eagle on a Major League Baseball roster.
Congratulations to Blake and good luck as your professional career begins!