While the signings of Jason Kipnis and Steven Souza Jr. received praise this offseason, the Cubs plucking an under-the-radar coach from the San Diego Padres might be having as great of an impact. Andy Green managed the Padres for four seasons before becoming David Ross’ bench coach for 2020. His responsibilities are wide-reaching with the Cubs, but his focus on defense has vaulted the Cubs towards the top of the league.

“[Green] has taken over a lot of the infield positioning stuff and started working with Brad Mills, our advanced scout,” pitching coach Tommy Hottovy said on Friday’s Cubs Live! pregame show. “To hone in on how we want to attack hitters as well as where [opponents] hit the ball.”

The results have been impressive: numerous highlight-reel plays all across the diamond and love from defensive advanced metrics.

When Green left Arizona after acting as third base coach during the 2015 season, the team had a 76-run swing in their team Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) metric, falling from first in the league to 23rd. The team Green migrated to, the Padres, saw a 20-run improvement in their team DRS in his first year as the team’s manager. The Cubs ranked 22nd in the league last season in DRS and have skyrocketed to 5th this season with Green helping the team.

“We made some adjustments with positioning,” Ross said on Friday’s pregame show. “We got Andy Green in here with a fresh set of eyes.”

Those fresh eyes have seen the Cubs infield fully shift or strategically shift on 42% of pitches thrown by Cubs’ pitchers. Last season, the team’s shifting was a meager 18.5%, the lowest mark in baseball (for more on the difference between a full shift and a strategic shift, follow this link). With the help of outfield coach Will Venable, the team is also strategically shifting more in the outfield, doubling their rate shifts on 8% of pitches. Combine great defense with optimal positioning and the result is the 5th-lowest Batting Average on Balls in Play (BABIP) in baseball entering Friday’s matchup with the Brewers.

It also helps to have a talent like David Bote roaming the infield. On Thursday night, when Bote was shifted into being the lone man left of second base, he covered over 30 feet to make a back-handed grab and throw off his back foot across the diamond to retire Christian Yelich.

“He’s out of position on that play,” Marquee Sports Network analyst Ryan Sweeney said on Friday’s pregame show. “It’s almost like he’s playing shortstop and throwing across his body — incredible play.”

Much of the Cubs’ starting rotation success comes down to their defense. Despite the team’s near-league-best 2.55 ERA from their starting pitchers entering Friday’s bout, their starters’ combined strikeout rate is right around league average at 23% (13th best of 30th teams). This means balls in play, and more opportunities for Bote, Báez, Bryant, Hoerner and Kipnis to stuff the highlight reel with web gems.