His release isn't all that quirky if you watch it carefully. He definitely gets underneath the ball in a position to work from the inside-out at the beginning, but, by the time he actually releases the ball, he's pretty much back to a standard release position.
What he does do, is create a highly rev-dominant release with a very short back-swing. unconventional only when compared to all the high back-swings of the other players. It allows him to use urethane without the ball getting away from him at the other end.
In a sport where RPM's and speed coming off the oil pattern determine hitting power, he doesn't gain much advantage because he doesn't have much speed. The U.S. Open oil pattern gave an advantage to lefties who didn't generate too much hook at the back-end.
http://scores.bowl.com/2017USOpen/OilPattern.pdf http://www.downvids.net/jakob-butturff-slow-motion-release-929908.htmlHis big lead was a result of bonus pins from match play. I know he's won some regionals and a couple of xtra-frame titles, but I've never seen him before in a PBA
TV finales.
It will be interesting to see how he does in the up-coming season.