The Cubs' Base Coaches Are Two of the Team's Most Lethal Weapons

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Want to know how deep in Kyle Harrison's head the Cubs got, right away on Monday night? They changed his clothes. On a hot night at Wrigley Field, Harrison took the mound in the bottom of the first inning with a short-sleeved undershirt beneath his blue road jersey. It was appropriate attire for the evening. He worked up a sweat, too, not only giving up four first-inning runs but racking up an unseemly early pitch count.

Harrison and the Brewers quickly realized something was wrong, though. As the young pitcher told the media after the game, the Cubs were so on him that he became convinced the batters knew what was coming. That wasn't pure paranoia; the Brewers dugout felt the same way.

Here's Harrison giving up a first-inning home run to Tyrone Taylor.

Compare that to this clip of Alex Bregman taking him deep in the very next frame.

The difference isn't some subtle thing you need a scout's eye or a jeweler's loop to spot; it's big and basic. On a hot night, for no reason having to do with the weather, Harrison put on long sleeves. That's a sure sign of a pitcher trying to cover something—to address what he believes is a telling movement or muscle. There are pitchers (Joe Ryan, of the Twins, is one) who won't pitch without long sleeves, no matter what. They believe their wrist position or the tension in their arm can be spotted and used against them, even if they're being careful.

Harrison doesn't usually have that problem, though, and does not generally cleave to a strict dress code on the mound. He made this change because the team felt that the Cubs were spotting something that conveyed which of his two main pitches was coming—and not necessarily from the batter's box.

Remember a week ago, when the Diamondbacks got angry with the Cubs over what they initially believed was illicit (or at least unwelcome) relaying of incoming pitch types from Quintin Berry to Cubs batters? It was against Arizona starter Merrill Kelly. Ultimately, Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo apologized to Craig Counsell for the kerfuffle; the team came to realize that what Berry was doing was within the rules and above-board. Plenty of teams throughout the league still don't like when a coach picks up something from their position on the field and relays it to the batters, but both the new rules (which compel each base coach to stay in their assigned box) and the evolving customs say that it's up to pitchers to do enough not to give away their stuff when they're on the mound. Harrison was quick to say that it's up to him to guard his own secrets better. That's important not only because it pays lip service to the ethos the league has adopted, but because the Brewers have already gotten into one imbroglio over this very issue this season—from the other side of it, against the Cardinals.

Major League Baseball specified that base coaches must remain in their boxes beginning this season, after their tendency to wander far beyond those boundaries became a frequent topic of conversation in clubhouses and the subject of a couple of heated arguments in 2025. By going farther down the foul line, coaches were trying to get peeks into pitchers' gloves as they prepared to throw. If they could pick up some cue that told them what grip the pitcher was establishing, they could relay it to their batters, giving them a better chance to hit (or not chase) that offering.

As it turns out, though, you don't have to see into someone's glove to spot something useful. Several times this season, the Cubs have come into a game knowing what to look for from the base coach's boxes. Against right-handed pitchers, the job of spotting the pre-scouted tell and tipping off hitters has gone to Berry. Against lefties like Harrison, the duty falls to Jose Javier, at first base. Either way, nothing illegal is happening. With careful video study, it's often possible to find something a coach can discern without leaving their box or even craning their neck.

One doesn't always need to see the way a pitcher places their fingers on the laces to know what pitch they're preparing to throw. It can be as simple as slightly more tension in the forearm when a hurler grips their breaking ball, or the glove flaring against their torso a bit more when they go for the changeup. In Harrison's case, there's no smoking gun for us to see from the center-field camera, but the Cubs (along with all other teams) have access to more angles when watching video to prepare for a pitcher, and it's very possible that a subtle turn of the shoulder or higher placement of the glove on the jersey while establishing a grip gave Javier all the information he needed to help his batters out.

Here's Harrison coming set on the two pitches on which Bregman homered against him Monday night. On the left, he's about to throw a fastball. On the right, he's about to throw his slurve. Can you see a difference? Maybe. Maybe not. And maybe you could have when he wasn't wearing long sleeves, but now you can't. It seems quite likely, though, that Javier was in position to spot something useful.

This is yet another area in which Berry and Javier are delivering huge value to the Cubs. This is their second season as the base coaches for the team, but they each do so much more than whisper pop times or wave runners home. Javier came from the Yankees, who were one of the best immediate innovators in exploiting the rules changes that went into effect in 2023 to produce value as basestealers; he's brought that savvy to the Cubs. Berry is also a great baserunning instructor, but the bulk of his time is spent in coaching the team's outfielders. He's altered the way Pete Crow-Armstrong prepares pre-pitch, taking him from excellent to generational in center field. He's overhauled Seiya Suzuki's work in right field, turning him from unplayable to above-average. The Cubs lead the majors in Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) by outfielders, and they lead the majors in baserunning runs, according to Baseball Reference. Their base coaches have returned huge value on that front.

They're also proving adept at the art of tip-spotting, with the input and assistance of—it's a fraught thing to talk about, but it's true, according to multiple sources—Bregman. Though his legacy in the game will always bear the slight discoloration of having been part of the Astros' sign-stealing scandal, Bregman has never let that slow him down in his pursuit of legal edges at the plate. He's a rabid and brilliant video scout, and he shares information freely and proactively. Bregman has helped the Cubs get the drop on multiple pitchers this season, producing value not only for himself but for the whole team. Whatever they can pick up by legal means, the Cubs will pick up, and Bregman is just one of several smart hitters whose games have been augmented by the work of their perspicacious coaches.

On a separate occasion later in that series in Arizona, it was easy to see another vector of Berry's value; he kept Pete Crow-Armstrong in the game by taking over the situation as a field general when the umpires missed a balk with Crow-Armstrong on third base in the series finale in Phoenix. Massively popular in the clubhouse and increasingly comfortable as a leader, Berry could be a managerial candidate as soon as this fall. For now, though, he and Javier are providing an enormous return on the team's modest investment, producing concrete value via their exceptional instruction and sanctioned espionage. They've been hugely influential for a team that seems destined for a second straight playoff appearance, all for less money than the team is paying most of their forgettable relievers this year.