He was named the NLCS Most Valuable Player in 2001, and was on-base for the Arizona Diamondbacks when they subsequently won the World Series.

His father, John, worked for the Milwaukee Brewers as their director of the speakers bureau and community relations.

[2][3] He was an infielder for the Irish, with a career batting average of .306, 204 runs, 166 RBI, 50 doubles and twice as many walks (166) as strikeouts (82), graduating in 1992.

In July 1997, the Rockies traded Counsell to the Florida Marlins for relief pitcher Mark Hutton.

[5] In June 1999, the Marlins traded Counsell to the Los Angeles Dodgers for a player to be named later (minor leaguer Ryan Moskau).

[7] After the 2003 season, the Diamondbacks traded Counsell to the Milwaukee Brewers, with Chris Capuano, Chad Moeller, Lyle Overbay, Jorge de la Rosa, and Junior Spivey, for Richie Sexson, Shane Nance, and a player to be named later (minor leaguer Noochie Varner).

[9] In 2011, he was the fourth-oldest player in the National League, and had the second-best career fielding percentage of all active second basemen (.991).

The record was set by notoriously poor hitter Bill Bergen in 1909, and later tied by infielder Dave Campbell in 1973.

[13] The record was broken only a few weeks after Counsell tied it, by Eugenio Vélez of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

He even spent part of a game in left field for the Brewers in 2011, playing two innings without recording any total chances.

He rotated with Darryl Hamilton and Jerry Augustine to call games with Joe Block when primary announcer Bob Uecker was absent.

[21] In their 2018 campaign, the Brewers went 96-67 under Counsell in the regular season and won the NL Central by defeating the Chicago Cubs by a score of 3–1 in a tiebreaker game.

[28] The move was described as a surprise by observers, who had expected Counsell to sign with the New York Mets or Cleveland Guardians if he did not remain with the Brewers.