The Giants hired Phil Nevin to be their third base coach not only to attempt to cut down on base running mistakes, but to bring some youthful enthusiasm to the game. Nevin never thought of himself as a coach or manager, but had some success. He describes the type of player he wants to coach:

Nevin mellowed – to a point. During his first year in Reno, he was ejected along with nine players after his club brawled with the Dodgers’ Triple-A affiliate. A day later, he expressed pride in how his team responded.

“Let me just put it this way,” he told a local TV station. “It’s a lot easier for me to calm a player down than it is to kick a player in the butt. I’ll take that guy over the other guy any day of the week.”

We’ll see how this translates to the Giants on the bases. According to FanGraphs, the Giants were average in 2016 on the bases. They have room to improve, but base running probably didn’t cost them the division.