Craig Counsell Sends Warning to Chicago Cubs in Spring Training Outburst

You don’t see this all too often and it’s why it makes headlines when Chicago Cubs manager Craig Counsell chews out his players. Counsell, now in his third year as the Cubs’ manager, is eyeing his first division crown since leaving the Milwaukee Brewers. The Cubs have higher aspirations in 2026, which means expectations have been raised and the pressure is heightened.

Counsell sent a stern warning to his players this week in spring training, uncharacteristically berating the team in front of onlooking media members. ESPN’s Jesse Rogers first shared the tense moment from a base-running drill on Monday morning and then Bruce Levine detailed Counsell’s outburst.

It turns out that Counsell was incensed after outfield prospect Kevin Alcántara was caught between tagging up or going halfway on a fly ball, which is what this specific base-running drill was all about.

Here’s the scene from Mesa, Ariz., as Levine described it on WSCR The Score Tuesday morning.

“The Cubs were practicing tagging up on balls hit to the outfield and then the base runner deciding if they have to tag or go half way and Counsell totally lost it. Kevin Alcántara was confused as to whether to tag or be halfway…Counsell went out and just let everyone have it. He said, ‘if you don’t know how to run the bases by the time camp ends you’re not going to be on this team.’ It was a very pointed, a very hot moment for Craig Counsell. He lost it.” -Bruce Levine

To be clear, Levine said that Counsell was addressing the entire team and wasn’t directly singling out Alcántara, who had just made the base running mistake. Yet, it probably did hit closer to home for Alcántara, who entered spring training probably thinking he would have an opportunity for more playing time after the trade of Owen Caissie. However, the Cubs have brought in a handful of veteran outfielders to compete for a bench role and Alcántara is now most likely going to begin the 2026 season at Triple-A, regardless of how his base running looks like in spring training.

The bad base running from the Cubs has been quite frustrating through the first couple of weeks this year. Despite the majority of games not being televised fans have seen several miscues on the base paths from veteran players to younger ones trying to impress the coaching staff.

In the team’s third spring training game against the San Francisco Giants, the Cubs hit into a triple play after Matt Shaw inexplicably left third base and was then tagged for the third out. Pete Crow-Armstrong was thrown out trying to steal third base this past Sunday against the White Sox with two outs, while other examples of TOOTBLANs have frequented Cubs spring training games in 2026.

I guess it’s good to see Counsell get pissed off every once in a while. It probably sticks with players more when a manager with Counsell’s calm demeanor erupts on a random Monday morning in Arizona.