How Berryman went from Auburn football to Royals baseball

This story was excerpted from Anne Rogers’ Royals Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

A year ago, Pete Berryman was working a remote job in Fort Worth, Texas, as a software analyst for a sports technology company.

Now, he's spending every day entrenched in Royals baseball as their Major League analyst, going on the road with them and supporting the coaching staff in any way he can.

“It's a dream come true,” Berryman said. “It’s been more fun than I expected, showing up to the ballpark each day and trying to contribute to a win in whatever way I can. And knowing that there are a ton of other people with that exact same goal, it’s a lot more fun working for that purpose than for a company that’s just trying to make money. So it’s been an absolute blast so far.

“I’d say my whole life of wanting to work in baseball in some capacity started at a really early age.”

Berryman grew up in Birmingham, Ala., and played football, baseball and basketball at Mountain Brook High School before attending Auburn. His freshman year, he was a “normal” college student, attending classes and playing intramural sports. But he missed the competition and team atmosphere that athletics offered. So his sophomore year, he tried out for the Auburn baseball team.

“I always thought my best sport was baseball,” Berryman said. “But I did straight up not make the team. No sugar-coating that.”

Berryman laughs about it now, but he was undeterred at the time and turned his focus to the next thing. That was football. He made Auburn’s team as a walk-on wide receiver/tight end and soon found himself on the sidelines at Jordan-Hare Stadium on SEC Saturdays. In 2016, he practiced mostly on Auburn’s scout team but found special teams opportunities in ‘17.

“I was like, ‘It can’t hurt to just try out and show up, see what happens,’ and that ended up defining the rest of my time at Auburn,” Berryman said. “It was a really cool thing to be a part of, even as a walk-on. Definitely formative, and I think prepped me for a lot of the challenges we have here.”

Berryman graduated in May ‘18 with a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering and a minor in Spanish. He planned on finding a job following graduation, but had a sports agent reach out to him about the Canadian Football League because he has dual citizenship in the United States and Canada. Berryman’s parents, Tim and Cynthia, are Canadian, and they were both athletes. Tim was a linebacker at the University of Ottawa and played six seasons in the CFL.

Pete signed with the same team that drafted his dad with the No. 1 pick in the 1976 CFL Draft: Edmonton.

“I definitely wasn’t as good as him, but it was cool to share that,” Berryman said. “And it was quite an adventure.”

After a year of pro football, which Berryman never thought he would do, he hung up his cleats and found a job in software development and engineering. While working, he got his master’s in analytics from Georgia Tech in hopes it would help him find his way back into sports.

“I’ve always really loved stats, and there’s this technical angle to get in the game,” Berryman said. “If you love baseball and have an aptitude for that kind of stuff, it’s a really great route to go. And I think this field is just getting started. Really, every year, it seems like there’s more progression in terms of the opportunities to analyze data and understand more about the game that way.”

The Royals’ research and development team grew a ton this offseason, and it offered the opportunity Berryman was wanting.

As a Major League analyst, he works directly with the coaching staff on daily reports and any questions that arise when discussing offensive, defensive or pitching strategy.

“I’m there to answer a lot of their questions, dig into things they’re curious about and just bounce ideas off them,” Berryman said. “Things that I‘m seeing, things that our department is seeing, and get these conversations rolling faster than they otherwise would have.”

Each player has specific information and level of detail they want to receive preparing for a game, and Berryman helps with those reports, too. Berryman’s easy-going and calm demeanor make him a good fit in the clubhouse to handle the daily baseball structure and his responsibilities.

“He’s been tremendous,” manager Matt Quatraro said. “He’s got that desire to learn from us as we do from him. There’s just a better flow of communication.”

In that sense, his time with Auburn football helped Berryman prepare for his role now.

“You lose a game, how do you handle it?” Berryman said. “How do you create a mindset that makes it easy to come back the next day? How are you able to channel everything? How to be able to communicate things in a way that’s understandable. It takes me back to some of the coaches I interacted with in college, how they explained things to me. The coaching staff has been very on-board, and I’m having a ton of fun while just trying to help them win.”