Report: Cubs Adding Quintin Berry as 3B Coach

This one felt like a strong possibility as news about various coaching staffs trickled out during the playoffs. With a few spots open in Chicago and former Cub Quintin Berry being familiar with Craig Counsell from their time together in Milwaukee, it was easy to connect the dots. As three of The Athletic’s MLB writers reported Thursday, Berry will indeed be joining the Cubs as their new third base coach.

That means he’ll be on the other end of sending runners home after carving out a playing career based largely on his elite speed. Berry was part of a trend the Cubs had during the days of larger September rosters wherein they’d add a player late for the express purpose of pinch-running. Terrance Gore stands out as another one.

Those of you who’ve been taking your Prevagen may remember the game on September 16, 2015, when Berry scored the winning run on a sac fly in the 12th inning against the Pirates. What I recall most is that Berry dropped a celebratory F-bomb that was picked up very clearly by the CSN Chicago microphone. Is it just me, or does 2015 feel like a lifetime ago? The Cubs were loaded with talented prospects and veterans alike, they were super fun to watch, and all they needed to make a big playoff push was a one-dimensional role-player here and there.

With all due apologies to Berry for defining him in such a narrow context, it seems his time as a grinder in pro ball has made him an excellent coach. He’s been the Brewers’ first base coach for the last four years and is widely credited as a driving force behind their ability to continually spin gold from straw. Prior to earning a promotion to Milwaukee, Berry spent two seasons as the organization’s outfield and baserunning coordinator.

Anyone want to guess which team was MLB’s clear leader in baserunning runs? That’s right, it was the Brewers (19.7). The Cubs were actually tied for fourth (10.7), but they were nearly 50% lower than the NL Central winners. While that disparity doesn’t track when you see that the Cubs went first-to-third on singles 107 times (third in MLB) to the Brewers’ 91 (12th), the big difference comes in scoring from first on a double or from second on a single.

The Cubs were tied for 16th with 31 of the former (Milwaukee: 41, 1st) and were 21st in the latter with 92; Milwaukee led MLB with 41 and was eighth with 109, respectively. The two teams had the same 43% extra-base-taken rate, so the discrepancy comes down to the number of chances they had with runners in scoring position. To wit, the Brewers’ 217 steals outpaced the Cubs’ 143 by a very wide margin.

Getting to 90 wins and recapturing the crown has to be more about the personnel on the field than in the dugout, but the Cubs believe Berry is one of those force multipliers Joe Maddon used to talk about. Willie Harris was a great dude with excellent taste in footwear, he just seemed to swing between overly aggressive and painfully conservative with his sends at third. It’s not out of the question to think that a philosophical shift alone could be worth another 10-15 runs, easily.

Just as long as we’re not sitting here in March still hoping a few coaching changes will spur a similar group of players to outperform projections.