BREWERS PLACE BREAKOUT THIRD BASEMAN ON INJURED LIST
The Brewers announced a series of roster moves Wednesday. Infielder Joey Ortiz was placed on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to July 2, with neck inflammation. Right-hander Enoli Paredes landed on the 15-day IL due to right forearm tendinitis. Infielder Vinny Capra and right-hander Janson Junk were recalled in corresponding moves.
Ortiz, 25, came over to the Brewers in the offseason trade that sent Corbin Burnes to the Orioles, with Milwaukee also receiving left-hander DL Hall and a competitive balance draft pick. Ortiz has made the most immediate impact in Milwaukee, as Hall has spent much of the year on the injured list and the draft has not yet taken place.
Since joining the Brewers, Ortiz has taken firm hold of the everyday third base job. In 74 games, he has stepped to the plate 256 times, drawing a walk in 13.7% of those while limiting his strikeouts to a 16.8% clip. He has seven home runs and a batting line of .269/.373/.444, which translates to a wRC+ of 134. He’s also stolen five bases and received strong grades for his defense at the hot corner, leading FanGraphs to credit him with 2.5 wins above replacement so far this year.
It doesn’t appear as though he’s slated for a lengthy absence. The issue first cropped up a week ago and he has been in and out of the lineup since then. Speculatively speaking, the fact that he didn’t immediately go on the IL and even played through the issue a bit suggests that it’s fairly minor and he could return after a quick rest period.
But it’s still less than ideal for the Brewers to lose a player of that caliber, especially when they’ve already been hit hard by the injury bug. The rotation has been the worst hit, with five starters currently on the 60-day IL in Brandon Woodruff, Wade Miley, Robert Gasser, Joe Ross and Hall. That prompted the club to make a deadline deal ahead of schedule by trading for Aaron Civale earlier Wednesday. On the position player side of things, Ortiz joins Gary Sanchez and Oliver Dunn on the IL.
The Brewers have been leading the NL Central for much of the year but the Cardinals have been surging of late, having pulled to within six games of Milwaukee. The Brewers will obviously be hoping to get Ortiz back in short order to keep them in that strong position as the July 30 trade deadline gets closer.
Andruw Monasterio has been getting much of the third base playing time recently with Ortiz out and could perhaps continue to do so, though he’s hitting just .196/.297/.286 on the year. Capra will likely be in a multi-positional bench role, as he can play all over but has hit .246/.333/.350 for a wRC+ of 80 in Triple-A this year.
The club gave outfielder Sal Frelick some third base reps during spring training, but Garrett Mitchell’s injury opened up outfield playing time for him. Mitchell was reinstated from the IL on Monday, slotting back into the outfield mix next to Frelick, Christian Yelich, Jackson Chourio and Blake Perkins.
Manager Pat Murphy addressed the possibility of Frelick returning to third base this week, now that the outfield picture is crowded again. Per Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on X, Murphy said it “could happen” but he wasn’t expecting it any time soon. It’s unclear whether Ortiz landing on the IL will change that framing. Monasterio is at the hot corner for Wednesday's lineup.
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